2nd Enrichment Reflection - 21st Annual Kaiser Permanente Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival

The second event I attended was the 21st Annual Kaiser Permanente Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival on September 17th and 18th, 2016 at Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA. This event was hosted as a community festival for people to watch dragon boat clubs from all over California race together at they raced to the sound of Chinese drums. This was a two-day, admission-free festival brings a weekend of world-class dragon boat racing, spectacular cultural performances, delicious food, a variety of clothes and crafts vendors, and kid-friendly activities in Dragon Land where games and arts & crafts await. This was the first time I had attended this boat and it was such a pleasurable experience. The reason why I went was because my cousins and I performed as a cultural performance. We performed for both days for a 20 minute time slot as we sang and dance. In addition, I also met three women who were crowned as Miss San Jose, Miss Chinese America, and Miss Chinese Global America. I also got to meet some great sound men whom I plan to contact for future shows. This was a great experience and will be the first of many for me because I plan on attending in the next few years. After we had performed, we also have obtained another event to perform for next year in the month of May at the Asian American Heritage Future Roots Festival in downtown San Jose. Many may not know that my cousin and I have our own duo and sing and dance to pop/dance genre. I am proud to say that this is an extracurricular activity that I involve myself in for fun the main reason to show people of all ages to live out and express their dreams. This has always been one of my dreams to sing and dance and it has been one of the best experiences I have asked for. Typically, I have around 3 to 4 shows a month and perform at a wide range of events. However, the Dragon Boat Festival has been one of the most unique because it is different from my own culture and background. I was fortunate to experience Boba, Filipino dishes, Chinese Dragons and Drums and plenty of 40-foot long Dragon Boats!