Spectator Sports: The Final Day

The apprehensive day that I have been preparing for a year has finally arrived.

                “Duangkamon Huangphattarakul”, the voice from the counter interrupted me. As my heart starts to beat faster, I made a short prayer before I went into that room. I was so nervous, panicked, and tensed. My hands were full of sweat and my heart beats so fast and loud that I can even hear it pumping as I made my way into the room.  

                When I step my foot into the room, my hands stopped sweating and became so cold and numb. When I saw the exam teacher, I felt like my breath is about to stop. He gave me a warm, gentle smile and asked me to take a sit. I also gave him a smile and a wai trying to act calm, but actually inside of me, I’m freaking out!

                “Duangkamon, can you play me some scales?” the exam teacher asked. Then I nodded without really knowing what to play. So I paused for a few seconds. When I was about to put my hands onto the piano, my hands were so cold that they started to quiver. After I’ve tried to calm myself down, I started playing the scales. When I was done with all the scales, I made a big sigh.

 

 

I got it here.

 

 



“(Sigh) Okay, I’m done with one section of the exam,” what I said to myself in my mind.

“Okay, now please play your exercises and pieces,” the exam teacher said.

                By now, I’m mellow because I'm not that nervous anymore. So, just right before I started playing my exercises and pieces, I took a deep breath and wiped my sweat on my skirt. Then I started playing. At the beginning of the pieces, I was playing quite okay, but when there’s some mistake, I started to panic. As I continue playing the pieces, my mind is all thinking, “Did I play well? What should I do?” Then I manage to keep myself calm and finished all the pieces.

“Ahhhh, finally it’s the last section of the exam!” I was think this in my mind, but at the same time, I was thinking again about the pieces that I played just now, dubious that I’ll get many deductions due to the mistakes that I made while playing them. While I was still thinking about it, the teacher said, “Duangkamon, can you step to the other side of the piano? Now, it’s the oral test.” Then I immediately stood up and walked to the other side of the piano. Then the teacher started to play some short pieces and asked me questions after he’s done playing. When he asked me questions, my brain was totally blank. I didn’t know what to answer so I paused for a few seconds and started to answer tentatively of whatever I could think of, but also worrying whether I'd answer anything gratuitous.

When I’m done answering, the teacher said, “Congratulations, you’re done with your entire test. Now, you can go out and relax!” and gave me a big smile. Then I made a big sigh, gave him a smile, and walked out of the room with great relief.

“Finally…finally I’m done with my test!”

 

 

I got this here.