‘Tis the Season

‘Tis the season for friends, family, and just as importantly…food. We here on the tafBlog love this time of the year because of all those reasons. And as the days grow shorter and the weather turns colder (it gets chilly here in Los Angeles too!), we think it gives us a great reason to huddle up next to each other and enjoy some hearty food. So for this past Thanksgiving, tafLA decided to get together with some friends at our main outpost, affectionately dubbed the “Yauhaus”, and share in the festivities. And in true tafLabs fashion, we recorded a video about it!

Building a Home | Los Angeles, CA from Seaglass Cinema on Vimeo.

And for those of you who are sad to have missed out on all the buttery desserts, come join your fellow TAFers Saturday. December 29th in Chicago for TAF New Years! Check out the evite link here: http://www.eventbrite.com/s/byinenivtefor001

Family, friends, and food. What more could you ask for? Happy holidays everyone and we hope to see you December 29th! Happy holidays and Happy New Year!


TAF 2012 Slideshow

Another amazing week of TAF has come and gone. We look forward your own personal blog posts, recaps, videos, and pictures, and the TAF Night acts are being uploaded as we speak. And in case you haven’t seen it on facebook or twitter yet, here is this year’s incarnation of the slideshow. Hope you enjoy!

If you like the music we chose, support the artists and buy their songs!
1. Swedish House Mafia – Save the World Tonight (Radio Mix)
2. fun. – We Are Young
3. Monsters Calling Home – Growing Up
4. The Editors – Weight of the World


TAF 2012 Daily Recap: Thursday

Like the beef stew we got served tonight by the delightful Manchester staff, we’re getting into the meaty parts of our week. Enjoy our fourth Daily Recap!


TAF 2012 Daily Recap: Wednesday

Day 3 of TAF2012! At TAF, we definitely know our way around a serious discussion, but of course we love to have fun too. Lots of workshops, avenues to express creativity (including a script reading facilitated by tafLabs’ very own Theresa!), and dancing to loud noises and colored lights. Hope you enjoy!


TAF 2012 Daily Recap: Tuesday

It’s day two of TAF 2012. Time for our campers to get into the meat of our weeklong program, with speakers and workshops on identity and other topics running throughout day. But of course there is always time for fun and games (and pie) :D.

And uploaded before midnight! A new tafLabs record.


TAF 2012 Daily Recap: Monday

Who needs London when the TAF Olympics have arrived in Manchester, Indiana with one-of-a-kind events like “Crispy Face” and “Crabcakes”?

In addition to today’s intense but friendly competition, TAFers enjoyed meeting their speakers for the week, John Lin, Roger Lin, and Jade Lum, and bonding with their Big and Lil Sibs.
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So much awesome already…and it’s only Monday! Hooray for the first full day of TAF!


TAF RULES 2012

Because safety comes before fun!

Written and filmed by tafLabs. Starring Will Leu, Jesse Kao, and Bing Wang as “Stinky”. Cameos by Executive Director Jessica Fu, Ming Young, and Harmony Chiu.

And yes! Much more content to come out this week — keep visiting us back here and follow us on twitter @tafstatus!


THE TAF CYCLE

Identity, Values, Communication, and Servant Leadership.

TAF has been developing servant leaders within Taiwanese America for over thirty years. In that time, over five thousand people have attended TAF and learned about our four constant themes. If you are one of those five thousand people, chances are you created your own narrative for your time spent there, and felt a varying degree of emotions, experiences, challenges, successes, and failures.

Your collective stories become the narrative for TAF. A community of summer camp goers, brought together as kids with a shared heritage, but united together by 1 week out of 52 in Grand Rapids or North Manchester, learning about ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Forging personal growth and close friendships.

Hopefully you came back more than once. Hopefully you came back at least four times, to learn about each theme. And above all else, hopefully you shared the wisdom that you gained at TAF unto others. Because the true TAF Cycle isn’t just about four rotating themes, but also about paying forward all you learned at TAF to those you encounter, be it at TAF or outside of TAF, towards future generations.

And so we created this video to share what a complete TAF experience might be like. I know many of us started out at TAF in different ages and different programs, some of us didn’t have the opportunity or fortune to staff, nor do many of us even have children to send to TAF yet. But from precocious Junior to caring adult, we all own parts of this story, and so this is the important thing to remember — we have been and are still ALL part of the TAF Cycle narrative no matter where we are in life — alumni or current, staff or student, parent or child. And thus you share the hope with us, that we can all make a profound impact on mankind, for our future.

Hope to hear from you again at TAF 2012.

Early registration ends July 15th. Please register here at http://tafworld.org/registration.

Video Credits: Ho Chie Tsai, Anna Wu, and the rest of the tafLabs team.


TAF 2011: Daily Recap – Sunday

TAF is and has been a lot of many thing to many people. For most of us, the community and camaraderie is what brings us back to be surrounded by friends that have become family. And that is why, at the start of every year, it just feels like we’re coming home. So here is our simple Daily Recap for Sunday, July 31st, the first day of TAF 2011.

We’re looking forward to another wonderful week, with over two hundred returning and brand new campers and staff in the Juniors, Junior High, Youth, and tafLabs programs. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more content throughout the week!