National Youth Congress.
No Johnny's today :) But I'm getting my latest copy of Myojo and Popolo tomorrow! :)
Today, July 28 2007, I attended the 4th National Youth Congress held at the U.P. School of Economics; I was with 9 other schoolmates and 2 teachers. We got to U.P. before 8 o' clock this morning and when we arrived, delegates of the different schools were already there. Since me and my schoolmates were just juniors, we felt so small because the other delegates were all seniors, and scary!
The seminar was all about discussing the causes and effects of Labor Migration in the Philippines, and as many others know, 10% of the Philippine population are actually Overseas Workers. Anyway, the seminar started with a guest speaker, a doctor from i don't know who specializes in economics; her lecture was very good and all, she was pretty nice but the problem was, eventhough not directly, it was like she was encouraging us to actually migrate to foreign countries and work there. whaaaaat?! Plus, the doctor was asked questions about the topic she had just discussed and sometimes, she couldn't answer directly to the point. We had our break after the lecture and then proceeded to watch a documentary about Doctors who shift to Nursing because they want to go to U.S, where the pay is much higher. I felt bad for those doctors but not so much since they seem to be happy and content with what they do for a living. They did have a point too -- there was nothing to be ashamed of what they decided to do, at least they are able to help other people in many ways. Then, we ate lunch in a classroom with other schools, but we didn't get to know each other; everybody was busy eating! :)) Our History teacher bought us ice cream, then we sat on the grass and chatted away, took pictures, did crazy stuff until lunch break was over. I got somewhat irritated with my seatmate becaused he kept on imitating the way one of the speakers talked. The speaker wasn't really good in speaking in English and still had her Bisaya dicition/accent.
I'll be honest and admit that I got bored during the lectures so all I and my friend did was talk to each other and gossip! :) But I wasn't that bored anymore when it came to the extemporaneous speech contest. The first contestant was super good in speaking in english and used high-falooting words, she spoke too fast so only a few probably ended up understanding her. Some contestants were indeed good in speaking in english but their speeches don't have that much relevance to the theme which is, "The Rise of Women Breadwinners". One guy started his speech with "All men and women are equal..." and ended it with "...so I think a mother can still be the breadwinner of the family but the father will be better " Okaaaaay. His irony is running high, I guess. He probably couldn't relate to the topic because he is, afterall, a boy. But another guy's speech was really interesting; he was cool and funny but he ran out of time and did not get to finish his speech. Awwwww. After a few more contestants, it was raining hard outside with thunder and lightning which resulted in an electricity cut-off. Since U.P. was known for having scary buildings (they're almost a century old and are known for lingering ghosts), a lot of students were screaming their heads-off and raised their feet to their tables -- including me! hahahaha! I got home safely, anyway :D Unharmed or whatsoever, just tired.