This morning "Finals Day" some of us went on a tour of Cape Town while others slept in. Our touring group was the with the first tour group on a double-decker bus. We sat on top but it was so very cold. We could see our breath! 
We were dropped off at the Waterfront at the end of the tour to meet the rest of our group, do souvenir shopping and eat lunch. We then headed back to the hotel to prepare for the Gala Dinner and final competition. 
At this point in time, no one knows who will compete as the final four. It has been kept a secret so all teams must arrive prepared to present if the team is named as a finalist. We arrived at 4:30pm to hear the judge’s instructions. We found out there would be five teams in the finals instead of four!
Prior to the announcements, teams sat through a long 8 1/2 hours of presentations, dinner, various awards and entertainment this evening.
Each team was announced one at a time. We were the third team to present. After our presentation, which was awesome, we had our first course, soup. The last two teams presented then we were served the main course. Each course was served with quite a bit of time between each one. By the time dessert arrived, it was very late.
The scores were added, added again, then- added once last time and the suspense was building. There was a tie for first, but finally the SAGE officials announced they had broken the tie.
Team USA and Team Singapore were tied through two ballot counts. It took an extra 45 minutes to revote and recount ballots. Finally Singapore was awarded 1st place by only 2 points!
Team Santa Monica placed 2nd with Team Singapore placing 1st, Team Canada placing 3rd, Team South Africa placing 4th and Team Nigeria placing 5th.
We were finally done at 12:30am. We were all so tired; the dinner, presentations, and announcement of the winners took 8 hours! We left completely exhausted but oh so very proud of our team.
After sleeping in we may do some more shopping, explore Cape Town Center and take a final tour to see the penguins before heading out to the airport. Our plane leaves for Dubai this afternoon (Tuesday) at 4:45 pm and we will arrive home in Los Angeles Wednesday, July 28, 1:45 pm.
We will be doing some final posting, reflections and photos so be sure to check back to our blog.
-Posted by Yvonne
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