And the Winner is...

The day of competition came and I was reunited with my mother. We were scheduled for a sound check. I did not realize that we will have a full orchestra and a 100 voice choir as accompaniment.

(The pic above is the Bulgarian national chorus but if you exchange them wth Japanese looking people... you get the idea. The scene looks like this in my mind

The competition was held in ocean park Hiroshima. I really wanted to try the rides but instead I had to memorize some Japanese phrases. The interpreter told us the crowd would love it. I was like parrot, I had no idea at all what I was saying. Apparently it worked, the crowd loved it. 
The competition came and we were not able to watch the other contestants. In that moment of competition I felt so alive. I actually felt tears welling up as I heard the wonderful sound of the orchestra and choir. Some people say that when they compete in international competitions that they feel the weight of the country's expectations on them. I never felt any of that. It just felt as if I was competing on my own.
 Everything after was blur. We were just waiting n the holding area when they called us up. Apparently we won best song and best interpretation of song and they presented us with a large check. I knew we'd finally get that TV I wanted.