I think it has been a happening day today. We made an impact at the welcome breakfast, which was really great for all of us. I dare say we were the best introduction team (we were asked to introduce ourselves and NTU) this morning. Haha, KJ started by saying, let's invite the only thorn among the roses to speak, and alas, later in the afternoon, somebody walked up to Daryl and said, "Hi Thorn!" Oops, see what a deep impression we left =)

Then it was rounds and rounds of interaction. Heard that the Israeli team was very hostile, and we happened to team up with them for campus tour, which was good actually, cos we kind of warmed up to them, and make them talk? =) Nir fr Israel was kind of interesting, we were talking about Hebrew language (the official language in Israel) and he was writing for me and teaching me the language. Could see that he was shy and quiet by nature, so I was rather happy when i got him chattering the whole morning non-stop about hebrew language, and hey, I did learn well k? At least, I shouted YALA! YALA! (which meant come on in english) and the 2 Israelis walking behind me and Nir really quickened their steps forward, hahaha....kinda of interesting to hear the Israelis talk? I think they know a lot about their country, heritage, culture, geography, which really was unlike what we get in S'pore. I think i started to appreciate why pple say S'pore's education was narrow and functional. Whn these pple started speaking abt their heritage etc, they naturally sound knowledgeable and intellectual, and we really paled in comparison, in terms of the content of what we could communicate on? But of cos, our team was lucky bcos we made up for that with good communication skills and a cheery disposition. I think everyone in team Seattle is a great socialist, though they may not be technically endowed.

We talked to quite a no. of teams on the cruise, I talked to the Taiwanese team, Japanese team, Auckland team, Croatia team, Israeli team, Brazilian team, Louisiana team. And in the lift, we talked to like the Canada team, and tonnes other tt i really cant recall, cos there were so many of them, hahaha....think we talked to almost all the teams. And surprisingly, there was the auckland faculty professor who walked over to us whn i was talking to the japanese team, and he said "I know u are kailin!" Wow, i was really taken by surprise, seemed like wlecome breakfast and the skit worked quite well for us to be identified? He gave me a namecard later and invited me to approach him for admission into the University of Auckland's master programme, quite a nice incident. And later, when I board the bus, I had to sit with the Israeli team's faculty advisor who looked really young? Was kind of stressed initially, but somehow i manage to make him talk a bit, and we were having a fervant discussion on gender differences and handling relationships. Of cos, i told him this thoery abt how a guy bloomed at 30, and how girls experienced accelerated depreciation after 30, got him laughing real hard, and he said he was impressed with how well i understood and described Nir! Em, think we hit it really well, and chatted non-stop all the way until we reached the hotel, and he offered to give me a private lecture on gender differences, haha...its kind of like a weird encounter i would say, but interesting too!

Thn I found out tt there were students with astonishing backgrounds in the competition. Many of them were succesors to their father's businesses, and there was this Paul guy fr Auckland team who entered the University at the age of 16! I was really taken, i think there are really many different talents here, and its really an eye-opener. Hidden tiger, crouching dragon, that';s the idiom to describe the situation. It makes us feel small? But i think we learned a lot, about how to carry ourselves, and how we really wouldn't lose out in terms of social and interaction skills. =) Cheers to S'pore!

KL