ASEAN +3 Youth Environment Forum

bismillah....

This was my third time trying to write about my experience on AYEF and hopefully I managed to finish it now. So what happen to my previous post? Well, I found my writing were quite boring so I deleted it and had start back from scratch.

So, last December was a very awesome month for me as I had two major events, the ASEAN+3 Youth Environment Forum or AYEF and also my annual college dinner for the final year seniors. AYEF is held every 3 year and if I'm not mistaken it was first held on 2010.So, I'm one of the luckiest persons (girl) that were chosen to represent Malaysia to attend last year AYEF.

DAY 1

So, my first day were quite boring as I was on plane for 2 hours. However, upon arrival at the airport, I get a call from my fellow group members saying that they missed their flight that morning. As luck was on their side, they managed to catch up another flight and arrive next morning. So, alhamdullilah, I arrived around 2 pm and greeted by Joey, our Liaison Officer. Next, we brought to The Empire Hotel, where will be staying for till the end of the forum. So, after a few hours alone, unpacking my bags and exploring my room, it is time to get ready for dinner. Around 7, we hoped onto the van and went to a restaurant at the town.

I had a hard time memorizing their names.

DAY 2

We begun our second day there and the first day of the program with the opening ceremony and also a keynote speech by Mr. Kenneth Wong from Singapore. Before tea time, we had a Q&A session with special panelists that willing to answer and gave solutions to our question and problems. The free time after dinner were used to prepare ourselves for our big presentation tomorrow morning. (quite boring on the first day huh?)

DAY 3

So, the second morning on AYEF were quite a nightmare not only for us but other participants as well  as we need to present our country paper. We only had one week before the forum (Yup, 7 days, less than that actually) to complete our country paper. Plus, during the preparation week, we also had our second test. So just imagine how hectic our life during that particular week. So, we had no choice to stay up the night before our presentation to finish the slides. So, we were placed as the last representative for the first slot. Alhamdullilah, the presentation when well and we had a short Q&A session as we're running late for our morning break. After filling our stomach with delicious food, we return back to the hall to hear the rest of the presentations from other countries. After lunch, we're the separated into groups and play some fun games just to keep us energized and awake for the last activities for day 2. So, we wrap our second day with a sharing session from Ms. Natalie, AYEF+3 Secretary. Later that night, we went to Gadong Mall to shop for some souvenirs and for dinner. 

macam kena pinggir kan.

thanks for taking care of us, Joey :)

while waiting for the van to pick us

my beautiful roommates, both of them are from Indonesia.

DAY 4

How time flies so fast and we had reached the third day of the event. So on the third day, we were asked to sit in the groups based on the colour of the card that we picked. Then, we need to discuss, programs that we would like to organize based on the country paper's presentation yesterday. In addition, we need to choose two programs based from our list, for a short and long term project. We had so much fun through out the discussion period. With a great team works, we managed to finished our power point presentation within a short preparatory time. The last night at the forum were the most awaited moment (I think so) which is  the closing ceremony, a formal dinner with the VIPs. To make the dinner more worse interesting, each country were asked to prepared a short 10 mins performance portraying the cultural aspect of their respectful country. For me, the cultural performance the only bad experience that  I had. After our show ends, I really want that one of the MIB's stuff that with a flash of white light which you can use to erase the memories. So, for our culture performance, we sang two songs and had to dance. I had record our performance but for some security issues, I had decided not to upload it. I'm afraid that I might get killed for my catastrophic dance moves. After the guest had leaved the hall, it is time for group photo session. I laughed and posed a lot that night and managed to distract my mind from the embarrassment of the cultural performance just now. Ahahaha....

missing my awesome team

From left: Helmi, Najib, Bonet, Haziq. (pose gadis melayu terakhir ke tu ain?)

LAST DAY

After wishing good bye to my lovely room mates, it is time to pack my stuffs and check out. As our flights were scheduled in the afternoon, we asked Joey to bring us around town. While waiting for the boys to get ready, I get some extra time for a walk around the hotel. As we were enjoying the breath taking views of the beach and also the pool, we look up in the sky and suddenly a big jet flew above us. Coincidentally, there was also another big event happening at the hotel involving some military officers. 

dear future husband, one day, you must promise to take me here again.

Then, it is time to hop on Joey's car and went to Royal Regalia Museum before enjoying a plate of the famous Nasi Katok. I really wished they sell it here in Malaysia. Fyi, nasi katok is basically, rice with chicken and it only cost you 1 dollar or around RM 3. It's very rare to find that kind of dishes for that reasonable price in Malaysia.

Nasi Katok !!

model tak berbayar, Helmi

MOMENTS TO BE CHERISHED

• The main obstacles would be language barrier. Even though, we communicate using English, some of us (including me) had a hard time due to weak English proficiency.
• The foods for the buffet were AWESOME! There were so much to pick, I end up taking 2-3 plates to the table.
• The youngest participant for last year AYEF is at the age of 11 from Indonesia.

Actually, there were lot of stories that I wanted to share with you guys but I'm afraid that this entry will be too long for you to read. So, if you have anything to ask, feel free to drop it on the comment box below. More pictures would be on my Facebook so feel free to check it out.