Mandarin Speech Competition!

Thursday May 9^th, 2013

Sleep-in day! …kinda. XD So to not confuse or cause trouble for my host grandmother, I ate breakfast at the usual time (6:22 more or less) but chilled afterwards. No, I didn’t have the day off from school. Today was special in the sense that University Chinese classes were swapped for a Chinese speech competition among my Rotary district at the same University campus. The starting time was roughly an hour past our normal arrival time for Chinese class hence slight sleep-in. ;)

I use the term sleep-in really in a misleading way because I was so exhausted even before I set off on campus. Though this competition didn’t mean much, I still wanted to do my best, which is kinda difficult when all I want to do is hibernate for a bit. Therefore a quick stop at 7-Eleven and I was enjoying a small can of Mr. Brown Coffee. Mmm, yummy!

Something random and outlandish, was Akiko coming up to me and greeting me by saying “Hello my little orange firefly.” …um…ok? That’s definitely the most interesting nickname I’ve gotten in Taiwan! It’s thanks to my BRIGHT orange school uniform of course. And heck, not a bad nickname considering it holds personality. ;P

So here’s the dilly-o. There are 46 exchange students in my Rotary district and each had to give a three-minute speech in Chinese about anything. Remember me mentioning this before? All the students along with several Rotarians and four Chinese teachers that acted as judges all gathered in a small lecture room for the competition. Grading of each speech was based upon things like Chinese pronunciation, content, presentation, eye contact, time limit (penalty if too long or too short), etc.

The final topic I chose was simply telling the story of my surprise marriage in Taiwan, something different and humorous. To my pleasant surprise, I got some good laughs out of my audience, my goal in the first place. Really, I couldn’t stand to do a cardboard cutout speech of “I like pearl milk tea. I also like stinky tofu. Taiwan fruit is very delicious. I have been to this place and this place and this place. Blah, blah, blah, etc.” Heck, if I (the speaker) am bored of my speech then for sure my audience will be too. The wedding story fixes that problem quite easily!

I happened to be the fourth one up, which is amazing considering I’ve always, strangely been at the top of Rotary lists (no it’s not organized alphabetically or by country). By the time my turn came, the caffeine had entered my veins and began working its magic. Problem was another magically substance I didn’t account for had appeared. Adrenaline from excitement. Oh snaps! Thankfully it didn’t interfere with my speech performance very much and I felt good about it. Once I sat back down, then the two liquids clashed horribly inside my body. Andrea had waaaaaay too much energy to be sitting quietly so some slight shaking and rushed heart rate ensued.

As other exchange students gave their speeches, I enjoyed listening to each one even through my seemingly explosive chemical state. There were a few with good humor from funny Taiwanese experiences and some…special ones. One guy intentionally and literally tore up his speech paper and spent his three minutes calling out an animal name in Chinese, physically acting it out and then having the audience guess what it was. Another guy was so brilliantly original that it was super memorable. He talked about bananas…for three minutes…just bananas. It was a brilliant parody! I think he should be commended just for having the guts to do it!

Anyway, once 46 speeches were given, the teacher judges each talked briefly to the students as a whole then followed immediately by giving the results to the competition. A complete shock to me considering I thought they would need perhaps a day to debate together. Well I guess not!

They began with simultaneously giving three girl exchange students what I believe were honorable mention awards. So Coraline (France), Ayana (Japan) and Natassja (Canada) all received a trophy with a thumbs-up top design. Then it was onwards to announcing the top four speeches.

“第四名。。。文靜！” :D …Oh, right, a translation would be good huh? ;P “Fourth place goes to…Andrea!” WOAH! I did NOT see that coming! Totally surprised, I scurried up and was presented a trophy and a red envelope (meaning reward monies). Once the situation sunk in, I realized…my Chinese really ain’t too shabby. This calls for a triumphant BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! :D Just because of the accomplishment, I say this calls for a second BOOMSHAAKALA!!! >:D Should I mention that some students have two years of Chinese under their belt? Be proud of your Andrea! ;P

Fun fact to point out, I noticed a correlation of numbers in my case. I was the fourth person to give her speech...and got fourth place. The coincidence (and it truly is a coincidence) makes me smile. :)

Will (The Netherlands) was given third place with an entertaining speech about why people in Holland are so happy and friendly, her being a prime example.  Akiko (USA/Texas) humorously told of her teacher wanting Akiko to teach all the students a sport herself and awesomely got whopping second place! That’s both the Texans getting in top places! TEXAN POWER!!!! >:D Finally, Phil (Canada) was deservingly awarded getting first with a various parts to his speech. The podium winners all got trophies with cups for their design, the heights based on their placement, same goes for the red envelope money amount. They all did such a fantastic job on their speeches that they definitely merited their placement! Great job peeps!

Ze rewards. They took back all the trophies so they could engrave the winner’s name on it for personalization. Wow, that’s really awesome! Personal achievement, souvenir and one of a kind object all in one!

Truthfully, I like my trophy the best because of the beautiful Rotary emblem sitting on top of the clear jewel. Just because it contains the Rotary symbol, it’s even more special to me. Plus since no one else had a similar trophy, it’s uniqueness heightened to the greatest degree. Me gusta!

The competition ended an hour later than when Chinese class usually gets out so I needed to make haste to be on time for high school, even though naptime was out of the question. Once I gave out my congratulations and goodbyes, it was off to Tatung. At the campus, I dashed into Hi-Life and bought two tealeaf eggs to act as a quick, healthy lunch. Remarkably it was filling enough and of course delicious, the yolk being the best part. Mmm, I love-d nummy eggs!

Though class began, I managed to force myself asleep even for a short while just to calm down my still adrenaline-caffeine-mixture infected veins. Successful to a degree, unwanted remains still flowed after awakening and slowly subsided over the next hour.

I slightly dreaded the physical activities in the afternoon with P.E. class and Martial Arts Club, since I entered a semi-crash mode. Walking to the normal P.E. location, I noticed none of my classmates were there nor was the teacher. By some stroke of luck, another classmate came by trying to figure out where to go himself. That’s when he realized that tomorrow the class would go on a swimming trip for P.E. meaning another class was swapped for today. No matter, we returned together and no harm was done. The best part was that I understood every sentence he said! …can I? Ok…BOOMSHAKALAKA! :D

It must have been well over a month or two since I last attended Martial Arts club. Club days are scheduled specifically and relatively few considering only eight per semester so they’re not frequent. Add in that I went to Interact club for the speech on the last club day, it’s reeeeeeeally been awhile. And it showed…horribly. Sure the first part was fine cuz it was only warm-up I’m more than familiar with. I’ll admit, I did feel a bit dizzy and weak so I didn’t want to physically engage myself. Afterwards was awkwardness. The club spilt into three groups, all of whom practiced different advanced routines…none of which I knew. Andrea planted herself on a wall and just took pictures and videos.

Sword group. I remember being taught the very beginning of this routine many months ago…I totally forgot it plus they were way further ahead.

Mini group of what I assume to be the most skilled members of our club. They focused primarily on fist routines.

Best…martial arts…I’ve seen…ever. FAN MARTIAL ARTS! OH MY GOODNESS THAT’S AMAZING!!! Teacher taught three girls further steps and help in their splendid sequence. Yes, I’m fan biased. :P You can thank my Spanish exchange for that! I loved watching the fans the most, taking in their graceful yet powerful beauty. When the teacher moved on to the sword group and the girls were just hanging around, I joined them and one walked me through the very beginning steps once. It was so much fun! If I ever take up martial arts back in Texas, I so want to learn fan martial arts! It has me written all over it! ;D

One problem that contributes to why I’m exceedingly far behind in club is that they seem to stay an hour or more extra. This kind of time cannot fit into my weekly schedule so I haven’t attended. Regardless, I only have one more club meeting before I return to the States. …but now I’m really curious for fan martial arts in Texas. ;P

I’ve viciously attacked! The enemy is hated by all Taiwanese for they are incredibly annoying and prominent. Mosquitos! Both mosquito and a larger flying bug entered by room and moseyed about. With help from my host parents, we combated them with vacuum cleaner and mosquito attracting then zapping device. Then they provided me with a healing cream to my swollen pinky battle wound. :P I’m really grateful for their help, otherwise more red lumps would emerge from my flesh and have paranoid sleep.

The day wraps up here. With imaginary techno music playing in the background, I bid y’all a good night! ;D