 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|
President: |
NEWSLETTER August 2008 For a leisurely summer off, RECA has certainly been busy! Our two sessions of Children's Chinese Culture Camp were great fun with kids learning Chinese culture and language in a setting of summer fun and play. We lost our trailer storage to the rules and regulations of permit requirements after nearly five years of negotiations with the city and federal governments. The trailer has been replaced by a series of sheds that do not require permits. Thank you to everyone who helped us empty the trailer, then to fill the storage sheds so we can have our class room and dance studio back for September classes. Thank you everyone for making RECA such a well known and respected organization in our community.
Our classes came to an end in May. Both sessions of our Children’s Chinese Culture Camp were grand successes in July, despite not being able to use the dance studio and one classroom that were filled with supplies and equipment from the trailer that had to be moved. Now, we are looking forward to and planning our 2008-09 year of language classes. This year, we have added a weekly pre-school program instead of the once-a-month pre-school play group. Our other fringe benefits will include (at no extra cost) Tai Chi for adults and English literacy for adults, both taught by David Chung. And of coarse, our after class dance lessons where kids learn cultural dances to be performed at events around the community. Adults can make contacts for adult dance groups who also perform and occasionally will rehearse on Saturday, but meet other places at other times. Enrolling in RECA language classes gives membership to the family and offers many cultural and social opportunities missed by those who do not participate in classes. Families With Children From Asia will have their annual August Moon Festival on September 13 at Galvin Park beginning at 5:00 p.m. The event is planned to feature RECA lions--hopefully some of the younger FCA kids who have shown an interest and are big enough now to perform with our smaller lion heads will be or main performers. Judy Cheung and Nancy Wang will provide lion dance and drum lessons to kids and parents who attend. The best and most enthusiastic will be asked to join in the lion performance for the evening. The event is also scheduled to include a pot luck dinner, crafts, games and lots of fun for the entire family. Each year, a different Asian culture is featured to reflect the cultures of the adopted children: Vietnamese, Laotian, Korean, etc. This year, the featured culture is Chinese.
FCA’s Chris Holland in his debut performance as a lion head at the Parents’ Performance at the end of the 2008 Children’s Chinese Culture Camp. (Photo by Judy Cheung)
Our 8th Annual Multi-Cultural Poetry Reading and Poet Luck Lunch was another multi-cultural, multi-lingual success! 20 people joined us for food, getting to know each other and to read poetry. Two came from Korea, one from Germany, others from San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, Alameda, and Santa Rosa.
RECA poet Anna Kong assisted with set-up and clean-up. Thank you Anna!; Mary Rudge, Poet Laureate of Alameda; Chaeron Min, from Korea; Rafael Jesus Gonzales, Berkeley bilingual poet and educator; RECA’s multi-lingual, multi-cultural Phi Phi Dang, Jan (between Phi Phi and Nancy) arrived from Germany this week and will be attending Berkeley High; RECA’s Nancy Wang; Poet Richard Angilly. (Photo by Judy Hardin Cheung)
RECA's David Chung and Ken Peterson from Alameda read Classical Chinese Poetry. (Photo by Nancy Wang)
Ok Min, from Korea visiting Joe and Nancy Wang this week, reads Korean Poetry with Mary Rudge, Poet Laureate of Alameda, reading the English Translation. (Photo by Nancy Wang)
Jan, a high school student from Germany reads with his host mother for the week, Cindy Levinson of Oakland. (Photo by Judy Hardin Cheung)
RECA's Lillian Ozorio and Phi Phi Dang team up for English and Chinese. (Photo by Judy Hardin Cheung)
Rafael Jesus Gonzales read with Anna Kong for Spanish and English. The second round of reading was solo with original work, or poems of the reader’s choice. Rafael started a lively discussion with his statement, “We Americans need to be less linguistically challenged.” The Multi-Cultural Poetry Reading and Poet Luck Lunch is cosponsored by RECA, Poets of the Vineyard Chapter of the California Federation of Chaparral Poets, and Artists Embassy International. (Photo by Judy Hardin Cheung)
RECA Annual Picnic Highlights from 2007 Annual Picnic:
Phi Phi always has something special for us.
Games for the kids are also fun for adults 2007 had RECA's first ever piñata.
Photo Displays and information on classes, events, and RECA activities.
Fun and recognition for members of ages.
Visit with old friends, new friends, friends you haven’t seen for a while, friends you see every day and a few friends you never met before. It was a sad day at RECA when we had to empty the trailer so it could be moved. We were fortunate enough to finally find a buyer just days before we would have to demolish it or pay huge fines because of not being granted permits to have it after nearly five years of negotiations with various City and Federal agencies. In preparation for its moving, we had to move all of our lion dancer costumes, our dragon, our extra chairs, equipment for our Chinese New Year
Banquet, supplies for our various events, and accumulated donated items used for a variety of different situations. We put out the request for help, and help came. At least 20 members and friends showed up to help us move. From old timers to people meeting us for the first time, everyone pitched in and emptied the trailer into a classroom, the dance studio (garage) and along side the garage under a tarp. On August 4th, we obtained new storage sheds and had to move everything again. At least now we
don't have to worry about permits, and we have our classrooms and dance room back. Nancy Wang, with help, moves a platform from the trailer to the house. Lee Pierce, Santa Rosa City Council Member (background) was present and helped with many arduous tasks, and was impressed by the RECA community spirit.
Each morning started with Tai Chi lead by David Chung. Parents and family are invited to join in.
Some kids were naturals. Some had had years of martial arts training. All did very well in their one week session.
Sharing is always a part of the language lessons. Campers bring something of interest from home and everyone learns the Chinese name for it, what color it is (in Chinese) and many other things. Roger brought a baseball card game. Emma shared her live dog, Shai brought a salamander in its glass terrarium. This lead to a discussion about our trailer, ecology, species, and respect for all living things.
Lion drums and lion dance were popular cultural lessons. This was the first session to have more boys than girls. Everyone got to drum. Everyone got a chance to be the lion head and the lion tail.
Everyone cooked lunch. The more experienced kids got more responsibility at the stove. On the menu were pot stickers, won ton, chou mien, fried rice and the ever popular green onion pancakes.
Here we are, all together, happy to be RECA campers, but sad our week is over. Thank you to our teachers, (L-R): Nancy Wang, Judy Cheung and Cathy Ringstadt.
We didn't go to camp to study, but we did play word games all morning and learned numbers, colors, food, animals and words about ourselves in Chinese from teacher Cathy Ringstad.
We learned to fill wontons, seal the edges with flour and water paste, then fold them into a piece of food that looked like it came from a restaurant.
Hiking through our field let campers find many treasures hidden by nature. What can be more quietly exciting than finding and exploring a giant, brown dandelion seed fluff ball?
We did art projects every afternoon. We learned to write our name in Chinese, paint bamboo, make butterflies, drums, and origami figures. We were all proud of what we made.
At the end of camp, we gave a performance for our parents, and we each received a certificate and a CD with photos of our week.
Here we are, all together. We want to thank the teachers and volunteer parents who helped us have a wonderful RECA Culture Camp week. Xie Xie!.
RECA wants to thank our 2008 Sponsors for their kind donation that keep RECA able to continue performing for the community and being a public resource for people, businesses, schools and agencies who need our assistance. Northwest Insurance Company
Thanks to Jean Bee Chan (2nd from R) RECA Adult Chorus and our young Cultural Dancers were invited to perform at the Discovery Bay Museum Multi-Cultural Day Celebration. They sang to a full house. Songs included, among others, Jasmine Flower, the theme song of the 2008 Olympics, Sakura, sung in Japanese and Chinese, and, because there were lots of kids, Old McDonald Had a Farm, in Chinese. Due to the date being early summer, many of our performers could not make it. RECA wants to thank all those who did. It was a wonderfully cheerful program that adds another good note to the RECA reputation. Our younger performers had a good time looking at the various exhibits on permanent display. Please visit the Discovery Bay Museum in Marin County, near Sausalito. It is a scientifically educational delight.
Marin County has its famous Buck Foundation which gives donations to groups throughout Marin County. In recent years, its scholarship program has been widened to include Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Contra Costa Counties. This year, Jean Bee Chan, long-time board member of the Buck Foundation’s Educational Fund’s Asian Scholarship Committee, invited RECA to add someone to the organizing committee. Judy Cheung accepted, was on the interview panel, and presented an award during the awards banquet. Our own Sydney Fang (a 2008 RECA Scholarship winner) was one of the recipients of their sizable scholarships.
Judy Cheung presents the scholarship award to My T. Nguyen. Sydney Fang was unable to attend the ceremony due to being on an orientation visit to her new college. Her mother Jennifer accepted for her. Our RECA Adult Chorus has been busy. They also performed at the Philippine Festival in Fulton early this summer. Each year, RECA has been doing more intercultural presentations with various groups. The Fulton Philippine Association is one who welcomes us each year. Our Adult Chorus sang, our Lion Team performed and our cultural dancers danced. We want to thank all of you who participated, especially the parents who organized and did everything needed for our dancers to dance. We also want to thank Dr. Robert Yee for accompanying our Adult Chorus on the piano during this performance and at Discovery Bay. Many RECA members also attended the Teriyaki BBQ at the Japanese Enmanji Temple in Sebastopol this summer.
  RECA and RELIGIOUS GROUPS RECA is an organization with people of many religious beliefs. Most enjoy privately sharing their experiences with other members. Although not an RECA function, individual members sometimes visit the Thousand Buddha Temple in Ukiah. If you are interested, contact David Chung, 538-4926. For other religious organizations that speak Chinese, contact RECA for referrals.
RECA IN THE ARTS This photo art display on dance will be at Aurora's in Novato 8/16-11/7. Some RECA members are active in the fine arts. In this picture, Anna Kong admires the displayed photos of Judy Cheung in Cafe Arrivederci in San Rafael. This year, Anna won prizes for her poetry at the Sonoma County Fair. Anna attends the Monday Salon For Your Imagin-ation, WOW! at Cafe Arrivederci where Judy frequently presents. To attend this art opportunity, call Judy 528-0912. This photo art display on dance will be at Aurora's in Novato 8/16-11/7.
RECA Language Classes are each Saturday during the school year from 9:00-11:30 a.m. Beginning Mandarin focuses on children 5-9 with teacher Cathy Ringstad, TA Sophia Freed and parent volunteers. This class teaches basics to children through games and songs with videos, arts and crafts and opportunities to perform at the Christmas Social and Chinese New Year Celebration. Intermediate Mandarin for advanced children, beginning teens and adults with teacher Cheryl Brown focuses on conversation and beginning functional reading and writing with personal display boards to be made for the Chinese New Year Celebration education exhibit. Advanced Mandarin for teens and adults with teacher Hsiu Chuan Armstrong focuses on improving Mandarin by learning to better converse, read menus, books and newspapers, go shopping, tell jokes and do business, with personal display boards made for the Chinese New Year Celebration education exhibit. Pre-School Program, 10:30-11:30) is for children 2-4 with at least one parent, with teacher Elena Shea assisted by Kitty Freed, provides structured games and simple Chinese words to pre-school children and their parents so they can go home and play the games together to have a basis in elementary Chinese language and culture. The pre-school class will have the opportunity to join the beginning class for performances at the Christmas Social and the Chinese New Year Celebration. Tuition for language classes:
Additional family members: pay for 3 plus $150 per person per semester. Tuition includes RECA membership If you are new, two visits are allowed before payment is required. For additional information, call Nancy Wang, 576-0533, English or Mandarin, Judy Cheung, 528-0912, English, Azy Heydon, 575-9541, English, Mandarin or Cantonese. 2008 Winter Class Schedule (Saturday’s only)
Sign up for the "Personal Health and
Well-being" Class on four Saturday morning classes with Dr. Robert Yee, no tuition. 1.) You, Staying Young, The
Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty, by Michael Roizen, MD and Mahmet Oz, MD.
2.) Younger You, Unlocking the Hidden Power of Your Brain to Look and Feel 15 Years Younger, by Eric Braverman, MD. 3.) The Healthy Heart Kit, by Andrew Weil, MD. 4.) Raising a Smarter Child by Kindergarten, by David Perlmutter, MD. Dr. Robert Yee is presently completing a Post Graduate Fellowship on anti-aging, regenerative and functional medicine. He will share his personal look younger, feel younger and function younger program. He will also share his advice to his children on how to raise a smarter child.
Tai Chi lead by David Chung each Saturday 9-10:15. All ages and ability levels are welcome. David explains each move and how it is beneficial to health and well being. Originally designed for parents of children taking language classes, it has turned out to be for everyone--teens not in class, older people who enjoy group Tai Chi in the morning, young and middle adults who enjoy, and a few family members waiting for relatives in classes.
Redwood Empire Chinese Association |
|
 |
|
|
 © Copyright 2002-2008 Redwood Empire Chinese Association |