Penang-Great experience

(I will rearrange this post for better understanding.. sorry for the messiness)

Ah.. finally i'm back.. well actually.. i have been back a week already but i mean back blogging.

The trip to Penang has been a nice one indeed. It was an international competition. For some reason, i have constantly been joining international competitions although honestly, i am nothing near international class. It is by God's grace.

The flight to KL took an hour an 45 minutes. We took MAS this time as we are govenrment sponsored and boy, they have changed thier style of serving meals. It is no longer those fish or chicken, no longer those hot meals any more. Now, it meals are served in a uniformed lunch or dinner box. (too lazy to take a picture for you to see.. ha ha). The box looks very beautiful and the food tastes good too albeit being cold. They serve a sandwich and a popiah together with some fruits and a cup of plain water. Although it is not our typical local lunch, it is enough to make you full... for an hour..

The flight from KL-penang took 50 minutes with only peanuts provided. During that time a flight attendant got on my nerves. I was sitting at the front row of economy class and was putting my bag in front of me ( I didn't know i shouldn't). Just moments before take off, he spotted my bag and offered to put it in the compartment above. I was putting the things i took out but I guess i was a little slow, so he suddenly said: "5 seconds! 4, 3, 2". You could imagine me getting panicky so i decided to not put those stuff in and quickly handed the bag to him. He then smiled to me... ha ha.. I know he is trying to do his job, hadn't he smiled i would have taken his actions as disrespectful.

Upo arrival, a van came to pick us up from the airport. Together with several other delegates from Brunei and Cambodia, we headed off to SEAMEO-RECSAM.

Reception....

On our way there we could see flags everywhere, all about the impending elections where the results went the wrong way. Its great to be back after 3 months.

During the night, while most participants were busy preparing their speeches, guess what we went doing? We went shopping at Queensbay mall! Quite unexpected because you don't usually go shopping before competition. Guess that's why Batu Lintang is one of the best schools in Malaysia.

(For better pictures, check out my friendster account)

The next day started off briefing and setting up of our booths. Towards the afternoon, we went to Gurney Plaza! Also, throughout the day, we are provided with the main meals and tea-breaks but most of the time it is spicy food so I couldn't eat much.

The 2nd day was the actually competition day-presentation as we call it. It is actually like oral. Just present your findings and others will ask you questions. All of us (Nat, Liew, Ryner, Amb and I) did well but the best is still Ernest's. If you were there, you will laugh till your teeth drop. He was so nervous, making him so hilarious and witty, even the Cambodians who do not speak good english also laughed. In simple words, he sent the crowd in a FRENZY. Imagine just saying the word Mircosoft Excel is enough to make people laugh. That is what happens when pressure becomes a positive energy.

The third day was judging day for our booths. We went into the booth room one by one to be interviewed by our judges. We only have 10 minutes each. Ambrose and I did knida ok if you asked me although I think I looked a little not confident. Anyways, it was all over by noon. After that we went on our Penang island tour.

Look at the words, not the guy..

It was a tour a recommend you not joining if you get car sick easily. This is because, in other to go around the Island, you have no choice but to use a windy path up to the hills where of course you will be treated with great scenery but beware of the dizziness in store for you.. or at least me.. The bus made only 4 stops, and mostly on the road. I nearly vomitted. The bright side is that I made new friends on the trip as i get to sit with different people. One is a girl from vietnam called Thu. At first i thought her name is Two because she introduced herself saying:" My name is Thu, like the number 2" . Then I asked her if it really is spelt Two, she said it was spelt Thu. she says Vietnamese like to sing. And true enough they were singing during the trip. She is from Vietnam High School for Gifted Students. Cool right? At first I thought gifted means disabled.. wrong concept.. ha hs.. From what I heard from her, Vietnam is filled with buddhist. I don't even think she heard of Christians before but she seemed to know Yesu or Jesus in chinese. My only regret being friends with her is that i didn't share the gospel with her.

Another new friend i made was Gary. He is from Singapore and is the only Christian around from the country to participate. He doesn't seem like a nominal Christian from my conversation with him. He says although City Harvest Church is huge, a lot of teens just go there because of their great bands and not because of God. That's sad.

The final new friend i made on the trip was Smey from Cambodia. He is a Buddhist too. Regretfully i was too sick to talk to him. I could not understand him anyways.

Oh ya, before forgetting, i also met a teacher from the Philipines. His name is June. June is sociable and friendly guy. Christian too though he hops from church to church. We talked about the education system there. Guess what . Their elite school students studies from 7am to 7pm every weekday. Count us Malaysians lucky. They even have Research as a subject.

During the night, we went to New World Park for dinner. Great food there but I overeaten so I threw up some of my stomach's contents. Ooops!