What a day!
Alex was freaking out this morning as I wandered onto the bus just before it left. I’d let myself sleep
in, grabbed a slice of toast for breakfast just as I got on the bus, but Alex didn’t know that. Apparently he’d been knocking on everyone’s doors looking for me when I didn’t turn up to
breakfast. He’s such a Dad.
I didn’t have to do a speech today, but I did get to watch everyone else perform. And I tell you what
– they must have used every hard and interest question they had yesterday because every single
impromptu today was like a first round Lions Youth of the Year Question like “If you could be any
animal in the world, what would you be and why?” Naturally, those who competed yesterday were
pretty annoyed, particularly the South Korean delegation – after how hard their questions were can
you blame them?
We’ve made good friends with one of the Chinese coaches – his name is Phil. He’s very
Americanised, has a great sense of humour and enjoys hanging out with us to talk about his time
living in America and Basketball. The best part about our friendship with the Chinese is we are
getting all in the inside information they are. After all the speakers had finished Phil pulled us aside
and told us that I had finished equal third and Alex in fifth. We took it with a grain of salt, but it was
exciting news to hear.
So the announcement was made first by calling out the top ten in no particular order. As Phil had
told us, both Alex and I were named in the top ten, along with one of the Chinese speakers (the one
who had done well yesterday) who we had been told had finished sixth. Instead of announcing all of
the positions in the top ten, the announcer just called out the top three.
In equal third he named Alex and one of the Indonesia girls who had spoken about Male Victims of
Domestic Violence with her impromptus “What makes an ideal hero?” and “What makes an ideal
victim?”
In second place was a girl from the Philippines. I don’t remember her prepared but her impromptus
were “Who is the most influential person in your life and why?” and “Which teacher or professor has
had the biggest influence on your life?”
The winner was a young man from Malaysia. There was a great irony with the topic being equality
for women a male should win. His prepared discussed the economic impacts of gender inequality
with his impromptus “If you could be any animal in the world what would you like to be and why?”
and “What animal would you not want to be and why?”
As the congratulations were being issued, I noticed the judges looked very confused. I had assumed
that our Chinese informants had confused the two Australians but it actually turned out that poor
Alex had not been placed equal third – I had. The host was very apologetic, but Alex did take it very
well. I also took the opportunity to thank the organisers and judges before we left the stage to get
feedback.
Judges feedback was as expected. They informed both Alex and myself that our time penalties had
cost us the competition – which didn’t surprise me. There is never much room at the top end of the
competition and any mistake can be costly. It is disappointing that my exhaustion from all my travels
cost me that performance, but given all conditions I was under, I was really proud of how I
performed. The only other feedback was “It was clear you don’t do a lot of competitive public
speaking” and let me tell you – if looks could kill.
The point of that criticism was that neither Alex nor I started with a Good Morning/Afternoon –
which is something not done in Australia. We politely informed the judges that in competitions in
Australia it’s generally seen as a waste of time (there are some exceptions) and if they included it in
the rules then we would have happily complied, we just didn’t know. The judges, Americans, were all
really nice and positive and it was all-in- all a great experience.
We went back to the sports complex to have celebratory lunch and then kind of hung around the
place, wishing we could get hold of a WiFi password. The lack of communication was starting to get
to a few of us. Alex had started a plan to escape to Bangkok and abandon me, as I had been
informed I was required to stay in Thailand until the 26 th for a formal presentation. They were also
vaguely telling me I may need to present my speech at the dinner.
Either way, we were eventually herded onto a bus and driven from the campus into town to watch
the evening performances from some of the Universities to celebrate the anniversary of the AUAP
and the SUT (the University hosting the competition). We also had the opportunity to explore the
town, which included a Buddhist shrine and some markets. The performances varied in standard,
with the Indian delegation not even known their dance (they started to practice today) and the
Chinese delegation having about four different performances that blew you away each time – it was
incredible. I found myself some food at KFC (which was heaps better than American KFC, although
they didn’t speak a word of English and I had to order by picture) and Alex and I grabbed ice creams.
Biggest challenge? Crossing the road. Thai traffic is crazy!
Alex is off to Bangkok with a couple of the other competitors tomorrow – there isn’t much else going
on from what we have been told. It’s been a big, crazy and exciting day, I’m looking forward to
getting more sleep.
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