Gaginang

Calling all Southern California Gaginang members!!!  It's that time of year again!  Dragon boat races in Los Angeles' Echo Park Lake! 

What's the special occasion, you ask?  Originated in 1972, City of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation decided to promote awareness and understanding of what the Asian people have contributed to in regards to the culture of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities.  They did this by holding an annual Lotus Festival.  According to Asian culture, the lotus flower is a symbol of rebirth, purity, and life.  The lotus flower blooms in July, and not only is Echo Park Lake a central location for Asian and Pacific Islander communities, it also houses the largest lotus bed in the United States!

The proceeds from the dragon boat races support scholarships to graduating high school students in the Los Angeles community.

*Photos from the 2007 and 2008 races. We placed 13th of 39 teams in 2007 and 16th of 36 teams in 2008.

So how does Gaginang get involved?  We'd like to establish a team of 8 members, minimum 4 females, and enter in their community division.  Each team is allowed a 20-minute practice on Saturday, June 25.  Actual race date will either be on July 9th or 10th, 2011 (depending on the team's availability).  Let's get together and beat our former times... and while we're at it, tell the world that we are indeed "gaginang!" =)

For more information, please visit http://www.lotusfestival.org/.

If you have any questions, or would like to sign up, please email Fong at fong.trinh @ gaginang.org.  Sign-ups will be taken through May 31st.

The Teochew Association (TCA) at UCLA has been around for almost as long as I've been involved with Gaginang (2004).  I remember my first GGN event was also their founders' first event.  During dinner, they went around starting an email list.  Now TCA's at the university levels have grown like bacteria... kidding.  But next in line was UC Berkeley followed by others schools such as UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, just to name a few.  They've even gone on to create a group known as the Teo-Chew College Coalition (TCCC) to help Teochew students all over the world start TCA's at their own school.

Several TCA officers graduated from their corresponding schools and moved on to join us in moving Gaginang forward.  In a community so large, yet so small, it's really nothing without mutual support.

Being from the LA area myself, here's a recent message from the TCA at UCLA:

Dear All,

Teochew Association at UCLA is having our annual End of the Year Banquet at Battambang Restaurant in San Gabriel. The event starts at 6:00pm on Friday, May 28th.

http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=IUZEZVEWWNZIVCUZSUKA&unknownUser=true

Presale tickets are $18, otherwise it will be $20 at the door.

Hope to see you there,
TCA @ UCLA

I'll be there... will you? :)  For the latest events in your area, please visit our forum, or this one specifically for this year's events in Socal.

--
Fong

::UPDATE - 4/25/2010::

The outcome was incredible...  The weather was nice, the trail was awesome.  Thank you everyone for coming out.  It was great seeing everyone again :)  What a way to end the weekend: tired, sore, and oh-so-ready to sleep.

Who woulda known such green nature could exist just 10 miles away from our very own "LA" backyard? :)

Hehe, check out Johnson's imaginary fireball... ba-da ba ba ba... I'm lovin' it :D

Phew, made it...  We started at the Chantry Flat parking lot.  I've been told that to get parking, you'd have to arrive super early... and the parking lot was indeed full.  People started parking along the road as much as about a quarter mile away from the trail head.  That's crazy!  But lucky for us, the private lot... that charges 100% more... was just getting ready to open when we arrived.

Several people have hiked this trail before, but they didn't know it looped around.  We started out by going down the Lower Winter Creek Trail.  This trail started off ugly because it was all paved and steep.  We decided to start on this end because everyone remembered how much of a killer it was to end the hike climbing this portion. 

When we got to the fork, after 1.5 hours, my goodness... we've only finished 2 miles!  I was exhausted and we haven't even made it halfway!  Every chance I got, I'd call for a group picture.  It's the only way I got to rest!  But the rest of the way was much more mellow (via Upper Winter Creek Trail).  We finished the entire hike in just under 3 hours at noon.  3 hours.. 5 miles of walking.. doesn't sound like much, but I wouldn't be surprised if people wake up sore tomorrow :)

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::UPDATE - 4/14/2010::

Evite's out!  Please RSVP if you'd like to participate.

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::Original - 4/12/2010::

Hello.  Fong here.  We've had several requests for events in Socal.  We currently don't have a designated staff focused on planning events in the region, so if you're interested, please send me or any of the staff an email.  Thank you in advance.

Anyways, I'd love to see everyone again.  Old faces bring back memories while combined with new faces, we can create new memories :)  Since there are no official events in the near future, I thought I'd continue a casual Spring hiking trip.  [Pictures from last year's hike]

When:

Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 8:30AM

Where:

Winter Creek Loop (Chantry Flats, Sierra Madre)

Carpool can be arranged when the date approaches.  Eat breakfast or bring a snack.  We'll grab lunch afterwards.  Stay tuned and expect an evite to RSVP.  If you don't see one within the next 2 days, please contact me to be added to the mailing list.  Hope you can make it!!!

--
Fong

Back in the days.. when Gaginang was still... new... young... members from all across the world would gather in a chatroom to talk about random stuff.  Sometimes Teochew related, sometimes not.  I personally loved it when I find out what I thought were my Teochew ways were actually just my family's ways - whether it be how we say things or how we do things and whatnot.  Anyways, there's been a lot of talk, and we'd like to officially bring it back!

Starting April 27, 2010, join us - Tuesday nights at 7PM PST/10PM EST.  Find the closest computer available (with internet) and log on to gaginang.org.  It'll be fun!  I can't wait!!! :D

It's been a good year.   Thanksgiving is approaching soon, and soon thereafter is Christmas.  I'm sure everyone will be busy with their own family/friends gatheringa and wouldn't be available anyways, so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's come out and supported this pilot event.  Click here for a recap.

Our last outing was to Kim Ky, San Gabriel followed by the Harvest Moon Festival in Arcadia (pictured below).  Kim Ky has yet to disappoint.  I am proud to say that the owners of that restaurant are Teochew.  The food was good, fast, and.. economic ;)  They do indeed have the check from the winning Lotto jackpot posted all over the restaurant. 

The Harvest Moon Festival is always a fun family event full of free entertainment provided by the community and our local TV station LA18.  What made this year different was our fellow Gaginang member and his band Thomas' Apartment was also performing.  I believe this was their first gig with their new drummer (first girl from the left).  As always - a good show.  Rock on guys!

If you have event ideas for next year, I invite you to join the staff.  Contact Gaginang for more information.

In the meantime, our committee of Norcal and Socal members and staff have been planning for quite the Thanksgiving event this year in Santa Clara, CA.  Space is limited, so register soon.  

Following the Thanksgiving event, we have a few east coast visitors to LA, so let me know if you're interested in joining us.  Click here for more discussion on this event.

For those of you anxious to see the snow, I hear there might be a south meets north snowboarding event to start off the new year.  Show some interest and we'll make it happen :)

That's all for me!  Have a happy holiday season!  Stay away from uncooked food and try not to over eat... and remember, "good health = wealth".

<3 Fong