Passed - Bolsa CA

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New year 1998 Bolsa, California - Houston

VCSA has joint the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California (UVSA) to host a Poetry Game of Fortune in an event of the Chinese New Year at Bolsa Center - Santa Anna on January 24 and 25, 1997 ...

From left to right are members of VCSA: Quang Ha, Hop Pham, Dat Nong, Kim Ngan, Phuong Nga, Mrs. Thuan Tran, Lan Bui, Bao Nguyen, Phan Duy, Tieu Muoi, Khanh Thu, Phu Tho, AnhLan, Truong Nong and Khai Ngo.

Participants circled around VCSA's booth in Bolsa, California, to bet for their chance of being a richer person during a Poetry Game of Fortune.

Key Benefits

Make acquaintance to members of UVSA

Meet local Vietnamese fellows

Introduce to local folks our Poetry Game of Fortune (Tha? Tho+)

We just got back to Houston early this morning after an overnight flight and I am back to work now (as most of us are currently). First of all, let's give a round of applause to all the dedicated members of the VCSA who joined the trip Tha Tho who have been working so hard in the two day festival in Califonia. Having gone through the heat during the day and the cold during the night, most of our ladies have been "tru'ng gio'" (including me who was actually the worst case, :-((). However, the tha tho game was still the most successful game booth at the New Year Festival in Orange County. Following is a brief report of what's going on during our days in California:

Thursday night: arriving in LA airport at 10:00pm but not reached our hotel until midnight. Had our late dinner at Thanh My restaurant and went to sleep around 2:00am (which is 4:00am Houston time!!!!)

Friday: Had lunch with some of Ngan Khoi's friend: anh Than, c. Ngoc Suong, c. Thuan. Preparing for the Tha Tho game at the hotel, go to the festival site to start preparation of the game booth. Around 5:00pm - 7:00pm had meeting with a group of VASA students in California and did a presentation of VCSA with them, also introduced them the Vietnamese-American Youth Leadership development Camp. At night, we had dinner at Bo` Ba?y Mo'n A'nh Ho^`ng with the VASPAS group (Hoi Khoa Hoc Ky thuat).

Saturday: Run the Tha Tho game from 10:00am - 10:30pm. Thanks to the additional human resources from Ngan Khoi we had enough people to run the game. We had a great time at night with lots of people participating in the game. However, during the day, the heat was too much and the sun shine was so bright and since this is an outside game, we get tired very easily. When night comes, it's getting so cold that most of us had to wear thick coat to be able to hang around. After we closed the game on Saturday night, although almost exhausted, most of us still managed to go to c. Dieu Hang's house to have "bu'n thang" and to enjoy the guitar music from Dat Nguyen, the blind Ameriasian who just won the gold medal on guitar performance from some USA contest. His guitar talent was wonderful, although most of us was so tired, we couldn't leave without listening to his songs. We got home around 2:00am (again) and almost fell to sleep before jumping to bed!!!!

Sunday: Another full day of work! from 11:00am - 9:00pm. We closed the game around 9:00pm to wrap up things and for some of us be ready for the trip back on Sunday night. We had a great time on Sunday as well and thanks to Khanh Thu's initiative, we didn't have to suffer the sun light as we did on Saturday (she bought 6 no'n la' to help the ladies to avoid direct sun light). Some couple stayed with the game for the whole day Saturday and then came back for the whole day on Sunday. They seemed enjoy the game very much.

Monday: Had lunch with Mr. & Mrs. Do Quy Toan, Editor of the Nguoi Viet daily news. After that we wander around Phuoc Loc Tho area (da.o pho^' Bolsa), went to Tu*. LU*.c bookstore to buy a lot of books (I think we cleaned a quarter of the bookstore...:-)), and then had a great seafood dinner at Sea World Restaurant with Mr Tran Da Tu & Mrs. Nha Ca and Kieu Chinh and Viet Bao Kinh Te's friends. After the dinner, we still managed time to drop by the Orange Hill coffee shop and it's a wonderful place (especially for lovers since it is so romantic!). We drove back to the LA airport just enough time to check in for the overnight flight back to Houston this morning.

I think that all of us had a great time in Orange County although we were nearly exhausted after the trip, we ar e still in a good spirit and getting ready for the Tha Tho Game in the Tet Festival in Houston.

That's all for now. Have to get back to my work. Have a wonderful new year celebration!

Anhlan

The same Poetry Game of Fortune, occurred a week later at George Brown Convention Center in Houston, had attracted a large crowd of festival goers.