Speech contest

Finally it was time for the speech contest!

Opening speech was given by Ms. Akie Abe.

Someone very nicely snapped a picture of us paying full attention to her. 

The audience who all seemed to be dressed in either black, grey or white. I can see that there were many high school students.

Was enjoying the speech~

Even the guest of honours seem to agree~

Kuro-chan from Hanoi as the first presenter.

Followed by Yuyi from Beijing.

Next up was everyone's little sister, Na young-chan from Korea. The youngest but definitely do not under estimate her japanese level.

Ukei-san from Shanghai~

"Shiro-chan" also from DaNang, whose nickname was given by kuro-chan.

Then it was my turn.....stuttered really badly at the beginning, but I'm glad that I was able to complete my speech.

Matthew from Australia.

Guess from Nepal~

A great friend-Ashita, from Sri Lanka~

Ryu from ChengDu~

And lastly, YuHang from Nan Jing.

After the stressful presentation, we were treated to some fun japanese dance by the local dance club.

We were even invited to join the on stage~

Really great for relieving stress, plus I had fun!

The 2 from China seem to be having loads of fun~

After the prize presentation, we had a group photo session~

3rd place was Ukei-san , 1st place was Nayoung-chan and in 2nd place Ashita-san.

Super proud of them for doing so well~!!!

This speech contest had been a great experience. Just the opportunity to be there is amazing~ 

Though I did not presented as well as I should have, I've truly enjoyed myself and I've learnt that one can never be too prepared. It was the lack of preparation that caused me to stutter in the first place. This means that in future, I should no slack and be more prepared when it comes to formal presentations.

Before the Speech Contest

On the day of the speech contest, we were supposed to visit another famous tourist spot - Okayama Korakuen.

However, this beautiful study lounge for the students of the university is where we ended up~ But no one is complaining because "We finally got WIFI!!!". Hahaha.......never knew that one could be so happy just to get wifi connections. 

Well, not that I think about it, we should've gone to the korakuen instead because the place is absolutely stunning! And, I'm not sure when is the next time I will get to visit this beautiful city again. I really hope that I will get opportunity to come again!

Lol, actually how we ended up here was because one of our members got sick so we made a stop at the clinic in the uni and also, it was raining....

But we're absolutely loving it.....see, we're all too busy with our phones to even bother with anything else.

hehehe....for days we've been trying to get our hands on wifi to contact our families etc.....but failed desperately! lol.... every single we enter a room in the university, someone will be trying their luck!

Wifi aside, you get some pretty good views from inside the study lounge. I wished that my uni had such a spacious and quiet area for us to study.

After the wifi party, they brought us to one of the main research facility in the university for an eye-opening experience. 

Some of the views along the way....

Really love how the 2 universities that we visited were located on top of the hill~ The view is just amazing!

Have you seen fresh-water and sea-water fishes swimming together in the same water? Well this is where it all happens in their special water! Who knew that later in the night we would be having fugu (that do not have any poison) sashimi that were reared from this very facility.

Really happy that I got to see 2 research facility in the uni. One was the chemistry lab from the day before and the other was this. I only wished that I could visit their biology labs too!

Then finally, it was lunch time in one of the classrooms. Love the bento!!!

Everything was yummy even though they were cold. hehehe.....talking about cold food, I'm reminded of Na-chan! She was complaining that ever since we arrived, all we've been eating were cold food stuffs! In a way it's quite true......except for the foods that I ate on arrival day and the bowl of hot rice at breakfast the next morning, everything else was served cold. Even so, they taste great!

Happy faces everywhere!

After that, we were brought to another classroom where we changed into our national costumes and did our make-up! 

Speech contest 1

I think one of the main highlight for me in 2013 was winning the speech contest!

It was truly a great experience for me~

I have joined the same contest in 2012 but only got 1st runner up, so I decided to try my luck again this year. And, there were wayyy more participants this year that last year! Tough competition! Everyone was so good, even those who have only started learning Japanese that year! It's amazing to hear how well they speak even though they have not been learning the language as long as I have.

This was the overall flow of the programme.....

Thank goodness I was in the first half because I didn't want to wait so long before I presented. The long wait will truly tire one out.

Last year's topic was about our dream and it was interesting to listen to other people's speeches, especially the younger generations! If not, I wouldn't have know that one of the most popular ambitions for youths now is to become a voice actor! During my time, thanks to the influence of anime and manga, many people I know wanted to become a anime or manga artist, but now it's a whole new thing! It's amazing how in 10 years time, still due to the influence of anime and manga, there can be such a huge difference in the choices that the youths make.

I guess I was really lucky to come out as the champion as every was so good. *counting my blessings* I guess sometimes in competitions like these, besides working hard to be good, you need a little luck~ and thankfully, luck was on my side that day!

Truly happy that the prize included a return air ticket to Japan for the competition there!

 Some of the participants were really young....and at their age, to be able to speak so well in Japanese....is truly a gift! Think of all the possible opportunities that could be available to them when applying to universities or jobs in the future! 

Overall, it was truly a fun day as everyone who was gathered there that day all shared a common interest in Japanese! Plus we had an amazing dinner after the contest too~ :D