Archive for "Community"
Wichita Asian Festival
Posted on November 6, 2016 by Ching under Community, Events.
I was told I needed to get there early so I can accept a certificate on behalf of my company; and so we did. We walked past the long line of people waiting to get in and just walked right in. LOL.
That’s why you don’t see anyone else behind us in this photo.
This is me accepting the certificate. Mission accomplished.
Of course we had to walk around and sample all of the diverse Asian fare. Ran into several people we knew, including Tony.
There were so many people there!
I managed to talk Brian into staying to watch some of the performances but we didn’t plan on staying for the entire thing because the event lasts all evening (until 10 PM) and we’d been there since five o’clock since I was told to come early.
This Indian Kathak dance was one of the first performances we saw. There had already been a few performances prior to this one representing India, Japan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and China, which we missed while we were waking around.
It was followed by a Taiji, Baguazhang, and Shaolin Kung Fu demonstration from the Grace Wu Kung Fu School.
ME: That woman in blue in the middle is really good.
BRIAN: She should be. That’s Grace Wu. Did you realize that she’s 104 years old?
ME: No way!
She’s not really 104. Brian just likes to pull my leg because I believe everything. He thinks it’s hilarious.
Overall it was a great demo from Grace Wu and the rest of the Grace Wu Kung Fu School team. It made me want to learn kung fu and martial arts.
Amira Dance Productions did a great job on their demo as well. I loved it when the busted into their Chammak Challo routine.
It’s such a fun song. Here’s the official video for it below…
Eleanor introduced me to this song a couple of years ago. It’s one of my most favorite Zumba routines that she does.
Here are a few pictures from the Taiko performance by Three Trails Taiko from Olathe, Kansas. It was my first time seeing a Taiko performance.
This is a picture of the East High School’s Lion Dance team’s performance.
Brian and I stayed and watched the Miss Wichita Asian Festival pageant.
I used to think the whole thing was rigged and hokey so I’d never watched it until now. I must say, I now have a greater appreciation for it. These ladies are talented.
Here’s a special performance by the 2015 Miss Wichita Asian Festival, Quan Huynh. She is so cute and adorable.
I really thought the Miss Vietnam representative was going to take it again this year. Their candidate showed such poise and grace and I thoroughly enjoyed her talent demonstration. She was clearly a fan favorite.
Here’s a still photo of Miss Vietnam.
Jenni attended the event with us.
Here’s another talent performance. I think this is the pageant contestant representing China.
I really loved seeing all of the elaborate cultural outfits. We used to call them “national costumes” (which I still catch myself saying on occasion) but we are very PC these days (or try to be, anyway). LOL.
The Miss Philippines candidate, Nikita Hammond, played “Bayan Ko” on her flute and then also sang it.
She actually did pretty well. I believe she won the People’s Choice Award. Rightfully so, because she had the entire Filipino community behind her and we have quite a contingent here in the Wichita area.
Here’s all of the candidates for this year’s pageant.
I know the participation has not been as great in the past but, this year, several Asian countries were represented including Nepal, Japan, China, Lebanon, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Philippines.
The Wichita Asian Festival Pageant, which began in 1984, has really grown in the last few years. Now the Indian, Vietnamese, Laotian, Chinese, and Filipino communities even host preliminary pageants to select their respective representatives for the Miss Wichita Asian Festival.
Our local television news anchor/reporter/celebrity Lily Wu has really done a lot to legitimize this pageant. True to her pageant platform of years past (Celebrate Cultural Diversity), she has done a lot for the Wichita Asian Association and celebrating cultural diversity as a whole.
I’m not sure about previous pageant judges but they got some very distinguished people to judge this year’s Miss Wichita Asian Festival Pageant including Susan Pompeo, wife of Congressman Mike Pompeo; Mayor Jeff Longwell; boxer and Olympic medalist Nico Hernandez; Mrs. Kansas United States Charissa Cederberg; Amy Williams, Global Community Relations Senior Manager at Spirit Aerosystems; Mercedes Gonzales Lopez from Farmers Insurance; and our Director of Distribution System Operations at work, Helen Wimsatt.
Brian and I got a photo with Nico during one of the breaks.
They did this thing where there’s a short break and then there’s some other things that happen (more cultural performances) and they wait to announce the pageant winner until the very end. It’s to keep you from leaving and it works.
We decided to walk around again while we were waiting for the results. We went back to the ICTea booth to get me a boba tea refill only to find that they were completely out. While I didn’t get any tea this time around, I did see Vanessa and Thuy this time. It was just Kathy there the first time around. Anyway, I had to get a picture with my favorite Nails & Beyond girls.
The lechon, which I didn’t see earlier probably because it was surrounded by too many people, was completely tapped out also. Almost all the booths were decimated by this time. Hardly anybody had anything left to sell. But it made sense considering how late it was. It’s good. As a vendor, you don’t want to take any food home. You want everything gone.
While we were waiting we saw an awesome performance of Kapa Malong Malong, a traditional Maranao (Philippine) folk dance performed by women wearing a malong, which looks like a giant infinity scarf.
Tita Rose, Tita Mae, and Marybeth were all part of the dance group.
These are some of my favorite photos from their performance.
I got the entire dance performance on video but had to split it into two parts because YouTube wouldn’t allow me to upload the large video file all at once.
Totally impressed with the versatility of the malong, Brian was like, “How come you don’t have one of these bedsheet thingies?” LMAO.
There were two other performances after Kapa Malong Malong and a total of six performances during the second half of the program. None were as good. Just kidding! I think mostly I was just ready to hear the winner of this year’s pageant.
As much as I liked our representative Nikita Hammond, my pick to win was actually the candidate from Vietnam Betty Giang. She’s got such natural beauty and showed complete poise doing the pageant.
I’m not sure how she did in the preliminary interviews and the parts of the pageant that we didn’t get to see that evening (because they happen before the Wichita Asian Festival) but she answered her question well that night and she performed her talent, a Vietnamese cultural dance, very gracefully and well.
Betty Giang was the runner-up and earned the title of Miss Asian Cultural Ambassador 2016. I think she had a lot of supporters in the audience because, among the cheers and applause, there was also some booing. Clearly, it wasn’t just me who picked her to win this year.
The representative from India, Greeshma Reddy, was crowned as this year’s Miss Asian Festival title. While also beautiful and talented in her own right, she just wasn’t as memorable to me as Betty.
Greeshma also had many supporters in the audience because there was lots of cheering and clapping.
Brian and I left immediately at the conclusion of the pageant, which also happened to be the conclusion of the event because they saved the crowning of Miss Wichita Asian Festival 2016 until the very end. We didn’t linger because we didn’t plan on staying that late. Jenni had left long ago. Brian was expecting to only stay a couple of hours and thought he would still have time to play video games after. LOL.
They did such a great job with the event that it didn’t seem like five hours had passed. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun and time definitely flew by. I was completely entertained the entire time and didn’t feel bored at all. I looked at the time on my watch (it’s actually a Nike FuelBand but because I haven’t been working out a lot lately, it’s mostly just a wristwatch these days) and was completely shocked that it had been over five hours. I had no idea that we were there that long.
I told Brian it felt like the scene in the Percy Jackson movie where they get trapped in the Lotus Flower Club. We got so totally immersed in the event and completely lost track of time. At least I did. I hope Brian had a great time too. If he didn’t, he was a good sport about it because he didn’t act bored and didn’t ask to leave ten million times. I have such an awesome husband.
Anyway, if you’ve never been to the Wichita Asian Festival you’re totally missing out. I know I say this about everything but I mean it. This is the one event we have each year that truly showcases Asian culture and is a feast for the senses. Lots of vendors come together and participate so you get to try delicacies from various countries that wouldn’t normally be available any other time. And, you get all of these in one place so you don’t have to drive all over town in search of them. You just have to bring your happy self to Century II. LOL.
The number of vendors is almost too much but not as overwhelming as the amount of people who descend upon Century II for the event. It’s hard enough to find what you’re looking because the vendor booths aren’t clearly marked or separated (that would be a suggestion for next year – better vendor signage and it needs to be high up) but even more difficult when there’s a mob of people surrounding the booth. You can’t read what they’re offering let alone know which booth it is.
That’s the reason why I missed out on the lechon. I didn’t see it and didn’t realize it was available until it was almost all gone.
I was super excited about getting to eat some dinuguan, though. Brian isn’t a fan and I don’t know how to make it so it takes special events like this one for me actually get some.
Of course I’m most excited about the abundance of Filipino food but there’s something for everyone. Every Asian country is represented, just about. There’s also vendors that strictly focus on gifts and knickknacks so it’s a great place to find one of kind present for that special Asian (or wannabe Asian) person in your life.
The Miss Wichita Asian Festival Pageant is obviously a huge draw but the cultural performances are fantastic. It’s not often that you get exposed to all of these in one place. Really just once a year. At the Wichita Asian Festival. The best part about it is the admission is free so the only money you need to bring is for the food, drinks, and gifts that you’ll purchase.
If you have never been, I recommend that you check it out at least once. And then you’ll be back year after year. I guarantee it.
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Summer Opening Party
Posted on May 31, 2016 by Ching under Community, Events.
Now that we are part of WAM Contemporaries, Brian and I are on the Wichita Art Museum’s mailing list and get invites to fun events like the opening of new exhibits. One of the events we recently had the opportunity to attend was the Summer Opening Party where we got to preview the Chihuly Drawings art exhibit.
Dale Chihuly is an American glass sculptor famed for his magnificent glass installations. The Wichita Art Museum has always had two of his glass installations on permanent display: the iconic Confetti Chandelier in the S. Jim and Darla Farha Great Hall and the Persian Seaform Bridge. Through September 11, the museum will be showcasing his drawings as well. The Chihuly Drawings exhibition includes drawings from across the his career — with work in pencil, charcoal, and acrylic — and is quite a collection.
The exhibition’s opening night had a great turnout. We even ran into our friend Cindy. Of course, my friend Teresa was there. As the PR Manager for the Wichita Art Museum, she’s kind of a big deal and is at all of these events.
Speaking of big deal, Brian actually felt pretty special at this event. As we were walking up to the door he was like, “Do we have tickets for this?” I told him, “No. I RSVP’d so we should be on the list.”
When we got up to the check in desk, one of the Wichita Art Museum folks asks for our name which we readily gave but, before she could even look, Kourtney was like, “I remember seeing your names on the list. You are good to head on up.”
Brian was shocked. “They know who we are? That’s pretty cool!”
Well, when you ask for your name to be listed simply as “FLIP + CHING” on the Color Party X invitation, you kind of stand out. I don’t really know anyone else who has a symbol as part of their name besides the late Prince (may his soul rest in peace). They were probably thinking, “Look! It’s those two weirdos again.” LOL.
Anyway, check out the June issue of Splurge to see some pictures from the Color Party. Our picture, though not very good, actually made the spread. I’m sure that was my friend Teresa’s doing because they also had our name listed as “Flip + Ching” rather than our real names. The plus sign was actually her idea so I’m sure she’s just as tickled about our new monicker as we are.
While you’re checking things out, be sure to check out the Chihuly Drawings exhibition which is only on display through September 11.
Other events worth checking out this month include:
- June 2: Wichita State University Alumni Awards
- June 4: The Pando Initiative’s 25th Anniversary Gala
- June 12: Kansas DUI Impact Center’s Hope in Spring Gala
- June 14: Wichita Orpheum’s Celebrity & Chef Cookoff
- June 17: Tunes + Tallgrass at the Wichita Art Museum
- June 24: Final Friday
If you know of other events worth checking out, please post them in the comments. We’re always up for checking out new things and meeting new people. Let’s get out there, support some great causes, and enjoy our wonderful city!
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Good Food and Good Friends – YPW May Mingle
Posted on May 27, 2016 by Ching under Community, Things to Do.
Brian and I finally had the opportunity to check out Central Standard Brewing. We were there for the YP May Mingle a couple of weeks ago. I went there straight from work. Misty was already there.
Brian went home to take care of Molly and Saki first, then took an Uber over so that we would only have one car to drive home.
BS Sandwich Press was there so we went ahead and ate dinner there instead of making food at home. It worked out great.
I’m actually super grateful for these events because it forces me to get out and meet people. I ran into a couple of Leadership Wichita classmates, Dan and Jaimie, who I hadn’t seen in forever. Dan, specially. I hadn’t seem him since our Leadership Wichita graduation, and I saw him twice that day.
I ran into him the first time earlier in the evening as I was leaving work to go to the mingle at CSB. I was pulling out of our parking lot and he crossed right in front of me. “That looks like my friend Dan,” I thought. Naturally, I honked at him. Lucky for me, it was really him. LOL.
He was on his way to some fancy lawyer gathering that meets monthly at the Petroleum Club, which is located on the 9th floor of my work building. We chatted briefly. I didn’t think to mention the mingle because he was obviously busy.
Fast forward a couple of hours. We are hanging out at the CSB patio, having delicious food from BS Sandwich Press, when I see Dan walking up. He decided to stop by the mingle after his fancy lawyer thing. Seeing Dan twice in one day, after not seeing him for almost two years, was a real treat. We got to catch up a little bit and had a wonderful visit. And, I get to see him again in a couple of weeks at the 40 Under 40 recognition dinner. We also have one other Leadership Wichita classmate (Landon) who is also being recognized in this year’s class of 40 Under 40.
I look forward to seeing both of them and maybe you too. If you are at the 40 Under 40 awards dinner, please be sure to say hello!
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Old Town Rotary Map Project and Feeling Grateful
Posted on May 21, 2016 by Ching under Community, Events, Family, Things to Do.
Brian and I got to help with our first Rotary map project over the weekend. Well, Brian got tricked into helping and I wasn’t going to go at first. I didn’t find out about the project that Misty’s Rotary Club (Rotary Club of Old Town Wichita) was working on until the day before. I told her that I was teaching Zumba that morning and couldn’t make it. I really wanted to help but my Zumba class fell right in the middle of the time we were supposed to be be painting. She said they would start at 9 AM and, since Prairie Creek Elementary is right across from the YMCA branch that I teach Zumba at on Saturday mornings, Misty somehow managed to convince me to help. I figured I could go right before my class and then come back to continue helping right after class.
Brian was initially going to just stay home and do house chores while I went to help with the map project and teach my Zumba class. However, I managed to talk him into “dropping me off” at the school. I told him that he could “drop me off” and then I could just walk across the street to the YMCA when it was time for class. I also bribed him with Scooter’s Coffee, which he couldn’t refuse.
Because we are sickeningly punctual, we arrived at the school right at 9 AM. There were only a couple of people there. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough people to help and so I asked Brian, who was only supposed to “drop me off” at the site, to stay and help us. A good number of people showed up to help a little bit later that morning so Brian probably didn’t even need to stay. I think he was glad he stayed though, because the painting project was right up his alley. He’d be reluctant to admit it, but I would venture to say that he actually had fun. Besides that, doing volunteer work every once in a while (despite being tricked into doing it) is good for the soul.
Even though we started late, they made good progress while I was in Zumba class. By the time I walked back to the project site, they were almost completely done. Here are some pictures of our map painting adventure…
Getting the map template to stay down was kind of tricky because of the wind. Lucky for us, we had a few people who worked on these map projects before so they were pros. They knew exactly what to do and were prepared with milk jugs filled with water to line the perimeter of the template and keep it from blowing away.
With the template down, we had to chalk all of the holes. This would leave dots that would serve as an outline for us to follow for painting the map.
Based on experience, they knew that the East Coast would be tricky so those lines had to be drawn before removing the plastic completely.
Lots of going back and forth between the ground and template happened to check and double check that the lines were drawn properly and no states were missed.
It’s not difficult to mess it up because the East Coast consists of a bunch of tiny states.
The lakes are also tricky so those lines had to be drawn before removing the template as well. The template tried to fly away a few times but we managed to hold it down long enough to get all the tricky parts out of the way.
After the lines were drawn the rest of it was cake.
When I returned from my Zumba class, we had way more volunteers than paint brushes.
Having lots of people there to help paint made painting the map go quickly.
The map was complete before long. It just needed a few touch ups to make the lines more crisp and the colors pop.
Another cool thing about last Saturday was meeting Andrea and Donovan’s handsome dog Tank for the first time.
They live right by the school so it wasn’t a long walk.
Tank is a bit of a ham as you can tell. LOL.
Anyway, last Saturday reminded me of how truly lucky I am to have Brian in my life. I have often complained about not being able to be at two places at once so, even though I want to participate in everything, sometimes I just have to pick and choose and then I feel bad for having to say no to people or missing out. Well, with Brian’s help, I can be at two places at once. I really wanted to participate and help with the map project but I knew I couldn’t be there the entire time. Brian was there to help when I couldn’t be and they actually got an upgrade because Brian is far more talented at that stuff than I am.
Today, it was much the same. I had multiple things that I wanted to do: attend my friend Cari’s party, spend time with Nickira, participate in Zumba in the Square, and get some yummy dinner from the Kamayan Truck. Brian helped me so I could do it all.
I made an appearance at Cari’s party before picking up Nickira from her house. We went home so I could change into workout clothes and pick Brian up. Brian dropped Nickira and I off at the Zumba in the Square event while he went to pick up dinner from the food truck event. We got to enjoy a delicious dinner and then had ice cream for dessert at Churn & Burn after.
As an added bonus, I even got to spend time with my mom. Dad dropped her off at the Zumba thing so she got to hang out with us the rest of the evening and we gave her a ride home. She went with us for ice cream after Zumba and then to drop off Nickira back at her house. Then it was mom’s turn to be dropped off.
Double bonus, I got to see dad as well because we stayed a little while to check out dad’s basement project when we dropped mom off. Anyway, I am super blessed to have such a loving, supportive husband without whom I couldn’t possibly do everything I want to do. Thank you for being awesome, baby! You make my life – correction, our life – great!
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One Crazy, Busy Week
Posted on April 12, 2016 by Ching under Community, Events.
After spending most of the week in Madison, I came home to a private shopping party at Chic Street Boutique. It wasn’t well-attended but I was out of town the three days leading up to the event so I couldn’t really hound people to come. It was a combination of poor planning and just being super duper busy.
For those of you who are not familiar with Chic Street Boutique, they’re located at Central and Rock next to the most awesome tailor ever – Quickstitch. Chic Street has unique clothing and accessories that you can’t really find anywhere else.
They had some great clearance items the day of the party. I found a few things. I really wanted these pants but they were only available in XS. I was so bummed I couldn’t fit in them. And, then there was this one sheath dress I wanted but, again, it was not available in my size. I really wanted to buy it with the hope of eventually shrinking into it, but my friend Tammie talked sense into me and talked me out of it. Had it not been for her, I would have bought that dress and it would have been hanging in my closet, never being worn, for eternity. It’s important to have friends who will honestly tell you how it is and keep you from doing stupid stuff. Seriously.
The very next day was the Whine About Wichita YPW event at Union Station. I made Brian go with me. He was a tad overdressed because we came straight after work. Well, kind of. We had to take care of the dogs first and then had a quick bite to eat at TSK.
I had the chocolate bread pudding for dessert. It was amazing! It was probably the best bread pudding I have ever had. Hands down.
Ebony was at the Whine About as well. It should come as no surprise because she is on the YPW Board of Trustees and Advisory Council so she is at just about every YPW event. Ebony is not just involved YPW, she’s heavily involved in the community. Everywhere we go, she meets someone she knows.
She’s like a younger, prettier version of Don Sherman. LOL.
We got a really cool tour of Union Station.
Here are a few pictures that we took during the tour.
Obligatory selfie!
Brian looked really good. He looked like he was part of Mayor Longwell’s entourage.
I love that Brian humors me and goes to these events with me. I’m not sure if I would go by myself even though I did see quite a few familiar faces including our friend Cindy (@WichitaCindy). It’s crazy how we don’t see each other for years and we got to catch up and visit two days in a row!
I was looking pretty yuck because it had been a long day (more like a long week, actually). I’m glad that we went, though. We got to participate in the “whining” and “toasting” and met some cool people and we got these neat Wichita flag buttons. It was one crazy, busy week but totally worth it.
I love YPW events. YPW is definitely part of what makes Wichita great in book. Looking forward to the 2016 YPW Summit next week!
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