Go with the flow

Boredom. Well that word is pretty much synonymous with long school breaks. And I'm no exception. So I decided to follow my mum to her workplace. Not that it'll be a lot of fun but I need a breathe of fresh air and besides the internet connection here is sooo much faster than the one at home.

Personally, there's not much to do here but I always loved the learning environment that IIUM has. It's a picture of beauty, serenity and knowledge. You see students everywhere carrying their backpacks and books, getting ready for classes.

I could see myself in the few years to come being in that kind of environment. Well, perhaps not particularly in this university but definitely in a higher learning institution. I'm at a junction where I still don't know where to go after this. It's too early to tell anyway.

Just going with the flow. For now.

a lil bonding with the family

I draaaggeedd my parents to the Curve to watch High School Musical 3 since Nunu couldn't make it today. Call us kiddies but it's been a really long time since I spent some quality time with my parents and there's no age tag to family bonding. So what the heck!

Besides, where else can you see the scrumptiuosly hot Zac Efron belting out tunes on the basketball court at crunch time? Or him being so oh-overly-dramatic and sliding down walls to walls while singing? The movie was just okay, I guess. I prefer the previous ones actually.

My parents were like '.....uhh okaayy when is this gonna end?' But they still stayed and watched and perhaps enjoyed it at least a tiny bit. Kan? I sooooo love them-lah!

Anyway Nunu you owe me a movie date after this since you bailed out on me today ;)

Hola! Como estas?

Hola! Como estas? Trato de aprender español

Hello! How are you? I'm trying to learn Spanish. On my own, through the Internet. With Malay, English and Turkish languages under my belt, adding another foreign language would be an awesome addition. So for now, I have decided to learn Spanish as it is pretty easy to get the hang of it. But Mummy says she prefers me learning French because it's more 'cultured'. Umm okay. Maybe I'll do both! Who knows?

The prospect of learning a new language always excites me. After picking up Turkish as my '3rd' language, it opened up my world to a whole new one. A language is an insider's view of another culture and a new view of your own. It's like a journey filled with new experiences, sensations, traditions, surprises and more.

And I'm ready to travel down that road again.

Hasta pronto!

the journey

Exams were finally over for me. Whew! It went pretty well, I guess. Anyway holidays have started and I already have a few plans for it. Firstly, I need to do some catching up on my studies. Mhhm it's holidays but that doesn't mean you gotta close your books completely, does it?

I probably wanna learn a new language too. Perhaps German, Spanish or French. Oh and I need to go through an exercise regime, got lots of flabs to lose. And I need to pick up that violin and practice playing it again (it's beginning to collect dust).

This holidays would be a proactive one. No more lazying around like a big bump. Hehe. But you know there's so much I can do to plan but whether I'll follow it exactly, eh well that will be a different matter. We'll see how ;)

Anyway, here are some photos from our debating journey. I remember it like it was just yesterday that we battled against SMK Tropicana in our 1st round way back in February. I remember it like it was just yesterday when the team made its way to Kelantan with high hopes of achieving our dreams.

And I remember it like it was just yesterday when we all lifted the champions' trophy. Let us walk down this memory lane together. Enjoy!

Getting excited to board the plane for the 1st time as a team

Busy. VERY BUSY at work

Uh-huh. That's Daryl practicing his speech in a very 'unique' manner

Oh my, look at the mess we made!

A circle of love and family

7 legs are always better than a pair of one =)

The jokers of the team

Open your arms wide and feel the breeze of the sea

When debaters become cam-whores

GIRL POWER of the team

We're all in this together

When dreams come true

exams...oh exams

When the excitement of winning the prestigious Datuk Wira debate cup has died down a lil, it was time to get back to serious bussiness like....EXAMS! Since we foregone our end-year-exams earlier, we had to sit for them and cram all 21 papers into 1 week.

We had 8 hours of exams yesterday, from 7.30 am all the way 'till 4.30 pm. As loooooooooong as our debate discussions. And by the end of the day my brain felt like raisins. Dried and squeezed. Lol.

Oh well at least it was worth it.

You can't win national championships often but sitting for exams, well you could do that almost any other day.

I was reading a few blogs that had the post-Wira stories and I just felt so proud and lucky to have the chance to be part of the Wira team. We were defeated once but we came back and we came back stronger than ever.

I was talking to Keefe's parents the other day and we agreed that the most beautiful thing about the team was the TEAMWORK. Some of us may not have speaking roles but we worked just as hard and pitched in as much as we could.

No one can take that beauty away from us.

Anyway, 7 papers down, 14 more to go. ERRRKKK!!

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when.....

I asked myself 'Am I dreaming or is this for real?' whenever I thought about SMKDJ's victory in bringing back the prestigious Datuk Wira for the 3rd time today. This post will not go on full details (check Calvin's blog for precise, accurate details of the debates) but rather it will encapsulate the essence and the core of our journey to victory.

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when the Selangor champion forfeited and we came in to replace them

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we did in 10 days what others did in 6 months

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have extremely dedicated coaches like Puan Mag and Puan Koh

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have 7 young, committed debaters who were willing to skip exams and stay back until 4.30 pm everyday to prepare for the debates

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we worked as a team and helped each other in the best way possible

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we worked so hard in Kelantan that we even forgot about dinner

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when the best compliment we received was that we were well-mannered and knew how to carry ourselves well

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we waited for 9 months before we reached the finals

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we listen to the painful post mortem from our coaches after each debate and try our best to improve the next time around

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have the whole school rooting for us to go all the way to the top

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we have such supportive ex-DJians who helped us tremendously along the way and always wish the best for us

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we won a lot of hearts at the national level by just being humble and humourous

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we (hopefully) will become a better debater, a better teammate and a better person with the experience we got from this victory

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we proved our doubters wrong when they initially thought we couldn't make it

You know we are the CHAMPIONS when we created history by being the only school in the whole of Malaysia who has won the Wira cup thrice

This had been a really exhausting yet invaluable journey all together. We, the WIRA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS '08 would like to dedicate our victory to those who have played a vital role in our success. Those who made the impossible possible. Those who urged us to reach our dreams and supported us all the way 'till the end.

Puan Koh, Puan Mag, Kevin, John, Marc, Andrew, the form 3s, our parents and of course the debaters (Keefe, Daryl, Sophia, Jay, Calvin and Rachel) themselves. I could not have asked for a better support system than this.

No man's an island. No man's a debate team and certainly not DJ's debate team.

This is a story of success. And it is OUR story.

*pics will come later