Past Events in 2016
Carol Singing 2016
The Paulinian Christmas carol singing for the seniors was held on Saturday, December 10th.
Contributing to the community service, the Paulinian carol team visited three senior homes (Simon K.Y.Lee Care Home, Villa Cathy Care Home and Grace Seniors Home) in the Vancouver China Town area every year to bring warmth and festive joy to the residents there.
In that freezing cold morning, over 30 carol singers/helpers set off punctually in a sponsored school bus driven by a volunteer driver. Despite gloomy weather and snow storm warnings, all looked smart in the carol team uniform; energized and delightful.
The carol team stayed at each senior home for about an hour. They started with singing seven carols, two Cantonese songs and one Mandarin song. Some seniors did sing along and clap hands to follow the rhythm. After that, all seniors received a Christmas gift which was a non-slippery sock of colorful patterns. Highlight of the gathering was playing game and winners received special gifts. In addition, seniors received a homemade Christmas card with an instant photo of themselves on one side and a 2017 calendar on the other. The seniors appreciated everything we brought to them especially our care and company.
Seeing the smiling faces of seniors, all carol singers/helpers felt happy and blessed for having spent a meaningful day in sending happiness and joy to the residents of the senior homes as well as in catching up with fellow Paulinians.
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One-Day trip to Fort Langley
Our one day trip was held on Saturday, September 10th, 2016. This year, we headed east by visiting Cliff Falls in Maple Ridge, Fort Langley Village in Fort Langley and Fort Wine Company in Langley.
On this beautiful and sunny late summer day, a total of 51 Paulinians, families and friends joined the trip. After filling every seat of the chartered school bus at pick up points of three cities, the group set out at 8:45 am.
We firstly stopped at Cliff Falls where we had our breakfast with coffee and Chinese buns. After breakfast, we enjoyed a 30 minutes morning walk on the trail in the park. Everyone loved the exercise of a little bit walking up and down hill. Then, we headed to Fort Langley Village. When we arrived, we realised that the village had their Farmers' Market Day. The main street was blocked off for pedestrians and food trucks which offered a wide variety of food with international taste. In addition to the historic buildings, the village has one of the largest antique shops in the area where housed everything you can think of. We spent two hours in the village; visiting museums, shopping in specialty shops and having lunch at local restaurants. At our last stop of the day, we enjoyed a tasty visit to the Fort Wine Company which specialized in making fruit wines. Quite a number of us took the opportunity to have wine tasting and some bought favourite wines.
At around 4:15 pm, we made our way back to Vancouver. It was a very relaxing but fun-filled trip. All participants had a good time connecting with each other; meeting new friends and catching up with fellow Paulinians.
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BBQ
The BBQ was held on Saturday, 28 May 2016 at Panorama Park in North Vancouver. The Park, which overlooks Deep Cove with a beach, a grassy hill, sitting areas, marina and boat launch, offers a beautiful and convenient picnic venue. As always, we rented a covered shelter for our BBQ gathering. With record breaking registrants for the BBQ, we chartered a school bus driven by a voluntary driver to offer free rides.
With a forecast of 90% chance of rain and a drop in temperature did not discourage our participants. We had a total of 59 participants (members, their family and friends) showing up that day which included an alumna visiting from the States. Despite heavy rain, rather strong wind and coldness, all participants got on the bus at three pick up points respectively and punctually.
Several ExCo members arrived the picnic area at 8:30 for setting up tables, stoves, umbrellas, etc. The BBQ started at around 10:00. We had a good mix of food including salads, cold noodles, beef, pork ribs, chicken wings, fish balls as well as fruits, cakes and desserts. While all food was prepared by ExCo members, the grilling was under the capable hands of 4 volunteer chefs. With their efficiency and hard work, most of the food was consumed within two hours.
In addition to the delicious food, participants enjoyed socializing and chit-chatting with each other. Though it was rainy, windy and cold, they were heated up by the warm Paulinian spirit in heart.
Considering the weather, we had to cancel the guided trail walks and games after serving food. The event was ended at 1:00pm with the bus leaving the park at 1:30pm.
Majority of the participants showed appreciation to the ExCo for their good preparation of the BBQ as well as capability in carrying out the event in an efficient manner under such gloomy weather.
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Annual Dinner
Annual Dinner was held on Friday, 26 February 2016 at Richmond Kirin Seafood Restaurant with a total of 106 members and their guests participating. This was the biggest and most popular event of the Alumni.
With the theme I could have danced all night, the Annual Dinner was turned into a dance party. The venue was decorated as a ballroom with hanging disco mirror balls to reflect ambient light, with different styles of dance images on the windows, with colourful helium balloons on stage and with masquerade masks as centre pieces on tables. Attending a dance party, all ExCo members and most of the lady participants put on their pretty party dresses of sequins and crystals. The atmosphere impressed the participants that they could have danced all nights.
After registration at the reception, participants had to make a choice : to sample the tempting homemade appetizers served at the corner or to join a Salsa dance workshop led by experienced instructor Vermin Soh. Of course, smart participants tried both and felt double contented.
The welcome package for each participant was a foldable paper fan with imprint of Alumni and date of annual dinner as souvenir, a beautifully designed program and three lovely cards on sticks. In addition, every participant received a table prize while majority received prizes from lucky draw. All prizes were sponsored by generous members.
Throughout the dinner, popular dance music was played and the stage was opened for all participants to show their technique in cha cha, a-go-go, twist, quick step and many more. Participants were so excited that they enjoyed the dance and forgot the food!
There was a game called "Give them LIKES" during which representatives from 10 tables tried to win LIKES from participants by dancing along music, such as, Never on Sunday, Chicken Dance Song, Hernando's Hideaway, etc. While dancers were performing creatively and enthusiastically on stage, participants were clapping to boost more energy. After five rounds, Peter Yeung was voted by all participants to be the Dancing King and won a lady blink blink evening bag. All game dancers received a stylish shoe bag and a ball pen as encouragement. All participants from Peter's table got same shoe bag as reward for choosing the right dancer. All prizes were sponsored by generous members.
Nicole & Roger from Salsa Studio marked the opening of the performance "Dance, Dance, Dance" by performing a free style dance and a choreography dance. Participants were amazed by their dynamic and vibrant movements. The next performance was a joint effort of an invited guest, Helen Wong, and ExCo members, Cecilia Tong, Geraldine Lui, Sylvia Yung and Theresa Wang. Helen sang the theme song "I could have danced all night" with ExCo dancing along perfectly. The finale was a well-known disco song "Dancing Queen" performed by one of the sweet voiced Paulinians, Daisy Chan. All participants enjoyed the performance and echoed with applause and cheers.
The dinner came to the end after drawing of 4 grand prizes sponsored by Cecilia Tong, Geraldine Lui, Josephine Hui and Sylvia Chok respectively.
All members and their guests had a great evening filled with beautiful dance music as well as joyous chit chat with fellow Paulinians. When they left the ballroom, music lingered and memories recalled.
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