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Gala JJR/MC 69-70 à Saigon |
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Ecrit par Webmestre
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21-03-2009 |
Le groupe JJR/MC 69-70 organise tous les 2 ans un grand gala dans différents endroits du monde. Pour l'édition 2009, ce sera au Vietnam.
From Nguyễn Trung Chí, JJR69
Dear friends,
I have been working for sometime in the shadow of Chairman Nguyễn Chiến Thắng (uh! not that chairman, but our very own NCThang JJR69). Together with the Organization Commitee, we have been busily planning for this summer “debarquement” of our JJRMC visitors and their guests.
It is a privilege for me to contribute to this great tradition of ours which begun with “Les Grandes Retrouvailles” Montreal 2001, followed by Paris 2003, Wash DC 2005 and Orange County 2007. This year, our international reunion is slated for the first week-end of July in Saigon the city of our youth: July 3rd-July 5th, 2009.
This time around, we are plagued by envious, like “world economic crisis” and “swine-flu pandemic” among others. Never the less, in-spite of all the on-going worldwide calamities, let’s, together, make this 2009 reunion a success. Calamities will always come and go-away but “our moment in time” only happens once
.....
.....
So why should we all try to overcome all our difficulties and fly half-way around the world to spend a week-end with a bunch of aged “ex-lyceens and lyceennes”.
As I could remember, for me. it was:
• The delicious pleasure of the “Circle of friends” that braved the Montreal cold to stand in a circle in HQBao back-yard and reminisce “bruyantly” about old-times until early morning. The sharing of warm tea and a cup-of-Cognac. The shouting. yelling and laughing lyceen-style.
• The complete cut-off from my daily worries and routines. Lazily lounging with friends around a cup of coffee or a beer. Strolling down the streets of an unfamiliar down-town. Shopping for souvenirs with my camera. Being momentarily irresponsible for a change.
• I don’t know if I can explain this clearly to you: The strange peaceful sense of being around “grown-ups” without really feeling that we actually are sitting with “grown-ups”
• Put it simply, it is “Amitie et fraternite”
About the Gala:
We have reserved the Him Lam five-star restaurant facilities for our Gala. Through Chairman Thang’s clout, they “made” their Grand Ballroom on the second floor available to us together with big discounts on the food and services. However, we have reduced our attendance-expectation and moved our Gala to a smaller room on the first floor. This new ballroom is about half the size of the other, but is cozier and has a more panoramic view of the Saigon River and bridges. The Gala will be recorded by professionals and a souvenir DVD can be purchased directly from them. The video will be displayed live on a giant splash screen at the Gala. We are also considering the possibility of feeding this video stream on the Internet to share the Gala fever with our friends that could not be there in person. Details to follow once we have mastered all the technicality required to realize that vision. A website will be created to archive and share all the photos taken during the Gala week-end.
Our reunion plan includes:
• A Welcome Dinner-Cruise on the Saigon River. This event is scheduled for the evening of the 3rd. Cruise-liner, location and time will be announced at a later time. This dinner is not included in the reunion fees and is payable directly to the cruise-restaurant. This is a 2:30-3:00 hr cruise with entertainment included. The OC will attend this event to welcome all reunion friends and guests.
• Visit to our schools JJR and Marie Curie on the morning of the 4th. Free
• Gala night at the Him Lam Saigon Restaurant 6:00 PM-11:30 PM. Entertainment and dance music will be provided by a Traditional Vietnamese Music band and a pop-rock band. Included in the reunion fees
• Brunch d’Adieu at a “special location” on the morning of the 5th. Location, rendez-vous point, time and transportation will be announced later. This event is also included in the reunion fees
After the Gala week-end, we may have the following elective events based on your requests:
• Picnic to Vung Tau
• Picnic at Giang Dien Waterfall park
• Visit to Chairman Thang’s new furniture plant in Nhan-Trach, Dong Nai followed with “Cháo” and “gỏi” “gà thả vườn” at a nearby country-style restaurant
• Golf outings
• Shopping-trips
• Saigon-Dalat-“Mũi-né” bus-bike excursion.
• FanSiPan hike if you did not believe that I jinxed the 2005 climb
• 3-5 day group-tour for 12-30 people could be organized for anyone interested
For many of us, this will be our 40th graduation anniversary reunion. By the 45th, 50th graduation anniversary, many of us may not be able to travel. I am not even sure if I will be around to greet you at that time. So I will do my best to make-up for that possibility this time.
TThong is right. In 5 or 10 years, you will not be able to recognize the Saigon of your youth. For better or for worse, the city is changing and growing quickly. There are so many new constructions happening in Saigon. Houses are being demolished overnight to make place to new buildings. Old neighborhoods are metamorphosing at frantic paces. Even our schools JJR and MC have changed and probably will change more in the coming years. Saigon as it is now, has more than doubled and perhaps tripled in size. Thu Duc now is part of the city and is one of its districts. That’s progress at its best (or worst)
As in the past events, the 1969 and 1970 promotions are driving this reunion, but the Gala and all associated activities are open to all promotions and their guests. Just sign-up for it using the link included at the end of this email. You are always welcomed.
Please write to me DIRECTLY at BlazingCyber@yahoo.com for questions, suggestions, requests or just to say hello.
Thinking back, we all have had to somewhat change our plans, rescheduled our activities, re-arranged our priorities, removed road-blocks and did the impossible to attend past reunions. Perhaps we have grown tired of seeing the same people again every two years or hearing the same anecdotes again and again in a strange/foreign city.
This time around you will be doing the same rituals in a city somewhat still familiar to all of us. This may be our last chance to do that with all these familiar faces that we have grown to love or hate for at least the last eight years. And for some of you, this may be our last chance to climb to the top of Mount Fan Si Pan TOGETHER. So friends, especially the ones that have given-up and resigned themselves to miss this reunion, let’s do the impossible and click on the link below to sign-up:
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=JKBGQZSFWIAQVBMOBLQZ&li=iq&src=email&trk=aei6
Sincerely yours,
Nguyen Trung Chi
011-84-908 667 018 or 011-84-913 602 896
PS: My brother just flew in (04/30/2009) from Los Angeles via Air Viet Nam for US$ 700.00 (seven hundred dollars) round-trip and the five-star Caravelle hotel is having a 50% discount on their room rates to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
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Derniàre mise à jour : ( 12-05-2009 )
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