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Burmese American Professionals Society

""Together Everyone Achieves More"

April '97 Volume 1.3

Happy Chinese New Year!!! Happy Burmese New Year!!!

First of all BAPS officers would like to extend to you a healthy, a happy and a prosperous Chinese New Year as we celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. April is also the beginning of Burmese New Year - better known as "Thingyan". Let us celebrate this special joyous occasion together!

BAPS sponsored and organized many successful events last year, and we plan to have many more exciting events and activities this quarter. Everyone's participation is absolutely essential to help BAPS grow and to better serve its members and the Burmese American Community.

Last Quarter's Activities

ROLLER SKATE NIGHT

More than twenty BAPS members and friends showed up for an evening of roller skating in San Mateo on January 25th. A lot of us were first time roller skaters. We assisted each other in skating. This evening event gave our members and friends not only a chance to get together for some fun but also a chance to promote the society's goal of providing networking opportunities. Everyone had a great time, and there's been many requests for more events like this. Our thanks to Roger Sha and Michael Yin for their effort in putting together this event.

LAKE TAHOE SKI TRIP

On January 31st, BAPS organized a week-end ski trip to the Hevenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe. The five bedroom vacation cabin we rented was near the Heavenly Ski Resort and five minutes drive away from casinos in downtown. A total of 23 adults and kids showed up for this event. We left the Bay Area in four groups at different times on Friday January 31st. Most of us skied at Heavenly, and a few went to the casinos on Saturday. While the advanced skiers like Keven ,Cynthia, Michael, and Roger went straight to the ski-lifts up the mountain, many first time skiers like Edison, Eugene, Maymar, Jonathan, and kids took ski lessons.

Everyone took a great joy in preparing their specialty food to share with others. We had sticky sweet rice, curried chicken, curried beef, Burmese fried dried shrimp paste, Chinese sausages, spaghetti, fried rice, chow mein, Kentucky fried chicken, bagels, coffee, chips and drinks. Many thanks to BAPS ladies: Lulu, Cynthia, Claudia, Connie, Maymar, Lillian, Emerald and Jasmine for their preparation of the wonderful food. We spent the Saturday evening at casino and won some money. We also played pictionary and card games in our cabin. On Sunday, we drove around Lake Tahoe to take pictures.

We headed back to the Bay Area after two hours of shopping at an outlet mall. We had a great time together and enjoyed the weekend trip tremendously. In addition to enjoying fresh air in the mountains, skiing, and savoring the delicious food, everyone was courteous and respectful of one another. In summary, this ski trip was a huge success. This is one BAPS event many will remember for a long time.

JOB SEMINAR

On March 1st, BAPS and First Burmese Baptist Church co-sponsored a seminar on "How to Look for Jobs and Networking" at First Baptist Church in San Francisco. BAPS President Edison Paw gave a session on how and where to look for jobs. BAPS member and associate of Prism Recruiting Group Philia Fong-Ng gave a talk on how to look for job and how she would help people in our community. About 30 people attended this seminar. President Mr. Felix Chin and Vice President Mr. Ronnie Leong of Burmese American Association were among the attendees to lend their support and showed the unity among various associations in our community.

Future Activities

BAPS is planning the following activities, and we would be very happy to hear from all. These events are intended to provide opportunities for our members to network and to share common interests. We hope that some of you can help us organize some future events. Please contact one of our officers if you have any suggestions for activities.

Some of the activities planned are:

April 19 - Pot-luck Picnic and celebrate Burmese Thingyan at National Semiconductors Park

San Francisco Bay to Breaker

June 14 - water rides and white water rafting at Oakwood park in Menteca weekly or monthly badminton games

More membership drives

BAPS Meetings

BAPS plan to hold monthly meetings for all BAPS members and folks interested in becoming members. First meeting will at National Semiconductor Park in April. Everyone is encouraged to attend the monthly meetings and to help organize various activities. Meeting location will be announced to members via e-mail, phone, and the web. Members are welcome to contact executive officers with any suggestions or questions on how to improve our Society.

Contact Information Richard Lee 5698 Tan Oak Drive Fremont, CA. 94555 (510) 793-1474

Eugene Shu 1039 Bowdoin Street San Francisco, CA. 94134 (415) 245-2941 (Pager) (415) 452-0645 (after 7 PM)