Abang None Jakarta Selatan '11

Woww. I didn't realize that I haven't post anything in almost a week! Time flies..

Anyways, I'm feeling so exhausted right now. The selection for Abang None Jakarta Selatan 2011 last Saturday and Sunday was sooooo tiring. I arrived at 8 am and got home at almost 1 am. It was like I spent the whole two days at the Mayor of South Jakarta's office.. Plus, we had to wait all day long. I never thought that waiting could be more and more exhausting than doing something.

On the first day, the contestants were judged by seniors of Abang None Jakarta Selatan. We were divided into several groups and each group consist of 10 people. We had to move from one post to another. There were five posts with different topics such as foreign language and tourism, history of Jakarta and Betawi's culture, psychology, government & appearance and public speaking. I was nervous that time because I didn't prepare anything. But I tried to give the best that I could, even though I knew that I could have done better..

It was almost 12 am and I was waiting for the result. They had to choose 80 semifinalists and guess what? I was one of them :) Well, I was very surprise because all the contestants were great and I honestly, I didn't expect that I could went through it. So, all the semifinalists had to go back on the next day for the next selection to determine 15 pairs of abang none as the finalists. I went back home and had 4 hours sleep which was not enough.

So, the selection for the next day was pretty much the same as the day before. The different was we had to present ourselves in pairs, just like the real abang none and there were five external judges with five different topics. We also had been taught about the signature greeting of abang none. Well, I have to say that the greeting was not as easy as I've seen on TV. My partner and I had to rehearse couple of times to make it perfect. The second day was tougher than the first one. I wasn't very confident with myself because all the contestants were really good.

Finally, it was time to announce the 30 finalists.. And I didn't go through.. Hehehe..

To be honest, I wasn't upset because I really enjoy the whole process. I met new friends, I gained more knowledge and It was pretty amazing to be the semifinalists. Besides, every cloud has a silver lining. Maybe that was a message from Allah says "You have to finish your thesis first", hahaha.. I'm sure that the judges have chosen the right finalists who have the quality to represent South Jakarta on the grand final. What an experience :)