to hear the strings resonating beneath her fingers, her dextrous hands tuning the Ðàn tranh in the midst of her song. the mp4 files that we received in her email fails completely in comparison to hearing her music in person, live, with our own ears. to simply watch her play after years of practice, at least ten hours per day, was like admiring a masterpiece of art with both our eyes and with our hands.
i have to admit. the monsoon, our culture show, was one of the amazing opportunities that i have had throughout my whole life. but i have difficulty deciding what struck me more strongly. being able to express as calvsa our culture, lives, history, dedication, hardwork, our stories in that single, awe-inspiring night? or the three months of struggling, practicing, and planning to make the monsoon what it was, to make it what it is.
i definitely want to give a shout out to those who have poured their hearts into the show, the people not only in charge of the dances and planning, but also the people behind the scenes that made the show possible. and i definitely want to thank everyone there to support us, the people who have come to watch the monsoon unfold, the friends that faithfully waited alone at home while the many of us went out to hours of preparation into the night as late as 2am in the morning. for that, i'm eternally grateful :]
but yes, the opportunities to expand and learn so many things about myself, my friends, and the community. i'd have to say that the build up to our culture show was just amazing. being able to play alongside a vietnamese musician that is practically a celebrity made me feel so privileged. even while playing alongside her on stage, i still get mesmerized by her skill and precision with each and every instrument. joining sriracha being able to let loose and dance again along new and old friends made me feel proud of all of us, how much we improved not only individually but as a group. staying up until 2am on lower sproul refined our friendships as well as our set. working together for the dragon dance as well as performing not one but two culture shows across two different campuses was crazy. to jump onto the stage in stanford to play alongside thomas's apartment?! amazing!
it just seems that as the semester has gone by, i got to know more and more people. even though i don't have much time to just relax and sleep in anymore, bring a part of vsa and its culture show really brought the best out of me and my experience here at berkeley (besides maybe when my midterms take a hit..)
so i'm pretty much set for the year! my 4th paper is due on tuesday (my 2nd one on frankenstein..), finals in mid-may, trying to figure out my class schedule for fall, trying to avoid being homeless once summer starts....BUT NONETHELESS, my schedule won't be as clumped up as these past few weeks, so give me a call, stop by my dorm, let's have lunch, what about those summer movies coming out etc?!
so i'll hear from you soon, right?!
-alex
p.s. now i remember how much i love to dance.
