比賽結束 Competition over

比賽結束了，雖然Vivian 並沒有得獎，但是我們認識了很多人。許多參賽者是音樂學院的大學生，有的已經大二了，還有一個是得過許多國際大獎，在國家音樂廳演奏過的林洛安，她得了第二名。他們彈的曲子一個比一個大，而且都彈得很棒，我們由這次的經驗和與一些人的談話中學到了許多事情，也知道以後該怎麼準備這種比賽。有意思的是，有個朱莉亞音樂院二年級的小提琴學生並沒有得名，所以很多事都很難説的。早晨Vivian 上場前我覺得比賽真是一件很殘忍的事，因為連我自己都緊張得不願意進場去聽。但等比賽完和大家溝通後，我開始覺得這真是很好的學習、經驗的累積，也可藉此建造人際網路。我想如果有機會，我會常常帶Vivian出來比賽，只是不知道要多久才能開始看見學習的成果。。。

晚上我們藉由GPS找到了一個中國人的購物廣場, 那兒有許多的餐廳，一個超市，及一家麵包店。我們找了一家臺灣小吃點，很興奮地點了臭豆腐、蚵仔煎、肉羹米粉、和鹽酥雞。可惜的是，除了米粉以外其他都不好吃，所以我們剩了一半的食物沒吃完也沒帶走，真是有點浪費。我開始有一點喜歡這種短期的比賽兼旅行，有吃有玩，但Vivian可能覺得一點都不好玩。。。

比賽是給馬用的。-- 巴爾托克

The competition is over and Vivian didn't win anything, but we get to know many people this time. A lot of the competitors are conservatory or college students, and some of them are even sophomores. A pianist who came from Taiwan and had won many international competitions, Lo-An Lin, came as well. She received the second, and I know she is very disappointed. All of them played big and difficult pieces and of course were all good. We learned some tips on how to prepare and practice through our conversation with some people. The interesting thing is, a violinist from Julliard didn't win anything, so sometimes it is very hard to say. Before Vivian started to play this morning, I thought that competition is really a cruel thing, as even I was too nervous to walk into the concert hall to listen. But after we talked to some people, I changed my opinion. I feel that it is not only a very good learning process, one can also networking with other people and accumulate experience. I think as long as we have the opportunity, I will keep taking Vivian to competitions. I just hope that we can start to see the fruit of her effort sooner.

We found a Chinese shopping square by the help of GPS system. There are many restaurants as well as a supermarket and a Chinese bakery. We decided to go to a Taiwanese food cafe and ordered oyster pan cake, stinky tofu, sticky soup rice noodle, and pop corn chicken. Unfortunately nothing was tasty except for the sticky soup rice noodle, so we didn't finish half of them. What a waste. I started to like this kind of short competition/trip, I can go visit different places and eat different food, but I am sure Vivian doesn't like it...

Competitions are for horses. -- B. Bartok