A rose by any other name. . .

SUB-i-a-co or Sub-i-A(h)-co?

The correct pronunciation of Perth’s famous north-northwesterly suburb was the subject of a debate that nearly ripped the Australian 2018 IOI team asunder in Sydney.  They were going to call it the Battle of Subiaco, but they couldn’t agree on how to pronounce it – so they just got on the plane to Hong Kong. The ferocity of the debate can be clearly seen in the picture below:

Subiaco

After a medium-long flight where Jerry demonstrated perfect a perfect mid-aisle sleeping technique (10 points to Gryffindor!), and where there might have been snoring from some of the accompanying adults (ahem, Robert), the team landed safe and sound in Hong Kong and then got straight to work.

Serious or Not

Funny thing is, that only one team member is ‘working’ in this picture – hint:  it’s Jacob (personal message from the author – chemistry homework is always a bit of a pain.  Much better to stay with maths and informatics.  Fight the good fight, Jacob!!!).

After landing in Japan, there was a bit more of this:

Wiating Again

And then the team arrived in Tsukuba and had a good (Google-translated) feed:

Hard Yakka 2

After a good night’s rest, a massive thunderstorm killing power to the hotel and half of Tsukuba, the team registered for the competition, met their guide (no, guides! – thanks Macedonia!) and moved into their competition accommodation (NB:  famous IOI war photographer R Newey, second from the right):

Hard Yakka

As the day drew to a close, there was one last major unexpected socio-artistic revolution as Robert and Ishraq signed contracts with what is likely to be the most popular pop act of the 21st Century.

World's Most Enthusiastic Girl Band Ever

They’re still working out the final band name but they’ve narrowed it down to two:

Alpha Skip

Or

R-tree

Their first album should be out before Xmas 2018 (hopefully, Robert and Ishraq will have learned to smile for the cameras by then).  The album will be available via the Australian Mathematics Trust website.

Tomorrow it all kicks off, with the official opening ceremony, a practice session and then some last-minute so-called “fun time” before contest day 1 on Monday.