Altai, a place where people find their connection with many different cultures, nature and the great and colourful Russian outdoors.  Our eighth grade class was in Siberia, probably the most stressful week for teachers, but also one of the most fun weeks of the school year for the whole grade.Yes, Discovery week!  Where everyone has time to try out new activities and learn new and exciting skills.  As people have said in the past, this is the best trip in all of middle school.  During this week, the teachers want us to learn new songs and different things getting to know new songs from “tribes" and learning new dances.  The morning that everyone was getting ready to raft for, I woke up energetic, ready to get pushed and shoved in that river, to bash the water with pride!  After our thirty minute drive, we were all ready to have our rafting war. We all knew that no one was coming back to the camp without getting thoroughly soaked to the skin. We all arrived at the shore of the river, and while we were all putting our wetsuits on, some people were dreading what they were about to get into.

At that moment, I remember everything like a snapshot with a camera. That moment my head was like a memory card, saving every video or photo from a great or bad moment. When I first jumped into the river, I felt a rush of electricity all over, I got goosebumps and my blood was pumping so fast. My body knew that something that no one was going to like was going to happen. Everything went silent for a moment, I thought everyone could hear my heart because it  was racing and BOOM! I plummeted into the water like a bowling ball crashing into bowling pins.

I just needed one nudge and I was in the water! At the second that I touched the water, my whole body felt like it was under anaesthesia.  My whole body felt like it was drowning, I could not control my legs because of the rapids and the river was so chilly I felt like it took a piece of me away. I felt like it was being poked by thousands of needles.  After a plunge, you actually get used to the temperature and a certain inner warmth takes over.  My head kept on wanting to go in the water but my body felt like it was becoming an ice crystal.  When I fell in the water, it made me feel like time had stopped.  During that time, my whole body felt paralysed.

Then, reality came back with a jolt and I crawled out of that ice bath water as quickly as I could.  I remember Mr. Drake pulling my life jacket to drag me in. Once I got back in the raft, Mr. Drake was cheering and screaming.  We all had our paddles in our hands, hit each other's paddles and slapped the water!  We were all so excited, we all screamed “DR. DRE’S MAC AND CHEESE!”

Oh do you really think that was the only time I was pushed in that chilling river?! I was pushed in tens more times into that goosebump giving river. I was pushed in at anytime possible! I got shoved in that water by one person mainly, John! He did not know what he was getting into. At the end of the day, everyone was tired but was paddling to get to shore. So this was my last chance to get what I wanted. I wanted vengeance! Then I saw the perfect time to get payback, everyone stopped paddling and I saw Mrs. Smith’s eyes. Her eyes were like a snake’s eyes. She knew that after John had pushed me in that water, that I wanted to have revenge.

As everyone already knows, Mrs. Smith is the queen of revenge. I was glad that she was on our raft because she pushed John to the water real hard for me. After that shove, everyone got excited that everyone started pushing each other off and this was Mrs. Lambert’s moment to get everyone off. Her mission was to get everyone off that boat except for the guide. The revenge that Mrs. Smith did was my highlight of my day.

In this whole trip, I know that this day was one of my highlights of this full week.

I was happy that the water had been so cold. I was happy that the river was not warm because then it would not have been the adventure that it was and would not have  the permanent memory.  I can now say, the water was so cold it had a piercing feeling! It was the first time that I had rafted in water that cold, I was happy that I tried something new.  When we first started started rafting, the instructor asked “Would you like to go on the right which is tame or the left which is very strong?” We all looked at each other and screamed “Left!” What is the point of going right? Wasn't Altai supposed to be about learning new experiences?