Thursday, February 1, 2018

Headlines

The Taiwanese Heritage Society of Houston (THSH) has always had a fine tradition of providing community services and caring for the less fortunate. On January 7, 2018, THSH offered its grand hall at the Taiwanese Community Center (TCC) free of charge to the Karen Buddhist Society of Texas-Houston for the celebration of their traditional Karen New Year. Karen people are one of the main ethnic groups living in Myanmar, and many have resettled in Houston as refugees during the past ten years.  Some of them had lived in  temporary refugee camps in Thailand for as long as two decades prior to resettling in the United States.  For the past six decades, Karen people were forced to leave their homeland and flee for their lives due to persecution and other human rights violations committed by the Burmese army.  This year, with limited funding, the Karen Buddhist Society of Texas-Houston found it difficult to rent a proper venue to hold their New Year celebration.  Eventually, they turned to the Taiwanese Community Center for help. After a thorough evaluation and discussion, the TCC administration decided to waive their rental fees , an act of good will which is in line with THSH's mission of serving the communities and people in need. The Karen's Buddhist community in Houston is grateful to THSH's support that has helped them preserve their culture, identity, and traditions. (Event Photos & Videos)

Taiwanese Community Center provides good exercise class everyday; THSH members are free to participate. To live well, it is necessary to exercise and group exercise is far more fun than doing exercise alone at home. Here is a brief introduction of these classes offered at the Taiwanese Community Center:

• Monday: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon ~ Yang-style tai-chi, five health exercises, aerobic exercise…etc.
• Tuesday: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon ~ for THSH and Evergreen members, is divided into three sections. First warm-up to do basic tai-chi, Yang-style tai-chi,  and some good stretch exercises.
• Wednesday: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon ~ first to do Ba Duan Jin (a form of Qigong), Wu Qin play, and yoga.
• Thursday: 2pm to 4pm ~ Line Dance. Taught by Ms. Flora Wu.
• Friday: 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, tai-chi workshop, Yang Style tai-chi, Taiwan's tai-chi style and so on; also Wu tai-chi, tai- chi Qigong…etc.
• Saturday: 1:15 pm to 2:45 pm, Mike Kuo Qigong classes

Taiwanese Community Center upholds the health of their members. These exercise classes are based on the principle of mutual learning,  self-learning and continuous learning; there is No exam, no pressure.  It is also a good place doing group exercise and making friends, we encourage everyone come to join us for a wonderful exercise time.

Articles

Event Previews (Event Calendar)

Highlight Texas Animals
Time: Saturday, February 24th, 12:30PM-1:30PM
Content: Houston Zoo animal expert Ms. DeAndra M. Ramsey was originally scheduled to come talk to us about unusual animals in Texas on November 28, 2017 but had to postpone because she went out of town. Now she has specially taken a day off and changed to this date to come give a talk for free. We are very thankful to her, so please do not miss this opportunity!  (Online registration)
Cost: Free for both members and non-members
Reference: https://www.houstonzoo.org/

One Day Field Trip to Victoria, TX
Time: Wednesday, February 28th, 8:30AM-5:30PM
Content: Last May we had hoped to visit Victoria on the return trip from visiting Formosa Plastics, but due to time constraints we had to cancel. Many were disappointed, so we hope to make up for it by making a special trip just to tour this city. It has a dazzling history of oil, and is known for its Victorian architecture. We will be visiting the Museum of the Coastal Bend and Victoria Educational Gardens. It will be a trip with a relaxed schedule and beautiful scenery. You’re welcome to come join us! (Day trip rules) (The registration is closed.)
Cost: Members $20, non-members $30
Reference: https://explorevictoriatexas.com

Property Exemptions & Protests
Time: Saturday, March 3rd, 11AM-12PM
Contents: Many people do not know that there are many ways to save on taxes when reporting property taxes each year. Property taxes are determined by government appraisal of property values. If you believe the government has overvalued your property and your taxes are too high, how do you object? After Harvey flooding last year, many people had their homes flooded and had to spend money on repairs. Can these costs reduce property taxes? After the floods, real estate values fell—should taxes go down? We are inviting Harris County Attorney Mr. Scott R. Hilsher, J.D. to answer these questions. Hopefully this will help some people to reduce some financial burden. (Online Registration)
Cost: Free for both members and non-members.
Reference: http://hcad.org/hcad-help/texas-first-time-property-owner/exemptions/property-tax-exemptions-for-homeowners/
http://www.hctax.net/Property/protest

One Day Field Trip: Houston Downtown Tunnel & Sam Houston Park
Time: Wednesday, March 28th, 8:30 AM-4:30 PM
Content: Did you know how busy the Houston Downtown Tunnel is? It is a far-reaching network with a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and bakeries. Whether you want to visit cultural sites, historical sites, businesses, banks, or luxury hotels, you can safely do so with-out crossing any roads. It’s a leisurely and convenient way to get around, but many have lived in Houston for 30 or 40 years without ever using these tunnels. We’ve specially arranged this trip to allow everyone to gain some insight on them and learn about the beauty of Houston Downtown.  After visiting the tunnels, We will go visiting some interesting places which include Allen’s Landing and Buffalo Bayou，Seven Wonders Sculptures (next to Wortham Center)，Beautiful Julia Ideson Building (the Old Library)next to Smith Street, and  the Phoenicia Market。We may also visit Sam Houston Park if we have enough time.  We might spent about 100 minutes of walking around during this day trip, so if anyone who could not walk for too long, we do not recommended you to participate this time.
Cost: Members $10, non-members $20. Lunch fee is not included. You will get $ 2 discount if registered online. (Online Registration)
Reference: https://365thingsinhouston.com/2017/05/18/downtown-tunnels-underground-houston/#

Event Highlights

On January 12th, Ms. Mary Anne Weber and Ms. Dawn Monachino of the Houston Audubon Society came to speak about special characteristics of Texas raptors. They began by introducing French-born John James Audubon (1785-1851), who drew many birds for the reference of future generations in the spirit of protecting bird species and maintaining peaceful coexistence between humans and the environment. Ms. Weber said bird-watching is the second largest hobby for humans (second only to gardening). Houston is a prime location for bird-watching because migratory birds travel through Texas. She brought three different raptors with her: Amelia the Purple Martin, Skeeter the Mississippi Kite, and Juliet the Barred Owl. She described their various habits and displayed six other specimens for everyone to study: Cooper’s hawk, Mississippi kite, American kestrel, barred owl, red shoulder, and peregrine falcon. We learned a lot about raptors, and children especially enjoyed them. Everyone is welcome to join the activities at the Houston Audubon Society. http://houstonaudubon.org (Event Photos)

On December 12th, we went to Galveston’s Moody Gardens to see the Festival of Lights, which runs for a mile around Moody Gardens. The display consists of about 1 million bulbs and allows you to take in the scenery on Galveston Bay.2. Toyota’s Tundra and Tacoma pickup trucks are made in Southside San Antonio. This plant received the 2008 J.D. Power and Associates Silver Award. We arranged for a trip on January 14th to visit and allow everyone the chance to learn about the manufacturing process for these cars. Total tour time was about an hour and a half. http://www.toyotatexas.com/

Other Community News

TACL Toastmasters Monthly Activities

We kicked off 2018 with a great start, on our 1st meeting on January 8 we welcomed Pathways Guide, Red O'Laughlin, DTM and Ambassador, Jan Poscovsky, DTM, PDG to introduce Pathways, Toastmasters’ new education program!
As the foundation of Toastmasters experience, Pathways is designed to help us build the competencies we need to communicate and lead. Also, we can choose pathways that are more important and relevant to our journey of personal and professional development.
On 1/15, Phil urged us to take advantage of the Paths, Possibilities and Personal Potential growth available in the Toastmasters International Pathways learning experience.  Nam led a theme ‘Inner Peace’ for table topic, and members gave compelling impromptu speeches.  Sunny was voted as the best table topic speaker for this week.
We had so many treats to munch on during meetings, on the 8th, delicious cake from Phil, and gourmet chocolate from Sherry.  On the 15th, delicate sesame sticks from Lorrine, and on the 22nd, tasty Jamaica Rum Cake from Kevin.  Last, but not the least, thanks Stephen bringing bananas each meeting!
We had an excellent meeting on January 22nd, Kevin led a super fun table topic themed Persuasion.  He asked members to persuade others on unusual things, for example, drink margaritas every morning instead of coffee, to have skunks as a pet, to ride unicycles to work, etc.   Sherry was voted the best topic speaker, her unfavorable pornography movie won over margaritas.  No one was reluctant to speak including our guest who came from Japan.
Stephen spoke on advanced special occasions manual, to praise his choir conductor Ms. Lina Huang.  Nam spoke on advanced story telling to urge everybody to be unselfish.  And, two evaluators gave speakers constructive suggestions to improve their speeches.
Our club president Kevin encouraged club officers to attend TLI training.  Phil informed members about the super deal for district conference.   All the current Totally Awesome Members of TACL Toastmasters Club are doing their best to make club going and stay strong, they deserve a toast!
Check us out online at on Facebook @TACLtoastmasters or www.TACLclub.toastmastersclubs.org

Date: February 3, 2018 (Saturday)
Time: 2:30PM 〜4:30PM
Place: Taiwanese Community Center
Content:  2018 Lunar New Year Celebration

Taiwanese American Association
2018 TAA Annual Meeting – New Power Party Speaking Tour (Freddy Lim, Cheng Wu, Yingmeng Lin) Houston Stop
*Topic: Key Missions for Taiwanese Youth
*Time: Saturday, February 10th, 4:30-8:30PM
*Place: Taiwanese Community Center, 5885 Point West Drive, Houston, TX 77036
*Annual dues: $40 per family, $25 per individual or student; dinner cost: $10 per member or student, $15 per non-member
*Registration methods:
1. Online registration: https://goo.gl/forms/tUTnERsJcEzs3JE92
2. In-person registration (TCC)
3. TAA phone registration: (713) 981-8787

Golden Club Annual Meeting
Date: 2/14/2018 (Wednesday) 6:00 – 9:00pm
Place: Ocean Palace (11215 Bellaire Blvd)
Fee: Members : $ 35/person (not including membership fee $15/person)
Register: Email Ron Huang to register: ronfuh@aol.com
Please make sure to indicate how many people will attend.
Deadline: Please register before 2/7/2018

February 2018 Newsletter of T. A. Archives

TCC Announcements

1. Community Center director Mr. Lain Wu will be moving away from Houston for family reasons. His duties will be temporarily taken over by Stephen Ko starting January 19^th.
2. In the past, TCC has been closed on the Lunar New Year, but because the date is not fixed, occasionally it falls on Friday. Since Friday is the day when the most people want to utilize the TCC and many community members do not celebrate the Lunar New Year, the THSH board has decided that from now on the TCC’s fixed holidays will be the following seven days:
   New Year’s Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day & Christmas Day.
3. Monday, February 19^th is President’s Day. TCC will be closed for the day.
4. For the past 10+ years, the base charge for our one-day trips have been $5 for members and $15 for non-members in addition to meals and tickets for any sites we visit. The $5 fee has been used to cover travel insurance, tip for the driver, meals, and reimbursing the trip leader’s fees. For over 10 years, our goal has been to serve the community. However, due to rising cost of insurance, food, and tickets, on January 13^th the THSH board decided that starting from this March, the base charge will change to $10 for members and $20 for non-members, in addition to meal costs and entry tickets to sites we visit. Please understand our difficulty, and we hope everyone will continue to join in our activities.
5. To conserve manpower and increase efficiency, the THSH encourages everyone to use the internet as much as possible. If you would like to know what activities are happening, please see The Link for the fastest and most accurate updates. If you would like to participate in any events, you can sign up on the website. It is the fastest and most convenient way to sign up and allows for better counting of number of participants and corresponding number of tables and chairs needed. Beginning from March, those that are signing up for one-day field trips can save $2 by signing up online. Please take advantage of our website whenever possible.
6. Originally, we invited the children from Turning Point Center to join our semester-end ceremony and celebrate Christmas with us at the Taiwanese School on December 16^th. However, this was cancelled since many of the children could not come. The Taiwanese school has invited them to join us in celebrating the Lunar New Year on February 10^th. They have agreed to bring 30 mothers and children. This will likely be their first such experience, and we are happy to host them.