Saturday, March 20, 2010

FCC Easter Bunny Training Camp

Come learn the art of the traditional Easter egg hunt in a safe environment. Depending on the number of kids, we may split into a couple of groups based on age and ability.

When:
Saturday, April 3, 2010
10:00 AM - Noon

Where:
The Swings at Grant Park
The Park is located on NE 33rd Ave & US Grant Place

What to bring:
Your own Easter basket & 12 filled plastic eggs to share (per child)
Please do not bring plastic eggs you want back

In Case of rain: You are in Oregon! Wear a hat!

If you have any questions, please contact Kathleen Murphy at
kathleen.murphystrongin@gmail.com

Saturday, March 13, 2010

More Than the Time Is Changing

Time to Spring Forward with more than switching to Daylight Savings Time and moving your clocks forward one hour today.

To ensure more timely updates to the FCC Oregon/SW Washington website, we have changed the format of the website to a WordPress blog. This will make it easier for the people who have the information to quickly update the site at www.fcc-oregon.org

The change involves renewing your subscription to the What's New email. In the next day or two you will get an email notifying that the feed location of the email you subscribed to has changed and you will need to confirm that you still want to receive those email updates and/or need to resubscribe in order to keep receiving them or receive them at a different email.

If you use a blog/rss reader (such as Google Reader), you can also opt to add the site to your blog reader instead of receiving email updates.

We hope to be adding more local resources to the site soon. If you have used a therapist or found a cultural resource you have found useful, please let us know.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Opportunity from Pacific Education & Cultural Exchange Center

In summer 2008, JiangSu Broadcasting Corporation (JSBD) and my company filmed a TV series called "Chinese People See the World, Destination - Portland".

The TV crew accidentally met a family with kids adopted from China while they were filming the beautiful Columbia Gorge on the cruise of Portland Spirit. The TV crew did a little on site interview with the family. When the show was aired in China, it touched many Chinese. People were actually asking about them a year and a half later.

SO JSBC decided to work with us again to do a follow up story and explore more stories on this subject "Chinese kids adopted by American family, how they are doing now and how much ties of the two culture are left on the kids living in America" with Chinese audience's curiosity and concern.We are working on a rough script right now.

If you know any other kids adopted from Jiangsu province or any touchy stories, please let us know. The previous show reached 47 million people around the world. Hopefully, this one will do well too.

For more information, please contact:
Liying Zheng,
Director
Pacific Education & Cultural Exchange Center
USATel: (360)910-4714
Email: zhengliying@pecec.com
Website: www.pecec.com

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Summer Camp in China!

Summer Camp in China! ages 10 and up (Mom and Dad too!)

A Rich Cultural Immersion Experience
July 12th-August 6th, 2010
(3 week language/culture camp, optional 1 week cultural tour)
Yanshan University
Qinhuangdao, China
Tour : Beijing, Xi'an

Yanshan University is located in Qinhuangdao, a scenic seaside city approximately 160 miles from Beijing. http://www.ysu./edu.cn/english/english.asp

July 12 through July 31
Each morning campers will engage in Chinese language studies while afternoons will be spent with cultural and recreational activities (Chinese music, tea art, tai chi, calligraphy, etc.), field trips (the Great Wall, agricultural village visit, Beidaihe Beach, etc.), and get-togethers with local junior high and high school students.

August 1 through August 6 (optional)
All inclusive trip to Xian and Beijing for continued learning and experiencing of China's history and culture.

Cost:
1. $50 application fee

2. $665 for 2 weeks language training program at Yanshan University, includes tuition, textbook and teaching materials, accommodations*, field trips and local transportation.
*We provide 2-bedroom apartments; $12pp/day/ bed x 21 days, 4 peopleper apt.

3. $470 for 1 week (OPTIONAL) cultural trip to Xian and Beijing, includesinter-city and local transportation, accommodations, meals and fieldtrip tickets

4. Total of above is only $1185 per person, for 4 weeks! (or just $715 for the first 3 weeks)

Cost does not include:
Refundable Security Deposit for the apartment in Yanshan University($150 refundable), international airfare, Visa application fee, meals during the language portion (meals included during cultural tour), and/or items at traveler's own expense during cultural trip (recommended approx. $50)

Certificates will be awarded at the end of the program for the campers'Chinese language and culture study and their volunteer work in English language training (conversation and socialization with local students).

For more information, please contact Luanne Billstein Luanne@theBillsteins.com

Look for the event on Facebook:search for:"Language and Culture Camp/Tour in China- 4 weeks!"

Our Chinese Daughters Foundation Scholarship

When Our Chinese Daughters Foundation was originally formed in 1995, the first major project we undertook in addition to our newsletter was the publishing of the book New American Families: Chinese Daughters and their Single Mothers.

Later in 2004 OCDF published a second version: Finding Happiness: Single Mothers Share Their China Adoption Stories. Both books are still available through OCDF Publications www.ocdf.org/publications.

When the first book was published, our promise to our supporters, who were then single mothers adopting daughters from China, was that a portion of the proceeds (income after expenses) would be invested into an account from which we would begin offering scholarships in 2010 whereby their child(ren) would be eligible to benefit.

We did invest that money and it is now 2010 - time for Our Chinese Daughters Foundation to begin giving a scholarship to an adopted daughter of a single mother. The purpose of the "Chinese Daughters Scholarship" is to provide annually a combined need-based + merit-based scholarship to an adoptee from China who was raised by a single mother from adoption through college.

One scholarship will be given each year for as long as the funds allow. For eligibility requirements and application form, please visit www.ocdf.org. Deadline for application is postmarked April 1st.

We know and understand there are couples, partners, single dads, and families with both daughters and sons who are long-time and strong supporters of OCDF and this is scholarship is not meant to exclude much-deserving adoptees.

However, this specific fund was established some time ago for a very specific purpose which we are bound to honor. We will work to offer additional scholarship programs that will meet a broader range of adoptive families and their children.

For this particular program the focus must meet the original intent. Thank you for your understanding.