Today was the first of our two day “weekend” that bisects the preliminary rounds into two groups of four. It was, to use an acronym that is increasing in usage amongst us, the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
First, we got to sleep in. Which was amazing. After several very early days and very late nights, some healthy, cliched-teenager sleeping-until-noon was sorely needed. Some keeners decided to get up early anyway – cough, cough, Veenu… – but we will forgive their transgressions for at least the moment.
After what I counted was an average of about 14 hours of sleep a piece, Lyle, Jonny, Iqbal, Veenu and I decided to head down the beach for a little bit of relaxation in the sun. Because, you see, what one needs after more than half a day of sleep is some lying in the sun. Sarah and Sophie were already there, and what followed was an incredible combination of hot tubbing, swimming in the pool, and just soaking in some rays. I, for one, have to keep reminding myself that I am at a debate tournament.
After a few hours of lounging around water and sunbeams, it was time for the day’s real adventure: a mini-safari into the desert. After a fairly lengthy bus ride and a harrowing trip in Land Rovers over the sand dunes, the whole WSDC contingent, almost 600 people, ended up in a cordoned off area of desert next to Qatar’s famous, seasonal inland sea. There were a number of things that then occurred, including, but not limited to:
- Beach volleyball, in which I bashed my thumb up pretty good
- Dune surfing on a snowboard (it sounds exactly like what it is)
- Running down a hill and trying to clear a wall into a bouncy castle, which is way more fun that it sounds, yet exactly as childish
- Trying on traditional Middle Eastern clothes
- Riding a camel
- Listening to thumping pop music from 3-4 years ago, which gave us all strong flashbacks to Gr. 8 dances
- Watching an impromptu amateur fireworks display
- And getting a pretty nasty sunburn, in my case
Oh, did I mention we are at a debate tournament? Yeah.
In terms of actual debate, Canada is doing well, too. We are placed sixth so far, behind the 12/12 ballot group of Australia, New Zealand and Greece, as well as Singapore and England in the 11/12 ballot group. But here is the bright patch: our draw rocks, whereas the difficulty of each round for each country above gets exponentially harder. For instance, New Zealand and Australia are against each other in Round 8, Greece will hit Scotland and South Africa at some point, and Singapore still needs to get through Ireland. Thanks Georgie!
