.:: Debate Nationals ::.

Mood: Happy because of all the people I've met.

(pictures are on Facebook)

As most of you might have known by now,

our team made it to the semis,

so we ranked 3rd together with Kedah

Kedah took around 10 to 11 hours to reach,

and I've never sat so long in a vehicle.

Even the trip to Japan only took 6 hours plus.

I went there on a double-decker bus,

a day earlier, basically because my mum wanted

it to be a less tiring journey.

And truth be told, it was a good idea to travel ahead.

The hotel, Grand Crsytal, Alor Setar,

was quite okay. Not much complaints,

I loved the fact that we each had a gorgeously

big bed all to ourselves.

Banun and Marjan shared a queen-sized bed

and I had a single bed to myself,

but in the end we joined up the two beds.

Food was, okay I suppose.

I guess after the experience of going to

Pasir Salak for public speaking 2 years

ago makes the food everywhere seem completely satisfactory.

And anyway, it really was quite good

(some of the dishes)

I remember eating two bowls of porridge for

breakfast everyday, cause it was sooo good!

(despite the fact that I was kinda nervous for the comp)

(our first team picture :P)

Anyways, our first round was against Labuan.

The motion was THBT Schools Should Increase

The Importance Placed on Co-Curricular Activities.

We went up as GOV for that one.

It was great debating against Labuan,

they were like so friendly!

After the round, it was like we were already friends.

I liked Hani's voice the most,

it was so uber-cute! =)

Thanks to the One above, managed to somehow

miraculously land as best speaker for that round.

Go GOV! (Ishwaar, Me and Banun)

Us and Putrajaya =)

Second round was against Penang,

which happened to be one of my favourite

states to get food from.

Penang curry mee & laksa...! =P

*ahem*

Anyways, motion was THBT United Nations is Dysfunctional.

We went up as GOV again.

This has got to be the toughest rounds of nationals yet.

It was seriously the most challenging one.

The Penang team was really well-informed.

and it was pretty scary (and cool) how they

compressed all of that info and delivered it

at shinkansen speed.

Penang and Us (Complete teams)

No, seriously,

it was that fast that I had problems

writing rebuttals.

But of course, it was slow enough to catch and

we understood every word.

I totally loathed this topic though,

and I think I read more articles than I have in a lifetime

to prepare for this one.

(Which wasn't actually a lot)

The third round was on the very same evening,

against Perak.

Motion was THBT Free Trades Harm the Developing World.

We went up as Opposition for this one.

I really liked the third speaker for their team.

She was just so bloody sarcastic (in a good way)

Well, of course it was dissapointing to lose,

but what's done is done.

And besides, they won the whole competition in the end,

so they are pretty good. =)

One last picture before we hit the Pacific~!

After that,

we finally had time to play around.

We went to Pacific and hung around the arcade,

went to the night market to do some shopping.

(In my defence, I was shopping for dinner cause

I missed dinner)

What I scored for basketball =D

Banun, Marjan and their chocolate fountain obsession.

We originally planned to have the Malacca girls over,

but everyone fell asleep except Grace,

so we did a bit of prank calling.

Okay, so maybe I didn't actually DO the prank calls,

but I tried hard not to laugh.

(which included almost suffocating myself with a pillow)

Eza and the gang came over to prank Ishwaar too,

which I caught on video and will upload ASAP.

The finals was Perak VS Negeri Sembilan.

Motion was THBT Change is NOT Progress.

And it was the MOST entertaining round ever.

With the sarcasm and Obama, Obama, Obama,

it was totally funny.

Funniest quote (In my opinion):

If my first speaker were to dye his hair brown

and wear blue contact lenses,

if that helps him get chicks, Mr Speaker,

then isn't that progress?

And YES, he did say 'chicks'

Me and Labuan team =)

After the competition,

we had our farewells and then we went off to

visit places that we didn't get to visit on the first day.

We went to the Paddy Museum which had this

awesome scenery painted out in 3 months.

Word is they imported artists from Korea to paint it.

It makes me wonder how much more

improvement I'm gonna need to be able to draw like them.

The most interesting was definitely the growing crsytals,

and there was like a river near that place

and I got to see people fishing, like for real.

The man was even nice enough to

let me take a picture of his catch,

a real ikan puyu.

It took another 10 hours before we reached

Kuantan at 2am in the morning.

We stopped by at Tapah resthouse where

I got myself two hotdogs, which I loved

ever since eating three the last time we stopped here

on the way back from Cameron for states.

And guess what? The lady still remembers me.

In a nutshell,

it was my very first and best nationals for debate ever

and even Marjan agreed that it was nicer than

Kelantan last year.

(which I missed because of KWN Nationals)

To everyone that I met there,

thanks so much for the great memories.

Keep in touch and take care! =)