Back from Arau...

This will be short since I'm still gaining my feet back :D

Well 11 hr bus rides can be fun:
1. Random singing
2. Endless talking
3. *!*-gilo
4. Sleep
5. Food at places you'll probably never go to again

The debate at Arau was different from last yr:
1. More teams participating
2. We had teams from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia & Taiwan
3. We had double-quarters rather than octo-finals
4. The food was marginally better
5. Many new faces
6. Trips to Gua Kelam (which I didn't get to join coz of my blasted ankle)
7. Both UMP teams made it to top 10 by round 5

Yet there were disappointments:
1. Judges who couldn't differentiate between new matter & a rebuttal
2. Judges who somehow didn't catch key words which were emphasized over & over again
3. Topics that were too general for Australasian debating format
4. Some topics were just plain silly
5. The food served for the Opening & Closing Dinners were not very good
6. Insects still colonized the beds
7. Previous AO T-shirt was better

All in all:
1. I'm thinking of becoming a judge the next round
2. I've faith in our junior teams to do better next yr
3. It was Che Chi's last local tournament, we'll see her in Australs July :)

Comments

CDanvers said…
woah, you juz came back from Arau? no wonder u were gone for the whole week...
June 1, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Rowan said…
Yeah :p We were at UMP for training prior to that :D
June 2, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Radin87 said…
Nice work Rowan..
keep up the good work..
:)
June 3, 2009 at 7:41 AM
Rowan said…
Thanks Radin! :)
June 4, 2009 at 12:51 PM
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