Day 45: My Recital

Well, you're all gonna kill me.

I had my recital today but when the time came to leave the house, no one was around to take me. It seems my host family had forgotten about my big day. I was relying on them to take me, but Yuka luckily gave me a call just before she was leaving the house and so I asked if she could swing by to pick me up. Because she had to do a couple errands, she needed to arrive early. I rushed to get ready and was able to have my makeup on and my dress and shoes in a bag when the horn beeped outside my house.

So, long story short, I forgot everything else besides my dress and shoes, including: A bottle of water for my voice, my cheap-o iPod recording device which I had planned on using to record the entire recital, and my camera. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

I have no pictures of myself in my dress, and no recording. Luckily Yuka brought a video camera, so the whole night was video-recorded. Well, the important thing is that I have the memory, I think, but I do feel bad that I can't share how I looked or sounded with anyone right now.

About the recital itself: Really, I'm just glad it's over. I was very nervous. I'm proud of myself. I sang every song and didn't forget or mess up the words to any of them, and I enjoyed myself in the moment. That said, I'm just glad it's over. It was a lot of stress to memorize and perfect 15 Brazilian songs in a matter of two weeks, and I really dislike being ill-prepared for things. I wouldn't say I was ill-prepared (I definitely worked my butt off to learn these songs), but I was less prepared than I would have liked to be. Very few people came to see me. My host-family forgot, but I left a note for them on the kitchen table and three-quarters of the way through, my host mother, Cynthia, and her daughter Manuela showed up. There may have been 20 people in the audience. What's important, though, is the opportunity I got, and for that I am very, very grateful.