Journey four: Personal Narrative Speech (First Draft)

My First Piano Recital

Name: Hosung Kim A

Class: 10v1

Number: 131048

             “Clap, clap, clap!” The meeting of two hands awakes my senses. The feeling of exhilaration, nervousness, and joyfulness felt all at once. I started thinking to myself ‘this is just another practice.’ My fingers were racing through black and white colors. ‘The last line left. One more melody’ and I saw the world explode.

             One day, when our family was eating a normal happy dinner, my father suddenly suggested an idea to me. “Why don’t we go to Europe?” he said. There was a moment of silence and I thought ‘Is he serious?’ as he never liked spending money on things like vacations. I asked “Why? Isn’t it too expensive?” checking if he wasn’t teasing me. He usually does a good job so I was very suspicious. He said “It’s time that you see the world as a whole. Let’s go on a trip.” I was so thrilled to see my father speak with certainty. So the next week I was in a plane going to Europe just like that.

Fontana di Trevi

             I turned around and I saw the Colosseum, the Vatican City, and the Fontana di Trevi. I couldn’t believe it but I was actually in Italy! After a full day of sightseeing I went back to the hotel to take some rest. I asked my father “When do we eat dinner? I’m starving.” “Wait a moment” he said. He was taking a shower.

             When I was eating with my father we sat next to a few foreign travelers. A moment of weird silence passed and I said “Hello.” As it was a common manner to say hello. They suddenly stared at me and one man told me “Oh~ you can speak English.” And our conversation continued. I asked them “Where did you come from?” Each of them answered “Portugal, Sweden, and India.” And I thought ‘None of your first languages are English.’ Then the Swedish couple asked me. “Are you from Japan?” ‘Yes, the old all Eastern People are Japanese was in session.’ I answered “No, I’m from Korea.” And you can easily expect what’s going to happen next. I explained about Korea.

             After a lovely meal I was taking a rest, sitting on the table watching the night view of Italy. Then I saw a grand piano covered with dust. I asked the Italian waiter, “Can I play this?” He handed me the keys. I started with a soft tune and felt the piano. Suddenly I noticed that lots of people were around me, all listening to the beautiful melody. After a song ended they applauded. As time went by people began to sit down and ask for more. I was nervous as it was the first time I ever played in front of the large group. Even though I missed some notes they all cheered for me. After playing for a while an old man asked me “What a nice tune, you play the piano very well. May I ask you where you came from?” With confidence filled in my eyes I said “Korea.”

I returned to the dining table after having conversations with the crowd. My father and the foreign travelers were in deep conversation. As I sat down the Portuguese woman asked me with her eyes wide open “Was it you who played the piano?” and with a wide smile I said “Yes.”

             The next day we traveled together as we became friends. Along the trip they asked me several questions that were hard to answer. “What is Korea like?” It was the first question that they asked me. I answered “Hmm… I guess it’s like a home to me.” They all laughed and said “Of course it’s your home, it’s your country.”

             As I look back to the trip now, I wonder if any of my foreign friends still remember the conversation that we had in Italy or the questions that they asked about me and my country. I’m not sure if every one of those people remembers the conversations, but I’m pretty certain that some of them do and as they watch “Gangnam-Style” on YouTube they’re going to think ‘Hey! It’s Korea!’

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