Festival Special 7: Speech Taikai

(Thanks to Doohee-chan, Hakukun-san and Dzaid for all the photos!)

Amidst all the lousy digital luck (more like digital f... never mind), I have one happy announcement to make. Well, I'll let you know later.

Last friday, my school held its 11th Japanese Speech Contest. Few weeks ago, everyone had to write an essay about anything they like. That's like saying "Hey take your time to think of a theme, and spend the very last hour writing the freaking essay! Wahahahhahaha!" :(

After that, we had to give our 3-minute speech to the class. Two representatives were chosen by classmates of each class. I was among the chosen ones. Oooh, the chosen ones.



For every participant, there is a classmate to introduce him/her before the speech. This is my, uh, "introducer". Hemmin-san from Korea. Pretty, smart and a handy-man (handy-girl?). Bring some materials to her and she'll cook up a beautiful necklace or bracelet. Looks like the real thing in shops, I swear!



And this dude, wow I'm so proud of him. He's usually so quiet, yet he was chosen to participate by his classmates. Go Dzaid!



Two wonderful Koreans from my class. We were all shocked that my classmate Go-san was chosen by the principal to be the MC. He might be tall, but his voice is like a mouse. But he did great that day! And on the right is Bomi-san, the most stylish girl in Japan and Korea! Hell, maybe the world!



My title was "Kodomo mitai ni benyou shimashou" (Let's study like a kid). According to a recent read, the secret to being good in Japanese is to be a kid. Children are curious, love to ask questions and play language games. Thought I'd share it with everyone.

My hands and legs were shaking like hell. Told everyone that there was an earthquake, but noooo they didn't listen. Sheesh. The joke actually worked two-fold in Japanese:

Me: "Jishin ga attan da yo" (There was a jishin!)
Other people: "Te iu ka, jishin ga nakattan desho?!" (Urm, more like there was no jishin rite?!)

Jishin means both earthquake and confidence. Geh...



This is Nae-san, the other representative of my class. Voted by everyone (including me) as the prettiest girl in class! She has a gentle composure and is smart to boot! Uh, perfect being, maybe?

She talked about her home city Seoul. Did you know that there's this wonderful place where you can see people rushing like mad through the streets in a distance, but where you sit is this peaceful and serene park? Must go there one day.



And Dzaid won the biggest surprise of my life award. He's usually very quiet, but wow you gotta see this fella talk that day! Was like a politician! His title was "My life in Japan". He kept complaining about the boring title, but it was the content that mattered.

"...whenever I buy stuff, I have to think in terms of Ringgit. That's FOUR (he shouted here to nice effect) times more expensive! Whenever I go to a restaurant, I must always eat the CHEAPEST item!

...There's one thing I love about Japan though. It's this! (holding up a packet of tissue, like in pic) On the streets, it's given FREEEEEE!!!"

The contest is a vote-by-all system, and I voted for him! Not being biased or anything, but it was truly a great speech. Great job Dzaid!



After 16 speeches, the votes were counted and everyone took a 15-minute rest.



Just to introduce another great classmate of mine, Janette. She's a Taiwanese who lived in Canada for 10 years, and is the only other classmate who can speak English! She loves dancing, and has been in dancing schools for some time. She has intense appreciation for the arts too.



Oh, here comes the great news. I was voted by the majority as the best speaker of the contest ^_^ Won myself a FREAKING TALL trophy (taller than the second prize one in the pic), a Pilot pen with my name printed on it and a cert. I'm so happy, would be nice to win some money though :P

Today, my sensei told me that I really looked like a lecturer when I was giving my speech. He he he he he he he...



And of course, a lovely (and blur) group photo is a must. I dunno what the people on the right are doing though, lol. This was taken by Doohee-chan's camera...



...and this is the exact same moment taken by Hakukun-san's. He's the guy in front, and he's from Taiwan. The cool badass guy of the class.

The lady on the immediate right of the guys is my homeroom teacher, Nakazawa-sensei, and I have her to thank for this win! She's funny, kind and I really enjoy her classes. We all love her!



The event ended early, giving us some time to eat some dinner together!



We ended up in a popular family restaurant chain, Saizeriya, in Ikebukuro. The lady on the bottom-left is my Korean classmate Hekyon-san. She's known for being a strong-willed stylish lady, and all of us just don't understand what she's doing in a Japanese Language school when she speaks like a real Japanese!

You know why we came to this restaurant?



Coz after the meal, she had to start her part-time job in the same place!



Nothing like an after-meal dose of enemy bashing eh? Nae-san loves to play Time Crisis and was real good at it, she even lasted longer than Dzaid! Man, the day is just full of surprises.



Ta-da! A new bishi-bashi game, still having its on-location test. The lady in red on the left is a Konami staff member, recording the time and reactions of our play. The mini-games are totally new, and you even use the yellow Start button to play! That's 4 button mashing action!



Of course, I introduced them to Pop'n Music as well ^_^ Bomi-san was really good, coz she played EZ2DJ since it first came out. Seriously, what next?!



Nothing shouts "Friends Forever!" like a Photo Sticker Booth, or Purikura. Protip: DON'T leave it to the girls to decorate the pics, or you'll have a picture of you with shiny eyes and a pig's nose!