Board Games and 'Blank Spots': February #Snapshot

February was a short month, but there was no shortage of events or activities for TAP-SF during that time! We managed to squeeze in four events last month, doing everything from wildlife watching to hosting engaging discussions about Taiwanese history and identity.

Here’s our February #snapshot:

February 11: Elephant Seal Walk 

A wild adventure watching wildlife: on a breezy and sunny Saturday, TAP-SF ventured down to Año Nuevo State Park for a quick bite before embarking on a guided hike to observe northern elephant seals migrate back to the San Mateo coastline. 

Check out our event highlight on our Instagram page (and give us a follow if you don’t already)!

February 15: Dinner with TAP-SF in Mandarin at Burma Love

Another month, another ‘Dinner with TAP-SF’! Cultural committee members Amy and Kellie organized a second installment of our popular dinner series in Mandarin, hosted at Burma Love in San Francisco. The homey restaurant ambiance paired with casual conversations allowed participants to connect with each other quickly and comfortably. 

Note: Given the overwhelmingly positive interest in our event (that sold out impressively quickly), we’re excited to plan more dinners for you to look forward to! If you didn’t get a chance to attend this dinner, please follow our Facebook page to be notified when we host more small group dinners throughout the year — they are a great way to get to know people in a smaller, more intimate group setting. Attendees are selected on a first come, first serve basis. We’d love to see you! 

February 18: The Blank Spots of Your Taiwanese Family History

It’s no secret that intergenerational communication can be challenging. But why is that? To help answer this question, TAP-SF partnered with Eric Tsai, co-founder of OFTaiwan and content producer at TaiwanPlus to conduct a workshop discussing the role that Taiwan’s nuanced history plays in these communication challenges. Drawing upon his personal experiences with his own family, Eric offered approaches and potential solutions for audience members struggling with similar challenges. Following a lively Q&A, our group traveled to Gott’s Roadside in San Francisco to continue discussions over burgers and beer.

February 26: Board Games at Games Kastle

The competition is on! Towards the end of the month, social committee member Edward hosted our second in-person board game event at Game Kastle in Santa Clara! 19 participants joined for an afternoon of friendly competition playing games like Monopoly Deal and Saboteur. 

We hope to see you at one of our upcoming March events!

#Snapshot is a monthly blog series by TAP-SF featuring a roundup of our latest events, activities, and experiences.

Sound Baths and VR: January #Snapshot

The new year brings new events — but we’re still having all the same fun! We promised our community a fresh slate of events and activities this year and we’ve started delivering. 😉 From sound baths to virtual reality experiences, see how TAP-SF kicked off our 2023. 

Here’s our January #snapshot: 

January 15: Sandbox Virtual Reality Game Day

There’s no escape from reality — or is there? In an intense session of VR, Team “Tappy Seals” successfully defended Hong Kong and the Earth in 2088! Despite the plethora of ferocious alien creatures, nothing could outmatch our team spirit…a type of esprit de corps that included lots of friendly fires and occasional fratricide.

After the VR experience, attendees gathered at the posh food court in Hillsdale mall to chat and enjoy bites of poke, tacos and boba.

January 22: Board Games at Cataldi Park

What better way to roll into the (lunar) new year than with some casual — and competitive! — fun playing board games at the park! On this bright and sunny afternoon, social committee member Edward invited a small gathering of community members to play crowd favorite board games like Monopoly Deal and Forbidden Island at San Jose’s Cataldi Park. Nothing like a healthy dose of competition to kick off the Lunar New Year, are we right?

January 23: Sound Bath 

A small group of TAP-pers discovered the healing power of sound through a meditative sound bath experience at Grace Cathedral. After everyone’s energy was cleansed and rebalanced, we then headed off to chat and converse over a delicious hot pot dinner.

#Snapshot is a monthly blog series by TAP-SF featuring a roundup of our latest events, activities, and experiences.

Hikes and (Bar) Hops: December #Snapshot

2022 ended with a bang for us! With every committee putting on an event (or two!) last month, we welcomed community members with a range of interests all throughout December. Here’s our December snapshot:

December 3: Land’s End Hike & Legion of Honor

Rain or shine, we kicked off the month with a brisk hike along the Land’s End Trail during the first weekend of December. While it did not “shine”, the wet and gloomy weather had nothing against the crowd of enthusiastic hikers that came out to enjoy the scenery with some new company. We capped off the morning with a cozy meal at the Garden House Cafe (special thanks to cafe owner, Janette, for accommodating our large group)!

Check out our event highlight on our Instagram page (and give us a follow if you don’t already)!

December 6: Rebuilding Your Professional Network 2.0

Another season, another round of Speed Networking! Hosted by Donna and Alice of the professional development committee, our ever popular speed networking event returned for a winter edition. Over 20 participants joined us at Sports Basement in San Francisco, where professionals from around the Bay Area came together to mix, mingle, and chat about all things career.

December 8: Dinner with TAP-SF in Mandarin: Yakitori Kokko

In another installment of our ‘Dinner with TAP-SF’ series, we hosted our inaugural Mandarin-speaking dinner event! Cultural committee members Amy and Kellie organized a night of culinary delights and conversation at Yakitori Kokko in San Mateo. Participants sampled an eclectic array of delicious skewers as they connected over everything from adulting struggles to Taiwanese-American identities in the cozy restaurant ambiance. 

Note: Due to limited availability, our ‘Dinner with TAP-SF’ events typically sell out extremely quickly! If you didn’t get a chance to attend this dinner, please follow our Facebook page to be notified when we host more small group dinners in 2023 — they are a great way to get to know people in a smaller, more intimate group setting. Attendees are selected on a first come, first serve basis. We’d love to see you! 

December 16: TAPpy Hour 

Cheers to almost making it through 2022! In partnership with longtime friend Jon Fong, TAP-SF cohosted our last TAPpy Hour for the year. Throughout the night, our cabana (yes, we had our own dedicated cabana 😎) invited participants to pop in and make conversation, allowing space for new faces and old friends to reconnect during the holiday season. 

December 17: Peninsula City Bar Hop

There’s no better way to unwind (from the year, perhaps!) than with some good food and good company. Our social committee organized an energetic day of bar-hopping along the peninsula, starting from Mountain View and ending in San Mateo, for attendees to indulge in each cities’ local food and bar scene. 

Catch a glimpse of the fun in our recent event highlight video!

December 18: Neighborhood Trash Pickup

While the end of the year is peak holiday season, it’s also peak giving season! TAP-SF partnered with Manny’s in SF to give back to our community through a productive morning of community service. We cleaned up parts of Mission Street in San Francisco (made all the more fun with our disco reflective vests) with long grabbers — during our cleanup, we even helped folks drop off their own trash with us. The Sunday morning fun concluded with delicious pupusas and empanadas.

We hope to see you at one of our upcoming January events!

ICYMI: Our Best Moments from 2022

From bar hopping and dumpling making to speed networking and volunteer gardening, our 2022 saw an abundance of new events, the return of unique community experiences, and the reconnection of friendly faces.

We rounded up some of our favorite moments that tell the story of this year. Here’s to building more memories with our amazing Bay Area community in 2023!

January — Happy (Lunar) New Year! Partnering with the Chinatown Community Development Center, our community service committee kicked off the year with a heartwarming card-writing event for seniors in honor of Spring Festival.

March — At Alcatraz Historical Gardens, a group of volunteers organized by our community service committee helped prune and plant new shrubbery during a brisk spring morning.

April — Meeting new people can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be! ‘Tea Talks’ was one of our most popular events this year, with more than 50 people in attendance. At the Stanford Golf Course, attendees gathered in small groups to chat through a deck of conversation cards before mixing, mingling, and conversing in new groups.

May — The West Coast’s largest Taiwanese American cultural celebration, the Taiwanese American Cultural Festival, returned to Union Square in San Francisco after a two year hiatus brought on by the pandemic.

June — We launched the first iteration of our ‘Dinner with TAP-SF’ event series, where TAP-SF board members host small group dinners at restaurants around the Bay Area. These small group dinners provide a more intimate setting for participants to learn about TAP-SF, our upcoming events, and make connections with new community members.

August — Hosted at Good to Eat Dumplings in Emeryville, our sold out dumpling making workshop invited Chef Henry Hsu of Oramasu Dumplings to teach us how to make dumplings from scratch. Throughout the event, participants learned the history and culture behind specific Taiwanese ingredients. At the end of class, handmade dumplings were served up with traditional Taiwanese accompaniments for all to enjoy.

September — Our ever-popular ‘Speed Networking’ event, hosted by our professional development committee, returned in-person for the first time since the pandemic hit! Our Speed Networking events provide a space for Bay Area professionals to connect and mingle, whether individuals are hunting for their next career opportunity or just looking to broaden their network.

October — Hello from the 2022-2023 TAP-SF Board! Our fall recruitment cycle attracted a number of new board members, resulting in a 30 person-strong board for the upcoming term. We kicked off the new term with our fall retreat, mapping out goals and brainstorming ideas within our refreshed board!

October — Spooky season celebrations were co-hosted at Southside Spirit House with longtime friend Jon Fong. Can you guess what the TAP-SF board was dressed as? 

Hint: Our costumes reflect a drink that originated from Taiwan!

December — No better way to unwind (from the year, perhaps!) than with some good food and good company. Our social committee organized an energetic day of bar-hopping across the peninsula where attendees indulged in each cities’ local food and bar scene.

Spotlight Event: Volunteering with Seniors at On Lok

Our Community Service team this year, organized a new event with the On Lok senior community center in San Francisco. It was a very successful event and the connections made with the seniors was fulfilling for everyone involved. This event was a shining example of how the partnerships we make in the community can benefit everyone.

We interview Michelle Lee, our community service chair:

Why did you guys choose On Lok Seniors Caregiver?

My husband's grandmother goes there for services and likes it. I chatted with Jessica Chang Greenman and she was very open to having TAP come and help out with some gardening.

What was the experience like for the volunteers?

Overall it was fun. Jessica did a great job walking us through history of On Lok and telling us about the activities on offer. The gardening work was hard but fun, we had to move woodchips in wheelbarrows and place them on the paths to keep weeds from growing. It was rewarding as the look was quite professional after adding woodchips and it was clear seniors love that garden (they were singing, reading, watching opera videos, and doing tai chi). We also worked with a great master gardener.

Some folks went to help serve lunch and bus the tables, which gave them more interactions with the seniors. We ate lunch with the seniors and chatted with some of them. Many were excited to see younger people.

Why someone reading the blog might want to get involved?

It was so cool meeting all these people doing awesome work (like Jessica and her coworkers) and hearing how On Lok started (it was more informal at first before getting government funding). It was great to bond with the elderly and help them out! We'll all be there one day.