Over the next ten days, Lakeland District Debaters Humza Tahir and Jatin Bharwani, as well as coaches Priten Shah and Stefan Bauschard, will be traveling in China to compete for the first time.
April 10
We arrived in Shanghai mid-afternoon on April 10th and enjoyed a great “hot pot” Chinese meal where we had the opportunity to have some boiled staples — shrimp, tofu, vegetables, chicken, and lamb — as well as something new: Duck blood. It certainly was tasty, thought it was felt a little strange to think about eating it. We spent some time in the evening preparing for our debates.
April 11
We left Shanghai the morning of April 11th via train to travel to our first tournament in the beautiful city of Hangzhou.
We started the afternoon with a great lunch. The lunch included some new duck parts: Duck head and duck tongue.
After lunch we headed over to Dipont Education Management’s offices to prepare for our upcoming debates.
We then went over to the Hangzhou No. 14 high school where we will compete on Saturday for a demonstration debate against the top debaters from their school in front of 120 students. 
The topic for debate was whether China should prioritize reducing inequality over economic growth.
After the debate, Priten, Humza, and Jatin fielded questions about the academic benefits of debate and the process of admissions to US universities.
In the evening had another great meal. This time we ate at the western-style “Amigo” restaurant.