They say that it's a different field up there... my little cotton park!
On the other side
Readiness is everything... anticipated shot, late at night waiting for my last train
Parisian lovers, at a jazz club in front of the Pompidou
Strangely, this cellist was playing my favourite piece... he reminded me a bit of Pierre
CDG himself
At the Louvre
I have done it!
The adrenaline rush to the finishing line in the Grand Prix that began last night coursed through the highway arteries and burned the tracks real good before I entered that room. Clenched fists, slowed breathing, you tell yourself that you are playing a part of a global movement to keep the tradition alive. And in five minutes, it was all done.
I got through the erhu examination! What an experience! What an amazing experience! It just feels too surreal, too crazy right now and I am still spinning from it. It started with a humble little instrument that I carried back from Beijing, after hunting around for days. Then we tracked down to Down Under, only to meet ill-informed and festered immigration officers that tried to break us apart. We bade each other farewell, only to be united after three months, albeit I got a new accompaniment. Not to worry, my first erhu - you shall play with me as I ride down the dusty desert lanes in Sai Ma, tugging the strings with a commanding flow as a rider would with his horse, and my new darling, I will sail down the Huang He with you, lamenting on her bittersweet beauty that defined the livelihood of the people in China.
The results will come out in a couple of months but it doesn't quite matter right now. I got here, I felt so good. I loved this experience. Just as one would, when you reached a place that you've been working for, despite hitches and hiccups in between, you got there.
Paris. As shown here, the people, the faces of some of the world's most recognised icons (The Eiffel and The Arc - I'm deliberately showing the photographs again) and just a glimpse that I like to share with you, what I saw from the different angles from where I was standing.
I got here. That's all that matters.
