Japan Wizards Competition (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from the previous post...

After eating, the award ceremony began. My heart started beating faster. It was the moment we've all been waiting for. I held my breath as they started announcing the third place winners. They read off our school name, Level II.

We won.

The name rang in my head. I froze in my seat, waiting for this to digest, unable to move. Keith and Damien had already walked halfway toward the stage so I had to run to catch up to them. But I still find it truly unbelievable that we actually managed to hold a place in the competition.

There was a question in the evaluation form earlier that asked, "What motivated you to participate in the Japan Wizards Competition?"

For most people, it was probably the all-expense-paid-for trip to Japan. But since I knew we weren't going to win [first], the trip was not an added incentive. Before entering high school, I had planned to take Japanese as an elective for all four years. But after being stuck in Yamada* sensei's class for two years, I knew I was wasting my time. I wasn't going anywhere with that class. When Yamada sensei asked for three volunteers to participate in the Japan Wizards Competition, I knew I should go for it. I didn't plan to take Japanese for another year so this competition seemed like my last chance. It is hard for me to express in words what I mean...

I've had a great passion and interest in Japan for as long as I can remember. (Of course, this attraction to Japan probably started because I was am such an otaku freak.) I couldn't wait to get to high school and take Japanese class. I remember stealing and copying Jenny's notes from class in elementary school and making myself memorize hiragana and katakana in middle school... (Dude, was I always such a nerd? o_o;) I would set goals for myself so that when I entered high school, I would be ready. Unfortunately, the past two years have been a major disappointment. The appeal of Japan's culture and language slowly died down over time. My interest in music also changed a bit too when I was introduced to Kpop music. Anyway, I guess the competition served as a last chance for me to prove myself and accomplish something. That perhaps taking Japanese class as an elective for two years straight wasn't all for nothing. This competition gave me the chance to go all out and to really learn about Japan one last time before I say goodbye (since I've given up on learning the language.)

For the past two months, I buried myself in Japan and tried to learn as much as I could given the limited amount of time that I had left. Of course, I gradually grew interested and enthusiastic about Japan again. The research was more fun than work. I studied about it because I wanted to (thank god Japan is an interesting country with strawberry flavored kit-kats and fish-flavored ice cream!) It was for myself and no one else.

This is why I was so surprised when I found out that it was my eagerness to do well, this passion, this desire alone that almost made us win [first] and land us third place, out of eighteen schools competing statewide. In fact, we were only question away from being tied with the first place winners. o__o; If we answered one more question correctly, we would have been on our way to Japan this summer.

I think that competitions (fair ones, mind you, since I've experienced many unfair ones in the past >>;) really show you who wanted to win the most and who worked the hardest for it. Because if humans put their minds on something and if they truly want it, they would get it. The first place winner undoubtly worked their way to the top, above all others. That is why I think whoever was given that trip to Japan deserved it because they worked so hard for it. =) I guess I can also say that our group didn't deserve to go to Japan anyway since my teammates did not work for it. In Level II, can you guess who won first? Why, it is that very group we beat twice during the activity games (don't you wish that was the real competition now?) and the one with that aggressive girl. I remember her. With that sort of attitude, I am not at all surprised she was first. =)

Oh well. It is too much of a stretch to have us go all the way to Japan...it would be a dream. I am content, though, because the result of this competition was already much more than I expected to receive. <3

Now, this will be the last "Random Japan Fact" since the Japan Wizards Competition is over:


I used to find the sumo wrestlers one of the more puzzling aspects of Japanese culture. Japan has some of the smallest Asians in the world, and yet they have sumo...it doesn't seem to fit. But don't think they get their enormous size from eating McDonald's Big Mac or chunky cheeseburgers. These guys gain weight through eating huge portions of healthy food. I guess these guys prove to be Japanese after all.