Mexico = Para.. para..paradise!

Hi everybody!

I hope you're enjoying your Christmas Break! I am having the time of my life here. Life's so good!! I love being with my family! When I got home, I literally felt like I was living my own version of Coldplay's song "Paradise"; watch it on YouTube is way cool!

I had a recital last week and it went pretty well. A lot of people came, and I'd like to thank all of you who could make it. Someone told me that it was the most amazing experience he has had this year! I believe him and I don't think it was because of me, but because of the music. Liszt B minor Sonata is one of the greatest pieces written for piano; it's full of all sort of feelings you can experience! It's evil, romantic, joyful, triumphant, sad, and intimate all at the same time! I guess that's why is 30 min. long haha..

I've had the opportunity to visit my very first piano teacher! She's really old now. My mom and I went to her house and it's so interesting to me how the smell of her house brought back many memories from my childhood. I wish I could have taken a picture of how she set up the table for us. Oh my goodness, I almost cried. She was a great concert pianist. She studied in Germany for a while, where she met Claudio Arrau! She was also very good friends with Francis Poulenc!! My teacher and her brother premiered Poulenc's concerto for 2 pianos in Mexico City after working with him in Paris! How cool is that!? I'm very proud to say I studied with her.

I've also had the opportunity to eat all the good food haha.. I feel like I can never get enough of it. My mom made sweet gorditas with hot chocolate last Sunday when we were at our grandma's and watched Sunday movies. I've eaten my favorite tacos about 4 times.. haha they're SOO good! I love to hang out with my friends here.. is just way too much fun!!

Also.. one of my dreams came true!! I can't really post about this but I've shared it with my closest friends. All I can tell you is that I wasn't expecting it at all. It was a really sweet experience :) ... and no.. Isn't about me being engaged.

A very good year went by, full of good memories, lessons learned, happiness and many other things. I'm very lucky to be at BYU.

Here's a picture of my family.Words can't express how much I love them.

I'm very grateful for my family and each one of you. Thank you for your support and friendship!

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012!!

The joys of teaching piano

I love teaching piano! It's so rewarding to see your students' progress!

For my piano practicum class, we have to bring one of our students to have a lesson in front of the class. After your lesson, Dr. Anderson gives you some insights and ideas to improve your teaching. Well, today was my turn and my student came to class this morning. I've been teaching Peter since the 2nd week of September, so he's been taking lessons from me for about 2 months. I was kind of nervous, but I think it went really well. He played 3 pieces he's learned from the first Suzuki book, and he played really well! I was surprised! He's usually pretty good, but I thought he was gonna get nervous to play in front of all of us, but he managed it really well. Dr. Anderson said it was really impressive that he's only taken piano lessons for a couple of months and he's playing really well! :)

His mom told me that she's tried to make him take piano lessons before, but he wasn't interested, so he didn't; but now he's practicing all the time, and his sister is jealous that he's taking piano lessons, so I'm gonna teach them both in January! I'm way excited! Peter is so dedicated. He always comes prepared to his lesson. Last lesson was on 11-11-11, and I asked him if he had a special wish to make at 11:11, and he said:"I want to be a better pianist", isn't that cute!!!??

He brought me a gift today, and I opened it and saw a pair of "smart" gloves. They're SO cool!!! You can use your iPod or phone without taking off your gloves!! I've showed them to everybody because they're so dang cool! haha..

On the other hand, my piano lesson was today, and it went pretty good!

Then, I got a root beer float to celebrate that my day has been freaking awesome!