2018 TEL3 Fiesta Celebration

By Ms. Chit Fernandez 

The 2018 Pope John Paul 11 Fiesta celebration yesterday evening was a lot of FUN, FUN, FUN!  The TEL3 BOD prepared for this big event by setting the mood a week before. They decorated the lobby and Condo  entrance with colorful “banderitas”, & creatively designed  hand-made spheres crafted from folded recycled paper, courtesy of Rustan’s Marketplace!   Yes, our community is into recyling to promote Sustainability!  

As they enter the lobby ,  kids and adults alike have a smile on their faces, delighted  to see the hanging spheres, looking like multi-colored lanterns when the cove lighting on our lobby ceiling radiates on them.  Wow, truly a festive sight! 

The “Potluck Dinner” was sumptuous,  with a wide variety of food,  both home-cooked signature dishes of residents and restaurant specialties,  plus of course the main feature of every fiesta celebration - the “Lechon!”.  There were platters of fresh fruits, native rice cakes (“kakain”) & Selecta Cornetto Ice Cream & Twister Pops as  dessert options, though most tried all of them! Yeah, life is indeed sweeter during fiestas, especially if all those food are downed with a bottle of beer or a glass of red wine ! 

The 17-member AKAI band arrived at past 7, just as we finished our dinner.  The first two pieces they played were western country music,  which reminded us of our high school barn dance, with a lot of  feet stomping and elbow “hooking”. Remy Vasquez was kidding Des Silvestre  if that was their evening’s repertoire.  However,  her impression changed when the band started to sing a medly of  ABBA songs from “Mama Mia”, including the National Anthem of Dancers - “Dancing Queen”!    OMG, Des couldn’t help but rise up from her chair and dance solo!  

AKAI played 3 sets of 45 minutes each.  Their repertoire included a selection of Beatles hits like “I Saw Her Standing There”, which was a throwback to our youth, making us seniors sing along loud and proud,  and dance on our seats like nobody was watching! 

The band played on through the night with the hits of the Bee Gees, The Carpenters , etc,  which kept the audience in a singing & dancing mood.  More requests for encore, and finally the grand finale -“Build Me Up Buttercup”, which made all of us stand to sing and dance with the band !   Truly an enjoyable evening!