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Orange County held our 15th Annual Moon Festival Banquet on September 18. Keeping with tradition, the event was held at Ten Ten Seafood Restaurant in Artesia.

The evening started off with an icebreaker activity, the Moon Festival Legends Game. Each participant received a sheet about the legends and were tasked with finding images related to the legends, e.g. 10 suns, Chang-e, Hou-yi etc. Each family was given an envelope of images to hand out and the kids had to run around the room collecting images from other banquet attendees.

As always, everyone enjoyed the delicious menu of egg drop soup, honey walnut shrimp, beef and snow peas, tofu and mushrooms, cashew chicken, house lo mein, yang chow rice, and of course, moon cakes. Dinner was followed by a variety of entertaining and education performances:

• Martial Drum: Performer Arthur Chen and instructor Rachael Sysiong
• Beijing Opera Master: Kevin Chai
• Lion Dance Instruction: Jonathan Wong

All attendees had the opportunity to try out the instruments and costumes and learn some of the routines first hand. The evening ended with prizes for the kids - all went home with an adorable stuffed xiong mao, hou zi, tu zi or other animal.

Many thanks to organizers Susan Tschabrun and Debbie Kistler, and the group of volunteers who helped make this banquet a success! Copy and photos for this post contributed by Patty Uy and Jenifer Weigand.

We are delighted to announce that there are a few additional openings in the China Care Bruins Youth Mentorship "Buddy" Program for the 2011-2012 academic year (October 2011 through June 2012). Founded in 2005, China Care Bruins is a student-run group at UCLA that raises funds to provide medical services for children in China's orphanages and mentors Chinese adoptees and their siblings.

China Care Bruins offers a wonderful enrichment opportunity for FCC children and youth to be part of a nurturing and empowering community of adoptee peers and mentors. The leadership and members of China Care Bruins come from a variety of backgrounds (and have many different majors), but are predominantly Asian American students.

The Buddy Program participants meet in monthly Sunday afternoon get-togethers on the UCLA campus throughout the academic year, enjoying crafts, culture, skits, campus tours, field games and more. Through these ongoing interactive activities, the kids and mentors will build their relationship, solidify friendships and develop camaraderie. The kids also witness the fruits of the teamwork, leadership and dedication of the college students who give of their time and talents to produce the program and to be their mentors.

The Chinese Cultural Dance Club at UCLA (CCDC) is expanding its Junior Dance Program and has a limited number of positions open for new dancers. A flyer is attached, along with a PDF/Word document containing detailed information about the requirements for participation and the application/audition process. Note that the program is open to children/youth (girls & boys) ages 8 to 17 (as of October 1). Interested youth who are age 13 and older may also apply and audition to participate in a dance with the college students. If you have any difficulty opening the attachments, please contact CCDC Junior Dance Parent Coordinator Jeri Floyd [email protected] and she will do her best to provide the information in another format.

Applications are due September 23, 2011.

Several of our children have participated in the program for many years -- read more about the Club, see photos of rehearsals and learn about the history of the Junior Dance Program in the Spring 2011 CCDC Newsletter (page 7), which is available on the CCDC website.

Come see CCDC members perform at the upcoming FCC-SoCal Heritage Day event.