Zumba Dance Instructor at Caravelle Hotel - "A night with VietAbroader Club"

        At the beginning of my junior year, I started to pick up zumba dancing. I've always been in love with latin american dance culture since the first time I watched "Dancing with the stars" on the telly.

        Albeit no expert at it, dancing has always been a great source of joy for me. Just like singing, it helps me to express myself through the arts.

        On march 31st, i was lucky enough to be hosting a public event "a night with vietabroader club" with other club members. VietAbroader club is an organisation of young vietnamese teenagers who plan and carry out projects that benefit the vietnamese students in educational ways. The purpose of the event was to engage traditional vietnamese student to various cultural activities such as Indian hand painting, japanese origami, world arts...  I was in charge of the zumba workshop, which represents latin american culture. My job was to dance and try to get the audience to follow my lead.

        In order to prepare for this event, I had to learn the choreography to 8 spanish dance songs, record my practice and send it to members in the club who are interested in learning the moves.

        During the actual event, the hardest thing I experienced was to get people up on stage to dance. Most of the audience are pretty shy, which is quite understandable. However, I made a point that zumba is not about making the right moves, but taking the effort to follow just for the sake of fun! I managed to get 3 people on stage for the first song, and the number escalated to about seven by the third, with more people hopping up along the way. Finally, the evening was wrapped up with an exciting zumba performance of a full stage!

        It was such a nice feeling being able to connect with a totally new community. I guess that's the power of music, it brings people together in the most natural way.

       After this event, I feel quite proud about myself and what I have accomplished in the end. I'd performed quite a lot on stage before, but this was my first time dancing, and not only that, leading. It has struck me that just because one is novice to a field doesn't mean one cannot ace it. Thus, I believe that I should test my ability more in areas that are out of my comfort zone to constantly challenge myself towards the better!

Long Hoa Lessons CAS Contract

CAS proposal Long Hoa Lessons

SSIS Week of Heartbeat

     To celebrate the International Women's Day on March 8th, my friend Michelle and I have decided to organize an  SSIS school event called "The Week of Heartbeat". The event is a week long (Monday March 4th - Friday March 8th) and the purpose of this event is not only to raise awareness of heart diseases but also to promote the strong bond of companionship within the student body. The profits raised during this week is also dedicated to Heartbeat Vietnam Organization - a nursery for kids with heart diseases, and Long Hoa Boys Orphanage in Vietnam.

     The brief schedule of the event is as follows:

• MONDAY "MONDAY VIBE": We organized a Monday Vibe (an SSIS musical event that takes place every Monday of the week, where students perform at the school entrance for charity), and sang songs about the heart and companionship.
• TUESDAY "TOY STORY": We officially jumpstarted the Toys and Crayons Drive. We asked teachers and students to donate toys and/or crayons for the kids the in mentioned organization. The crayons are to aid an SSIS student-led Arts Lessons for the boys in Long Hoa Orphanage. 
• WEDNESDAY "WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE": Students were given heart-shaped stickers to stick on their shirt sleeves. This is to raise awareness on the importance of the heart, emotionally and physically. Also on that day, posters about different heart diseases was posted on bulletin boards and the library in order to further reinforce the incentive to protect our hearts. 
• THURSDAY "GIFTS SALES": We set up our booth, For The Ladies, at lunch in the school kiosk. The products included various bracelets, rings, earrings, teddy bears, etc.
• FRIDAY "BAKE SALES": Friday is the actual International Women’s day. We sold the best homemade French brownies from our good friend Cecile on this day for the same purpose of charity.

The event's outcome was announced on SSIS e-news on the next Monday morning:

"From Heartbeat Vietnam:

      Hello everyone, we hope you enjoyed the "Week of Heartbeat"! Thanks to all of you, we've been able to donate 1,340,000 VND (64.32 USD) and a tons of toys & crayons to the kids from Heartbeat Vietnam and Long Hoa Boys Orphanage. In short, YOU ROCK!

¡Spread the love!"

     All in all, the event was a success. From this event, I've learnt more on how to be a better leader. Albeit ran into many obstacles along the way with the proposal and group planning, I've gained valuable experience that would definitely be of great use in my future events.

• F

Agent Orange Awareness

     September 2012, Lisa Kim (Korean) successfully organized the first SSIS student-led drama production "The Sound of Music" for her CAS project. The money made from this play would be donated to Hoa Binh Village (a shelter for Agent Orange victims in Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).

     Being a lover of theatre and the stage, I joined and was assigned the roles of sister Margareta and Brigitta. Another off-stage role I played was as a Vietnamese translator for Lisa.

     Lisa had to visit Hoa Binh village a lot in order to donate her sponsored money and to collect the official receipts from the nurses. Since few of the nurses - and sponsors also - could speak enough English, she felt that her liaisons would be much more efficient with a native Vietnamese speaker.
 
     After drama rehearsal one day. Lisa invited me to go to look for sponsors with her, and I gladly agreed. Being a sophomore then, I was rather inexperienced when it comes to these kind of official arrangements; thus, I thought it would be useful to be more informed of the matter. Times after times, I became her official translator. We also went to Hoa Binh Village together numerous times to give them the sponsored donation.

     Lisa and I are both in the SSIS National Honour Society. One of NHS projects involved a Ted Talk interview with Mr.Nguyen Duc - a member of the separated conjoined twins (result of Agent Orange) who works as an executive at Hoa Binh Village. Lisa and I went on trips again to Hoa Binh Village to liaise with Mr.Nguyen Duc, collect photos, translation of the script...

     The Ted Talk was held as a high school assembly as an NHS event to raise awareness on Agent Orange and the damage of war, with me being the live translator. The talk went well, and a lot of students participated to ask questions in the end.

     This is not a story about my CAS project. Nonetheless, it want to tell it because it actualized one of my wish since the CAS retreat. I've always wanted to do something, to contribute in some way, either emotionally or financially to Hoa Binh Village and its children, whom I love and wish of the very best for their lives.

:)
 
   

Performance with Guitar Class at Olive Café

      When I first signed up for Doremi guitar class, I just thought it'd be a great chance for me to both learn new skills and interact with those with the same interest. However, it has proved to be so much more than I expected. Not only did my guitar playing improve, but I also got the opportunity to perform in public - which is a totally new experience for me since I'd only performed in my school before.   

   
           Here I was on stage in a charity public cafe, performing in front of a big audience of wholly strangers, yet I felt alive - more confident than I'd ever been on any stage. I thought partly that was due to the cheer from my dear audience :)

      After this event, I'd like so much to thank my family, who has always been there to support me, and all of my friends, who have always been such a huge source of laughter for me. The new experience was utterly amazing. I will keep pursuing my musical dream and hopefully there'll be more event like this to come in the near future!

CAS Proposal Salsa