This June holidays, I felt, had been a holiday most well spent for Renee and being so, it had, in Renee's own words, 'seemed longer' too, :).
Since the time she's started formal schooling last year, I've been looking forward to these school holidays when we can relax abit on her daily routine and look forward to some outings/fun, but not this June.
From the very first day of the holidays, she's had her violin exam at Nafa and then, concert(Vienna's) rehearsal the next.
On Monday, together with the other 9 grand finalists of the Young Talent Project 2013(the finals were held a couple of wks ago), she was at Mediacorp's for an interview and some publicity activities. Needing a mobile phone replacement(my i4's damaged by Rachel, :D), we were dropped off at Paragon and ended up with a Samsung S4(papa's choice). Then, it turned out that it was only the LCD screen of my i4 that was damaged and repairable at a minimal cost of $70, not like what the staff at M1 had advised - its motherboard damaged...
On Monday, together with the other 9 grand finalists of the Young Talent Project 2013(the finals were held a couple of wks ago), she was at Mediacorp's for an interview and some publicity activities. Needing a mobile phone replacement(my i4's damaged by Rachel, :D), we were dropped off at Paragon and ended up with a Samsung S4(papa's choice). Then, it turned out that it was only the LCD screen of my i4 that was damaged and repairable at a minimal cost of $70, not like what the staff at M1 had advised - its motherboard damaged...
Tuesday, as we have not packed the luggages, I planned to have a nice quiet dinner at home but papa thought it'd be nice for all of us to dine out and we could also try to get a new pair of sneakers for Renee, for the trip. The unpleasant experience at the Streats restaurant(they had refused to let Rachel have her own home-prepared food and she was crying whilst we repacked the food back into its container before leaving the place in frustration) spoilt our mood, but as we were already too late to go back to Swensons(need to re-que), we headed for a quick bite at Macdonald's. I've already lost my appetite by then... Luckily, we managed to grab what we needed at the last minute and rushed home to complete the packing. When it was time to leave for the airport, Renee came out of her room, hugging her meimei and crying sadly. Why? Well, we had initially planned to go on this trip as a family but we had to cancel my and our toddler's tickets when we were informed later, that the arrangements might not be convenient/suitable for our younger one afterall, haiz. We had to forfeit a good amount of the ticket fares(both SQ's and the internal flights in Europe) as a result. Anyway... Renee cried all the way from home to the airport and our little one wasn't spared the separation agony too. She kept crying for chehcheh and papa and was so tired that she dozed off sobbing. I was prepared for the 'saying goodbye' part but I didn't expect that she'd wake up every 20-30 mins after I left her in the room, thinking that she's fallen deep asleep.... However, it didn't take her long to recover from her 'sadness' and was 'okay' the next day onwards.. Perhaps, she really understood the need of papa and chehcheh going on this trip. Of course, my being home with her and the rather frequent visits from my sisters had helped too I supposed, and I'm truly thankful for that. Rachel even got cosy with my gf, Vicky, when she came over, :).
15 days passed quickly and Rachel was really excited abt their return(18/6) but the holiday mood had to 'end' for Renee as she had only a few days left, to prepare for the Gala Concert. Due to jet lag, the few days following their return were really bad, and though there had been some practices, they were minimal and hardly of any quality as Renee was constantly feeling lethargic and sleepy...
Then, on the same week, we received a pleasant surprise! - an invitation by the Symphony92.4FM, to go on an exclusive live interview on the news radio 938Live(on the 25/06, 7am) with their VP, Ms Wang Ya-Hui, whom is a renowned International conductress before she joined the Mediacorp. We are honoured and thankful for this special opportunity...
Ms Wang had kindly arranged a violin loan for us and although we were presented with 2 newly custom-made ones, 1 of which came with a really good bow. Unfortunately, Renee's unable to use the violin as the bow's much shorter than what she's currently using and we also did not want to paste any cushion padding(which Renee would feel uncomfortable without...) onto the instrument(s).
On 26/06, Renee was dropped off at Mediacorp's, for a pre-event get together session with the hosts and on the 27/06, Rachel was brought to my sister, Eileen's home, as I had to stay with Renee at Mediacorp(for some sound tests/runs, which lasted til ard 8pm). Prior to bringing Rachel over, I've actually prep-ed her, letting her know that we needed to put her there as I was required to accompany chehcheh's somewhere(related to violin). She seemed to understand the situation when I spoke to her and told me that she will not cry when there. She really kept to her words, but maybe Li being there to keep her company had helped too.
28/06 - the day which all these rushing/preparations were all about/for, was most exciting for Renee. As required, we had arrived at the tv theatre since around 1pm+, for the final sound-tests/runs and whilst the pianist(s) were allowed to go off for the break at mid-afternoon, we had to stay behind. Many were seen practicing during the wait-in-between hours but we didn't quite manage to find a quiet corner to let her do it, so I simply let her have a break. She did however practice abit on her own during dinner break(teacher had also stayed around).
Parents were given complimentary VIP tickets for the event but with Renee being so young and nervous, I thought I had better stay at the back stage. She had said it was ok for me to leave her there by herself, but I felt I should just be there for her. Fortunately, I did, 'cos when it was near her turn to perform, she was sooo nervous that she almost cried..... Facing a big event like this(a competition that's going on tv...) for the 1st time, I guess it's natural for someone as young and inexperienced as her to feel such great anxiety, nevertheless, I still felt for her. However, there's really nothing much I could do at that moment but to tell her that, at that point, it's no longer about winning as we're already very pleased for her to have come this far, and all she needed to do was simply to enjoy her playing/music. Needless to say, the words didn't work its magic and she was still extremely nervous and had played the piece abit too fast, :). Although we can't blame her for her nervousness, we hope that this experience can/will help guide her on how to gain more control over her nerves and playing for her future competitions/public performances(if any)...
*This event/competition has been a great learning experience for Renee and though she didn't win the competition, we all felt that she's already done a great job to have come this far and compete at the grand finals against experienced performers and award winners(something which we only noted later from the programme agenda provided).
We thank all whom had gone to the tv theatre to render their support to Renee that day and our sincere appreciation to her teacher for his dedication and moral support...
As requested by the station, I am unable to upload her performance on that day but, for the benefit of those whom would like to listen to her playing the piece, here's another video:
http://youtu.be/lktU-mGWCGk
28/06 - the day which all these rushing/preparations were all about/for, was most exciting for Renee. As required, we had arrived at the tv theatre since around 1pm+, for the final sound-tests/runs and whilst the pianist(s) were allowed to go off for the break at mid-afternoon, we had to stay behind. Many were seen practicing during the wait-in-between hours but we didn't quite manage to find a quiet corner to let her do it, so I simply let her have a break. She did however practice abit on her own during dinner break(teacher had also stayed around).
Parents were given complimentary VIP tickets for the event but with Renee being so young and nervous, I thought I had better stay at the back stage. She had said it was ok for me to leave her there by herself, but I felt I should just be there for her. Fortunately, I did, 'cos when it was near her turn to perform, she was sooo nervous that she almost cried..... Facing a big event like this(a competition that's going on tv...) for the 1st time, I guess it's natural for someone as young and inexperienced as her to feel such great anxiety, nevertheless, I still felt for her. However, there's really nothing much I could do at that moment but to tell her that, at that point, it's no longer about winning as we're already very pleased for her to have come this far, and all she needed to do was simply to enjoy her playing/music. Needless to say, the words didn't work its magic and she was still extremely nervous and had played the piece abit too fast, :). Although we can't blame her for her nervousness, we hope that this experience can/will help guide her on how to gain more control over her nerves and playing for her future competitions/public performances(if any)...
*This event/competition has been a great learning experience for Renee and though she didn't win the competition, we all felt that she's already done a great job to have come this far and compete at the grand finals against experienced performers and award winners(something which we only noted later from the programme agenda provided).
We thank all whom had gone to the tv theatre to render their support to Renee that day and our sincere appreciation to her teacher for his dedication and moral support...
As requested by the station, I am unable to upload her performance on that day but, for the benefit of those whom would like to listen to her playing the piece, here's another video:
http://youtu.be/lktU-mGWCGk