34th Anniversary of Philippines-China Diplomatic Relations

The UP Chinese Student Association is a member organization of the Alliance of Filipino-Chinese Students or AFICS, a broad alliance of Filipino-Chinese organizations in Ateneo, University of the Philippines, University of Sto. Tomas, University P and De La Salle University. Because of this, we hosted one leg of the photo exhibit to celebrate the 34th Anniversary of Philippines-China Diplomatic Relations.

UP CSA Cleans-UP

Last Saturday UP Chinese Student Association conducted a clean-UP around the campus. We went around our assigned routes and took out trash from the waiting sheds, posts and sidewalks.












Technorati Tags: bong, superbong, brian ong, The Philippines and Beyond, Philippines, Chinese Student Association, UPCSA, cleanUP, Community Service, Service Activity, Chinese Students, UP, University of the Philippines, UP Diliman, org

A Million Thanks!

Happy Birthday to my birthday-mates Clea, Merry, Ted, Ella! :)



To those who texted, emailed, ym-ed, plurked, multiplied, facebooked, greeted me last night during the victory party (di ko na kayo iisa-isahin dahil ang dami dami dami n'yo, overwhelmingly!); to my family, wonderful slatemates (Titus, Lee, Jose, Barbie, Sheena, KKK, John, Anika, Gabby, Rinno, Laura, BJ, Austin, Dhadi, Ching, Jan, Gino, Angela and Raymund), CSA, KAISA, Absolute Cousins, APB, Bloggers/ Online friends, ISA, LEAD, Manila Foodistas, MATTER, PALS, PDA, PRIME, START, UP friends, Xavier friends, at sa mga posibleng nakalimutan ko [sorry])



Malugod na pagpapasalamat, sincerest gratitude to everyone, 謝謝你們！Sa walang sawang pagtiwala, pagsuporta't pagtulong. I have been really blessed with great friends and acquaintances. I really treasure you all! *sniff* hehe :D



P.S. Being 21 is no different from being 20, or 18... What matters is how you live your life, and what will be your legacy. (magiging 21 din kayo! bleh! haha) Carpe Diem!


P.P.S. A bit of trivia for all...today's Square Root Day. Fun! haha









Technorati Tags: bong, superbong, brian ong, The Philippines and Beyond, Philippines, birthday

UP Centennial Lantern Parade 2008 Photos of UP CSA

These are some UP Chinese Student Association members waving and parading their CSA flags (made by Harrell Wong) in the recent University of the Philippines Centennial Lantern Parade.




Photos used in the collage are by Joey Cuayo.










Technorati Tags: bong, superbong, brian ong, up lantern parade, lantern parade, 2008 up lantern parade, centennial lantern parade, philippine festivities, 2008 UP Centennial Lantern Parade, up academic oval, university of the philippines, university of the philippines lantern parade, up csa flags, chinese student association, christmas in the philippines

Chinese Mooncake Festival: 中秋節

Today's 中秋節, the Mid-Autumn Festival or more commonly known as the Mooncake festival to younger generations of Chinese descent. This is the time of the year when the Filipino-Chinese community are busy celebrating the festival by playing the famed dice-game.

Back in my younger/grade school days, we always play the dice game in school. But as we grew older, we didn't get to play it anymore; but instead, we had alternative activities, such as painting contest, and other related contests and activities to celebrate the occasion.

Now that we're already in college, in the UP Chinese Student Association, this time of the year signals our annual event of Mooncake dice game for both Filipinos and other interested people and Chinese students to play the popular dice game and enjoy the culture.

Today, my Gua Ma came down from Dagupan to be with us in Manila. She brought us some Mooncake too. I love this time of the year because the supply of Mooncakes overflow -- I just love to eat 月餅！

Bon Voyage!

Sheena will leave for Singapore tomorrow.
She visited C.S.A. for the last time today...
I'm certain that people will super duper miss
her... loud voice, cheerful attitude, and
her reverberating laughter. Through her ups
and downs, her barkada and friends were there
to support her. We all wish her the best of luck,
and success in all her endeavors and in her studies.
God Bless and Take Care Sheena! :) >:D<

*In Picture: Me, Madie, Sheena*

Happy Birthday C.S.A!

Today officially marks the 45th year of our beloved organization, the UP Chinese Student Association!

It is with great honor and pleasure that I launch our new website!

http://up-csa.org/

Please check it out! Also, we will be having our Grand Alumni Homecoming this school year.

Our alumni may contact Tasha Teh @ 09176678133 or e-mail her @ tashateh@yahoo.com for more details or if you want to help.

Please stay tuned for further announcements! :)

Please pass to ALL CSA members, alumni, and friends.

Thank you very much!

Who or What Inspires Me?

I got this link from a friend, and I guess I'm giving it a shot (at the same time, helping them in their project). The blog title's Inspire_Me. They created the blog to continue a successful thread in their Yahoo Answers question "Who or What inspires you?" The goal of their blog is "to be an outlet for people who would want to share where or from whom they get inspiration from."

I found this really interesting, and decided to create a post for them. And since I want to give this entry some "kick", I'll answer both (who and what) to make this entry more interesting.

WHO? Besides the usual answer "family and friends" blah, I know, and I am proud to say that my inspiration is (or rather my insparations are) my org-mates at CSA (Chinese Student Association). Cheesy as it may sound, they're like family to me now, and I owe a lot to them :3

Photo By: Sean Tiu

WHAT? I would like to share a poem by former Jesuit Superior General, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J. My uncle, Martin Gomez, introduced me to this poem, and since then, I have fallen in love with it. It ever fails to lighten up my days. It never fails to give me hope, and a spark when the light’s starting to dim, or when all else seems to fail. ^_^.

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

So, if you want to share who or what inspires you, you can visit their blog here, or email them your own story, and get featured in their blog. :)

UPCSA goes to Canyon Cove

The beach was great. The place was great (except for the overly priced food). The company was great too. I would love to go back there some time. I love the beach :3

alvene and pam

my roomies

h4b :)

best buds

the org - c.s.a.

Summer Cleaning

All that stress in school resulted to these! (can you believe it?!)

And this is another story...I am glad I am officially turning these over to my successor......It's a crap load of files from CSA...For you, Alvene, with love and guidance..hehe :)

One Half and One Fourth Love

"Appear disappear, one half, one fourth, one fourth, one half, disappear, appear."

All photos by Tiffany Chua, using her new MacBook :)

I was with one half of the incoming execomm (Alvene, Tiff, Thea, Merryan), and one fourth of the outgoing one (Kim, Laureen), plus Chris and Harrell, at Fazoli's Eastwood for dinner. We bonded over stories, food, and "ducks" instead of bridge (woah), which is the perfect CSA Bonding Experience (CBE)

This duck?? o.O

Nah, not this rubber ducky...but a board game:P

(Photo from: www.tubz.net)

I was as excited as Tiffy for her new MacBook! Welcome to the club new MacHead! Newb! (joke!) And now Kim, Laureen, Alvene and P want one...convert people, convert! :P

SUBZERO

It's my second time to be in a cold storage. First was when we were buying fruits back when I was little, and second was last night, in the Be the Legacy Batch Project of UP-JMA's applicants.

As the ticket says, it's an "inter-org ice pageant." We fielded 3 contestants - Kirby Cheng, Sunshine Tan and Cherrie Ongteco. And so UP-CSA people trooped to the place to support and show our love. :)

Madie, Pao Pei, Merri, Pam, Pat, Kim, Bong

Kirby Cheng emerged to be victorious as he bagged 3 out of the 4 awards for the guys. He was the over-all winner and got Most Photogenic and People's Choice awards. Sunshine Tan got in to the top 3, but fell short to win the top spot. Valerie Figueroa won over-all for the girls. :)

Kirby with his trophy

Val Fig poses

It was a great night. I love the coolness (edit: coldness) of the place. I hope it's like that everyday. But after you step out of the place, you are reminded that summer is just around the corner, and we have to work our asses off hard before we really enjoy. Fast-forward to Sem-Ender? Please!



things to look forward to: pat's birthday, mom's birthday, sem-ender, baguio-sagada trip, food trips with joey, tiff, hannah, and mark + food blog, summer vacation!!! and csa plan-sem :x

UP CSA Election Results

President:

Brian Ong

Vice-President:
Alvene Ngo

Secretary:
Therese Chua

Finance:
Kesterson Kua

Cultural-Social:
Madeline Co

Public Relations:
Tiffany Chua

Research and Academics:
Merryan Jim

AFICS Representatives:
Harrell Wong
Clea Cheng

Alumni Homecoming:
Tasha Teh

Congratulations to everyone who ran!

Congratulations to the winners!
It'll be a great year ahead of us!
Lets do our best! :)

Ultimate Frisbee Friday

Achi Denise, Tippi, Adi, and Tin went to UP today for our scheduled Ultimate Frisbee game! Justin got out of his Thesis class for a while to join us. I can't believe that it pushed through! Yeahboy! Next time ulit! :)

I met Denise, Tippi and Adi at the "tambayan" they claimed - the chair they carved their asses on daw near/along the Sunken Garden. Funny how they were really half-drunk, ecstatic and giddy of the things they saw in UP, and about being in UP in general. I brought them to the CSA tambayan, while I was changing to my shoes.

Achi Denise got to hear the Bong song again. eep. :\

Pats, Joey, Harrell, Maxi, Regi, and Paul played with us too.

The Ongs + Paul vs. CSA. So it was Adi, Tin, Paul and I vs. Pats, Regi, Maxi, Joey and Harrell. :))

After I got cramps, we've called it a match already. I think we won even if after for a while, I twisted my ankle, played 3 vs. 5 (because Tin already sat out), then had the cramps. Hee.

Yao made it, but not in time for the actual game. We were all sitting down on the grass at that time. Sayang!

And now, my right ankle hurts, but ultimately I enjoyed today. I'm glad you guys enjoyed too. XD

(pic/s to follow)

After Miting de Avance

True to my word, three days after, I am back! This time, I went with a lot more hungry stomachs to fill. I am predicting Summer classes would be really be great with Amici in reach. :))

I went to Amici after the Miting de Avance of UPCSA with Alvene, Austin, Bryan, Carlson, Chris, Danne, Don, Donald, Edric, Harrell, Harroun, Hazel, Ivan, Jarvin, Joey, Joseph, Kester, Kim, Laureen, Madie, Merri, Merryan, Paopei, Pats, Sarah, Scott, Sheena, Tasha, Tiff, Wendy and Yao. Did I miss someone? That's a lot of hungry CSA people. :))

Fulfilling

It's really so nice that you can actually do something and make a small but lasting impact to others. :)

Kim, Laureen, Kester, Pats, Alvene, Harrell, Joey and I went to Gawad Kalinga to help build houses, as part of the service activity of our organization in UP, the Chinese Student Association. It was really really fun. Bonding!

HEADLINE 1: CHILD LABORER! CALL BANTAY BATA 163 A.S.A.P.!
HEADLINE 2: LOST PROPHET, MOSES: PARTING OF THE RED SOIL

After the build, we all went to eat lunch at Bacolod's Chicken and BBQ near Ever Gotesco, Commonwealth. After lunch, we had desserts upstairs (cake galore!). I love the Avocado cake I ordered. I'll go back there for sure. :)

Chinese Students Join Nation-Building

The University of the Philippines Chinese Student Association participated today in building houses at the Gawad Kalinga Central, UP Village, as their annual service activity to cap-off their week-long celebrations of Chinese New Year/ Culturals week.

An 8-man team led by, no less than their President, Kimberly Ong, shoveled and dug through soil and rocks to clear out the site, where the foundation of the house will be built.

Kimberly says that, "We do this service activity annually so that we can bridge the gap between Chinese and Filipino people; and so that we can also break certain stereotypes people have about us (Filipino-Chinese students)."

"In the spirit of the Chinese new year, we should learn to share what we have with others, especially the less fortunate. But of course, this does not mean we help the less fortunate only during the Cultural Week. We should help them as much as we can," she adds.

After the build, which lasted from 8am to around 11am, they were all introduced to Engineer del Rosario, Project Manager of the site. He shared with us the vision on Gawad-Kalinga and his vision of the community in the area.

"Here in GK, there is no difference between the rich and the poor. Lahat pantay pantay (Everyone's equal)," said Engr. Del Rosario.

He also stressed that what the volunteers are doing is a sacrifice one can do as part of nation-building.

"You are now part of the 1MB or the Isang Milyong mga Bayani", Engr. Del Rosario explains.

He said that one doesn't have to be dead to become a hero. It is better, according to him, to do something heroic, like building houses and sharing your talents in GK programs to "the least of your brethren" when one's still alive.

Laureen Lukban, PRC head and project organizer, said, "People think it's hard, and it is. It takes hard work. But you don't have to push yourself (in building a house). That's why it's better when you have other people with you because you work together; and that's what makes it fun!"

Celebration!

• 121 went just like a breeze. It's the first time I didn't feel like sleeping in class.
  
• We rushed (5-10 mins) a report of a classmate on income taxes and other taxes because our teacher wanted to watch the Lozada Senate inquiry/hearing. Yes, we all went to the CPAGE downstairs to watch it in their TV. Perfect timing. I don't know with you, but this is why I hate the Arroyo administration and especially Abalos and FG! (what "colorful words" I can say of them)
• It was my lucky day. JACKPOT! First, it was like I was the only student in about 30-student filled room. "Marami pang vacant seats dito oh..Mr. Ong, transfer to the front. Pati yang katabi mo. Nakoo..I'll call you first sa recitation." Second, quiz! Yes. Internal Revenue Allotment (I think I got the answers right) Third, "Mr.Ong, please collect the papers of your classmates" Fourth, "Di ka pa tapos Mr. Ong. Akala mo ha.. So Mr. Ong, What's IRA?" O_O My God! This teacher really LOVES me! Fifth!!! Akala n'yo ah, pagkatapos ng 151, gigimik kayo...lagi na lang kayong gumigimik, diba Mr. Ong?" WTH! Haha! "Mayaman yang si Mr. Ong. Akala n'yo kita naman sa mukha sino 'yung magimik." I just felt really loved that time! :|
• College Electoral Board voting was postponed to Monday. I have to make my essay now. Pray for me.
• Barbie, Reg and Rog forced me to go to Trinoma and finally have a complete BFFL outing, "where it all started." Lets just say I gave in? (I know! I repent!) Kent went with us. Too bad, Tenai wasn't able to go, so in the end, we weren't complete.
  
• We watched Cloverfield. It was one hell of a roller-coaster ride. Literally? My head spun and I felt dizzy after. Don, if by different you mean it makes your head spin round and round the whole duration of the movie, then yes it's different. Sorry Kent..next time would be better. :))
• CSA Org Picture Taking! Take 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
  
• Lion Dance, Wushu and Fireworks...Fireworks was REALLY GOOD! Pao Pei, next time warn us when lighting fireworks, ok? Dangerous much! And don't light the finale first? But it was all great! Yehey! :)
  
• Ate dinner with Pats, Sarah, Mark and Merryan at Max's QC Memorial Circle since my parents suddenly decided to eat out and pick me up at around 8pm. o_O But, thankfully, people were up for a dinner, even if it's just Jollibee? :P

pictures will follow soon, hopefully..

Red Shirt Day

• Gong Xi Fa Cai!
  
• UPCSA Org shirt arrived today. It's more than what I expected, which is good. Cute!
• Tried to do Accounting 1 HW with Barbie, then Tenai...but failed.
• Lucky Coleen already did her HW! What a relief! o_o
• ArtStud - continued to dissect and discuss "Greenbelt" and "SM Megamall" and their meanings. Played with toys. Yes, small wooden blocks and action figures. Val Fig kinda got the hang of it. Wow! Fought with Joyce, because her action figure was copying my action figure's wardrobe! "Gaya-gaya ka kasi! Suntukan na!"
• Ate 2 monays for lunch.
• I went to NCPAG to pass my Accounting HW, and to look at the SC room for my name in the College Electoral Board nominations. Vote for me! :)
• Went back to AS to play Frisbee with Tim. I miss Frisbee! Maxi and Pats followed. I haven't played for quite some time! (And I'm not as good as you say Tim) Let's do this again! Enjoy!! Let's form a team! Yeahboy! 3 more girls! Anyone interested?:P
  
• Kakarmahin ka rin! Enough said. Reminder: CSA: Please be careful where you leave your stuff at the tambayan! I can't emphasize enough. Take care of your valuables.
• UPCSA had its Dimsum-Eating Relay around a little past 4pm. It was a success!
  

Congrats Cul-Soc, especially to Krisha and Cherrie! Thanks to those who've helped a while ago!

UPfied

Clea, Carlo, Sarah, Sheena, Chris, Mark, Me

After the "God of Gamblers" UPCSA film showing, I decided to check out UPfied and the launch of AdHoc. I was convinced by the CSA people in UPJMA to stay for the night, more so when Chris told me that he'd bring me home. (Thanks a lot man!)

It was really fun to set the record, and form "UP" using people who were holding candles and sparklers. It was even better when the Centennial band played "UP Ang Galing Mo", while we were all singing along with them. Oh, did I mention that the camera of MTV was focused on us that time. Oooh! :)

The fireworks went off at around 11pm, after Nescafe Soundskool band played their last song.

Chris Ng: "Mosmordia!"
Tasha Teh: "Expecto Patronum!"
Bong: "Levicorpus!"

*Photos from Sarah Wu

Congrats Barbie and Joan for that performance! Good luck on your big day! Congrats Rog for a great night! Good luck on Glam City!