What a week!

Up a lazy river

What an exciting week it's been. Besides having tons of exciting school work, I also had a lot of other great experiences. Last week, for example, was midterm break. Initially I had planned on doing the standard midterm-go-up-to-the-cities-and-splurge thing, but then I thought to myself: I'm in Minnesota.... I need to get out to the great outdoors. So together with Emily, Steph and Tyler, we went to Cannon Falls, about 1/2 hour from here, and went canoeing on the Cannon River.




So, amazingly, it turns out that only Steph had been canoeing before. Tyler had been out once... on a lake, with his grandparents. And turns out, that I hadn't gone canoeing before... at least not in this kind of canoe... apparently it was a kayak that I had been out on. So, this was definitely going to be an interesting ride. Add to that the fact that the temperature was a not too balmy 50-ish degrees fahrenheit... which is approximately 11 deg. celsius maybe?... and you can see why I did not want to tip the canoe and fall into the cold waters of Cannon River.

Anyway, it was with a fair bit of nervousness that we all climbed into two separate canoes (Emily had decided she'd rather be with Steph who had been canoeing before, rather than two Asian city boys who felt more at home in a car battling thousands of motorists than on a canoe in a big river... okay, so maybe Tyler doesn't drive, but that's besides the point).

So, the first thing the guy tells us (oh btw, the place we rented canoes from was this dilapidated laundromat-cum-canoe-rental shack, where the owner lived in a trailer behind the building... even more cause to be edgy). Anyway, he gave us some instructions that began like this: "So, once you push off the bank, and make it past the current that goes this way, you want to continue on the right, and look 50 yards ahead for any rapids..." And at this point, I'm going "Waitaminute! Hold on! Current?? Rapids?? What???" All this in my head of course. Nothing would belie my cool and collected exterior. And then I had to ask... how long exactly is the trip? To which he replied with the degree of nonchalance only a seasoned canoe..er could muster: "Oh.. just about 8 miles". Ack.

Anyway, turns out, it wasn't too bad... well, maybe it was. 100 metres into our trip Steph and Em got stuck on shallow rocks... so Tyler and I tried to divert that and went left... onto shallow-ER rocks. So we were wedged pretty good... and the fact that we both probably weighed more than Steph, Em, her nalgene bottle, and the canoe combined didn't help at all. It was a funny sight, I would have to say... we almost tipped, and that would have been miserable, because we had a two hour journey ahead of us. So after much frantic prayers mustered amidst gargantuan efforts punctuated by "Puuuuushhhhh"... we managed to dislodge ourselves. Yeah, we could have gotten out, gotten our feet wet, but where's the fun in that?

So anyway, we went on our way... and it was beautiful! Simply magnificent! There is something about being out in the open, out in nature, rowing down a river, never knowing what was awaiting us around the bend... at many points, the river split into two going around an island, and we had to choose which way to go. Tyler and I usually went left, just because it looked safer... and there was this one time when we went left, because it was SO TRANQUIL, but after rounding a bend... we came across some mini rapids... mini because it was in shallow water, rapids because... the water flowed... rapidly... and that was kind of exciting. But, just being there, seeing blue jays... and eagles... and we even came really close to a crane or a heron... I don't know, I'm not a bird guy... that just flew over our heads... it really lifted my spirits, and made me realize how BIG our God is. And how BEAUTIFUL He must be.

And then, I got hungry. :) So anyway, this was us, 2 and a half hours after our tumultuous beginning... safe and ashore. Yeah!

Cannon River, created by God the creative creator... isn't it beautiful?

So, our souls filled with wonder, we proceeded next to fill our stomachs with food. Good ol' American food. Country Kitchen. This is Steph with her "Country Boy Burger"... it's bigger than her face. Seriously. But we were all FAMISHED. So that was my midterm break.

Joshua meets Joshua

Another incredibly exciting thing that happened this week was that Joshua Bell came to perform at my college. Once a year, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra performs at Carleton. Last year, Sarah Chang was the guest artiste, and this year it was JOSHUA BELL! For the uninitiated, Joshua Bell is only one of the BEST violinists around, Grammy-award winner, played the violin in the Red Violin soundtrack, among many other things. He made his debut performance at age 14... and he owns a $4 million dollar Strad!! Joshua Bell.com for more info. Anyway, the concert was phenomenal, he played Vivaldi's four seasons, then a movement from Mozart's and then played with the orchestra... and the best part? I had FRONT ROW SEATS! Anyway, at the end of the concert, some of us hung around... to take in the ambience, in awe at the virtuosity that we had just witnessed... me? I wanted an autograph! hehhehheh. Yeah, I got it, AND I got a picture too. I'm so inspired to practice. Well, maybe not to practice. But I sure wish I could sound like the other Joshua. :)

Other exciting happenings

Another exciting thing that happened over the weekend last week... was Homecoming. Yeah, we had a home game, and our football team won their first home game in four years! 55-14. Go Knights!

And oh yeah, last night I also went to my first ballet by the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia!. That was the only reason I went though... because they're good. And it was good... only it was a contemporary interpretation of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet... so it felt a bit more like West Side Story than Swan Lake. But it was good. And today, we had "Singles' Night" at FISH... haha... and we had sundaes, malts and then we went to SUMO to watch Spiderman 2! Sigh, still love the movie. "I've always been standing at your door". Oh yes, and I also watched all of Season 6 and I'm almost through with Season 7 of FRIENDS. It's so addicitve but so funny! I know, I'm sad. :D

So, it's been a crazy week. Lots of homework, papers due, appointments, ,meetings... but God is faithful. And God is good. It's super that in the midst of the storms of your week, He is STILL the calmer of the storm. And He is still perfect peace.

And... I miss home. And... you guys need to EMAIL ME! :) Love you all. Here's a pic of Mustard Seed. Yes we all need psychological help. Who knows, I just might be a psych major after all.