Happy Lunar New Year!

2012 is the year of the dragon, and rumor has it that this year will be a prosperous one! If you didn't know already, TAO has clubbing events every quarter. Last quarter was at Level 3 in Hollywood for the Halloween clubbing event. If you missed out, Underworld Productions put together a video recap of the night that you can watch below. See if you can spot us board members! :]

As some of you may know already, our clubbing event of the quarter will be this Thursday! 

Come celebrate the new year by clubbing at Avalon in Hollywood with your favorite people! (That would be TAO, of course ;]). We will be boothing all of this week in front of the Cross Cultural Center to sell tickets. Presales are $15 and are guaranteed to be sold out so get your tickets soon! This event is 18+ and don't forget to bring a government issued ID! For more information visit the Facebook event page. Hope to see you all there!

-Victoria

ps. be sure to buy some baozhi at our booth while you buy your tickets!

Hi everyone!

I hope studying for finals week has been productive for you all so far! Once finals are over, you'll get to relax for an entire month! And once you come back, you'll be all ready for our epic/awesome/amazing snowboarding trip... right??

This will be our third year in hosting our annual snowboarding trip to Big Bear, and we board members have made sure that it will be bigger and better than ever! Check out the promo video below to get a feel of how much fun it was last year and get a sneak peek of the beautiful cabin that we snagged! Of course, we want only the best for our TAO members.

Convinced yet? Hurry and apply because the deadline for early bird prices ($80 for members/$90 for non-members) is December 16th. We can only take 50 people so don't wait! Sign up today to secure your spot and go on a weekend trip with TAO for some snowboarding fun!

click here to apply online!

Facebook Event Page

<3,

Victoria

I’d like to formally introduce new members to our staff team!! This quarter, we welcomed 7 new staff to our original staff (Julie, Enoch & Timothy).

To get to know them a little bit better, here’s mini bios about each of them!

Timothy Hsu
2^nd Year International studies and Business administration
Hobbies: None :D
Favorite Taiwanese food: Stinky tofu

Julia Lin
1^st Year Undecided/Undeclared
Hobbies: sleeping, eating, reading, drawing, playing video/computer games
Favorite Taiwanese food: 筒仔米糕 (TW Rice Cake)

Lawrence Lam
3rd Year (transfer) Public Health Science
Hobbies: Eating and going to Disneyland!
Favorite Taiwanese Food: 魯肉飯

Enoch Chen
4^th yr Sociology
Hobbies: cooking, eating, tennis, volunteering, table tennis, bowling, Pool/billiards, God, reading
Favorite Taiwanese Food: Stinky tofu, oyster omelet, 肉圓, Taiwanese Sausage

Kathleen Chen
1^st year Psychology & Social Behavior
Hobbies: Taking photos, dancing, scrapbooking, and eating food
Favorite Taiwanese food: Shaved ice, yumm.

Curtis Yu
1^st Year Undecided/Undeclared
Hobbies: Tennis, hanging out with friends, eating!!
Favorite Taiwanese food: Stinky Tofu

Lisa Chou
1^st Year Urban Studies
Hobbies: Playing piano, baking/cooking, dragon boat, tennis, listening to music, going hiking/off-trailing, relaxing with friends
Favorite Taiwanese food: minced pork and rice

Julie Xiong
3^rd Year Business Administration, Philosophy
Hobbies: Reading, Watching movies, Dining out, Soccer, Shopping, Traveling
Favorite Taiwanese food: fried stinky tofu and BOBA lol

Billy Sun
4^th Year Sociology Honors/Pre-Law
Hobbies: Snowboarding, biking, beach... outdoors!
Favorite Taiwanese food: oyster omelet

Ann Lan
1^st Year Biological Sciences
Hobbies: drawing, piano, internet, listening to music, running, sleeping, collecting bunny stuff
Favorite Taiwanese Food: "Bawan" (肉圓)

When you see them during our meetings and events, don't be shy to say hi! Our staff is definitely a friendly bunch, and now that you know some of their hobbies and interests, get to know them more!

Oh, and if you would like to be a part of this awesome TAO staff family but didn't apply this quarter.... don't worry!! Each quarter we accept applications for new staff members! It may be too late for fall quarter, but be sure to keep an eye out next quarter! Being on staff is a great way to be more involved in TAO, so we hope that you will consider it!

<3,

Victoria

Hi everyone!

You may be wondering what the TAO board has been up to lately… well just this past weekend TAO board and new staff went on an adventure in Los Angeles! It was an overcast day with a chance of rain, but that didn’t hold us back from having quality bonding time and traveling all over LA!

First off we arrived at A Ri Rang Tofu House in San Gabriel for yummy Korean food! Bubbling tofu soup and sizzling stone pot bibimbap was particularly comforting because of the chilly weather. Here you can see Becky, our Social Chair, is very happy to eat some ddukbokkgi (Spicy rice cakes).

Our next stop was at Half & Half Tea House in Monterey Park. Esther and I were especially excited since this was the first time we had drinks from this super popular boba chain. Upon getting drinks, everyone was happily sipping boba. Needless to say, it was very yummy.

All the car enthusiasts of the group were looking forward to our next destination: Rodeo Drive. We spotted a black Lamborghini, A5s, Maseratis, SLSs, and a $2+ million car, just to name a few. If you like cars, you should definitely chat up Josephine, Isaac, Sherry, and David!

While walking around, we came across this strange sculpture which somewhat resembled intestines in front of a Bank of America building. Kathy, Tammie and David immediately struck some poses for a spontaneous photo op.

Our final stop at Beverly Hills was ‘Lette. I think this was the only shop where everyone bought something! Be it one macaron or a dozen, everyone drooled over these petite desserts and just had to buy some. For those who tried macarons for the first time, it was funny to watch their reactions… like David’s, “*Nibble* Oh god…. *munch* ...these are so good... *nom nom* oh my gosh...” I think it’s safe to say that macarons are the most seductive desserts! We had quite a few macaron-converts that night!

As the sky became darker and darker we decided it was time we went to the Griffith Observatory. Despite the cloudy sky, we luckily got to see the city lights of LA quite clearly. It was chilly, but the trip up the observatory was definitely worth it for the beautiful view! Here’s David’s photo:

Our last destination was the Grove for dinner. Johnny Rocket’s was the only place that didn’t have a crazy long 1-2+ hr wait like everywhere else, so we decided: burgers it is! Famished from all the walking we did during the day, nobody spoke a word as we all devoured our food. Once our tummies were full, it regrettably was time to head home.

With macarons in hand, a full stomach, and memories to last a lifetime, our board and staff have become much closer than before; this is only just the first trip of many more.

Victoria