Worlds part deux

Ok, so the first few days of worlds was pretty good, but the latter days were arguably more fun.
First and foremost I discovered the Sauna and not being sick anymore.

Before I get into after new years, I missed an incredibly fun night from my last post, Global Night, anyone who was there can attest, more than a dozen tables hosted by people from around the world sharing their national alcoholic drinks. Needless to say this was a night that I banked a few drinks for my average. My favorite table was the Austrian table, not because it was particularly good, but because I got to show off and impress a bunch of people. They were busy lighting their shots on fire, then putting them out by putting their hand on the glass. I decided to one up them, sticking my finger in the on fire drink, lighting my finger on fire, then putting it in my mouth to put it out. I won, except for the one time that my finger didn't go out, it stayed lit far too long, and I ended up burning my finger, quite badly as a matter of fact. oh well, it's mostly healed now, fun times.

I spent New Years Day mostly getting better, recovering from my fever, and getting back on track to 13 drinks/day and prepping for the Public Speech final. It was a fairly laid back day that led to good for recovery.
I would like to thank Gareth for giving me the topic for my public speech, for in a break from him lamenting over his lost cell phone we got to talking about how ridiculously polite Canada is and how no one would ever invade us. Needless to say, I was massively short on topic, so this had to do. The speech went well, but didn't come close to winning, although another Canadian won. I still think the guy who talked about the Rainbow was entertaining, even if his links to the colours were stretching reason.
That night Dylan, Mike, Robbie and I decided it would be a good idea to go for a swim.
Now, the day had been quite windy, the seas were really rough,
But we didn't care, our chests did bare, for we were really tough.

In short it was awesome, Mike kept saying that he almost died, maybe thats true for him, I didn't nearly die. Yes it was rough, yes it was raining, and yes it was very dark, but I can swim, and know how to get out of trouble when currents start pushing you around.
I believe I spent the rest of the day playing backgammon and drinking, all in all a very good day, almost made up for missing New Years(but didn't :( )

The next day I watched Dan and Josh in their Octo-Final,(incidently one of the Australians who I too the bus with from Antalya was also in the round, and didn't perform particularly well) and then I believe I spent the rest of the day in the sauna and pool, alternating back and forth.
I think this was the night that we went to the club where there was the gangland shooting outside(I don't remember if there actually was a shooting, but it sounds more exciting this way). I shared the back of the bus into Antalya with Will Jones.
I don't know how many of you had the pleasure of meeting or spending any time with him, but he is full of himself, and in general is an elitist jerk(I'm sure I wouldn't feel this way if I were in his inner circle). Either way he spent the majority of the trip bashing Turkey, Canada and all the terrible debaters he judged(yes Robbie, I'm sure you were one of them).
There were some cool Kenyan dancers at the club, did some cool stuff, like pyramids, upside down pyramids, and other cool gymnastic things. Other than that though, the drinks were $9 and when i have free beer at the hotel, $9 is far too much to pay, so I left with the first couple buses.

The next day I again spent most of it in the Sauna and pool(and still catching up to 13drinks/day) Spent some time making pyramids in the pool with a mixture of Canadians, Australians and Scots. After that went to the Grand Final, which admittedly was good and entertaining. The banquet was also quite good, but oddly enough, I don't seem to remember it all but I do remember sea creatures hanging from the roof and I remember lots of drinks, and some dancing, but thats about it, also getting to bed around 4am.

So in review of worlds, it was awesome, the weather was great, the Mediterranean was swimmable in December, the Free Beer was good, the people were excellent. I didn't quite make it to 13 drinks/day, but at some point during the debate days I decided I was fine paying 1/4 of my reg towards food and accomodations, which meant that instead of 13/day I only needed to drink 8/day, which I am proud to announce I did achieve, as a matter of fact my rough calculations(found in my journal in the worst scrawl I seem to have ever written in) turned out to be 9.5 drinks/day over 9 days.

Despite performing poorly in the debate portion, I chalk worlds up as a success.

Tomorrow expect a post from Istanbul, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, and trying to get a Syrian Visa.