Culture Groups San Francisco

[In-Person Event] Dinner in SF Chinatown

Hi Friends! Join us on Wed September 2 for a fun and casual dinner in SF Chinatown. Whether you're a beginner or fluent speaker, this event is designed to foster a fun and inclusive environment for practicing Mandarin and connecting with fellow language enthusiasts. Some potential dinner spots include: * Chong Qing Xiao Mian * House of Xian Dumpling * 606 The exact location will be selected closer to the day of the event. If you have any suggestions or recommendations though, please let us know!

🎈🎈Language and Cultural Exchange Event! Berkeley! August 29th @ Cellarmaker

Welcome! Participate with us on Saturday for a cultural and language exchange. This event will be hosted by native Spanish speakers, however, all languages are welcome! Spend your Saturday afternoon connecting with international friends and fun interactions. Look for the table with the Red balloons 🎈

BonPOP Volunteering w/KOHO

Nakayoshi will be signing up as a group to help out KOHO with the setup for their annual BonPOP celebration in Golden Gate Park! **Please sign up for the 9 AM to 1 PM "Event set up" timeslot here:** [\[Volunteer Form\]](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekzCjlnwP5wGG7D6slyvlgY5q62lNSfs4vNKv5LXhHPbIBCw/viewform) Be sure to fill out "Nakayoshi" as your organization so we can be placed together for setup! We'll meet at 8:45 AM at the entrance to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, near the intersection of 9th Ave and Lincoln Way, then proceed together to volunteer check-in. After setup is complete, we'll grab lunch as a group nearby. Anyone who wants to can visit the festival proper after lunch, and hang out to watch or participate in the bon odori!

I Love Boosters @ The New Parkway

SonoMusette: channeling mid-20th century Paris

SonoMusette is a terrific quintet that draws on the timeless works of Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, and their contemporaries. At the center of it all is Paris-born singer Mimi Pirard, who is backed up by musicians on accordion, piano, bass, and drums. The band performs mainly in the North Bay, so this is a rare chance to hear them in the East Bay. *"Of the many interpreters of Piaf's repertoire and the French song tradition,* *to my mind (and ear), SonoMusette is one of the very best. -- Carolyn Burke • author of No Regrets, The Life of Edith Piaf* COST: About $37 for advance tickets online. (Tickets cost several dollars more when bought at the door.) Seating is general admission. **Buy your own tickets**. **MORE INFO and TICKET LINK:** https://www.ticketsignup.io/pirard WHEN/WHERE TO MEET: By 3:40 p.m. inside Piedmont Center's performance area. (Doors open at 3:30 p.m., and the show starts at 4:00 p.m.; I'm assuming it will last about 2 hours, with an intermission.) HOW TO FIND ME: I'm WF, about 5 feet tall, with short, salt-and-pepper hair and glasses. (See my Meetup profile pic.) I'll send my mobile number to RSVPers prior to the event. If I'm missing anyone when I get seated, I'll post a Comment on the Meetup Event Page saying where I'm located. LOCATION: Piedmont Center for the Arts at 801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont. PARKING is on the street. **NOTE:** **Unlike most of the events that I post, this is *not* a quick walk from a BART station.** However, an AC bus line goes from 15th and Broadway in Oakland to within a block of the Center for the Arts. (People also have the option to take a ride-share from Rockridge BART, about a 15-minute drive from the Center.) MORE INFO: https://sonomusette.com/the-band.html

Mini-Meetup: An Exotic Lunch at Middle East Cafe in Berkeley

Noche de Español: Cultura, Juegos Y Buena Vibra. Aug 27th

Bienvenidos a Noche de Español! Un meet-up relajado y divertido donde la cultura, los juegos y la conversación en Español se combinan para crear una experiencia única.
Aquí no importa tu nivel de español, desde principiantes hasta hablantes nativos, todos son bienvenidos. Jugamos, practicamos, nos reímos y compartimos en un ambiente amigable, mientras descubrimos nuevas formas de conectar con la lengua y la cultura hispana. para que nos encuentres fácilmente busca la mesa con los globos a rojos 🎈 🎈

Something New: Friday Night at OMCA (End-of-Summer Gathering)

**Tonight we're leaving Alameda and closing out summer with [Friday Night at OMCA,](https://museumca.org/about-friday-nights-at-omca-with-off-the-grid/) the Bay's favorite free block party! Join us at Oakland Museum of California, featuring live music and food trucks from Off the Grid.** We'll meet on the lawn to relax and enjoy good food and music. I'll post our specific location once I arrive. You'll also be free to wander the grounds for a live DJ set, gallery tours and more. **What to Bring** Bring a blanket to sit on. **Off the Grid Food Trucks, & Drinks** Off the Grid food trucks line 10th Street, and there's beer, wine, and cocktails near the Koi Pond if you want a drink in hand. **Free Live Music** Tonight's music features [BULULÚ ](https://museumca.org/event/friday-nights-at-omca-with-bululu-3/)blending salsa, cumbia, merengue, calypso and joropo on the Garden Stage (6:30–7:45 PM) and Bay Area DJ [TIEDYE](https://museumca.org/event/friday-nights-at-omca-with-bululu-3/) with old-school R&B and Afrobeats in the amphitheater (6:45–8:45 PM). **Parking & Event Info** OMCA also offers a $10 flat-rate parking in the OMCA Garage until 10 pm. Please note that outside alcohol is not permitted, and event details and performances are subject to change. **Please view the [Garden Guidelines](https://museumca.org/visit/garden-guidelines/) and [Dog Policy.](https://museumca.org/visit/dog-policy-at-omca/)** Gallery Chats run 5:30–7:30 PM if you want to wander with a facilitator (look for the blue "Let's Chat" shirts). Museum admission is separate if you want gallery access; the block party itself is free. **Come spend a [relaxed evening with us](https://www.instagram.com/p/DWscqMsjqkK/)! Feel free to arrive early to participate** (on your own) in [Afro Dance Lessons and Gallery chats.](https://museumca.org/event/friday-nights-at-omca-with-bululu-3/) **RSVP by 5:30 PM, Friday, August 28.**

Korean for Everyone - Intermediate Level : Free Class & Cultural Meetup

**Welcome to the Intermediate Korean Class!** 🎉 We’re so glad to have you join our **Intermediate Level Korean group**! This class is designed for learners who already know the basics and want to build confidence in speaking and expressing themselves more naturally. During our sessions, we focus on: 🗣️ Practicing conversation and fluency ✍️ Strengthening grammar and sentence structure 🌸 Learning about Korean culture and expressions **This week’s focus:** We’ll be practicing speaking! Please prepare a short story (about 2–3 minutes) about your week to share and discuss with your peers and teacher. 📍 **Location:** 1911 Hayes Street 🕔 **Time:** 2:30pm Let’s have fun learning and connecting through Korean together! 💫

Profs & Pints Alameda: Creativity, Moods, and Mania

[Profs and Pints Alameda](https://www.profsandpints.com/sfbayarea) presents: **“Creativity, Moods, and Mania,”** an exploration of how depression, mania, and everyday ups and downs influence different types of creativity, with Sheri L. Johnson, distinguished professor of psychology and director of a bipolar disorder research program at the University of California at Berkeley. [Tickets available only online, at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/alameda-creativity-moods-mania](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/alameda-creativity-moods-mania) .] Ancient quotes on creativity, moods and mood disorders abound. Aristotle wrote, “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” Lord Byron, describing poets, later observed, “We of the craft are all crazy. Some are affected by gaiety, others by melancholy, but all are more or less touched.” But is there really a link between moods, mood disorders, and creativity? What does modern science have to say about the subject? Explore such questions with Dr. Sheri L. Johnson, director of the CALM (Cal Mania) Program at UC-Berkeley. Her research there studies how mood—especially the highs and lows of bipolar disorder—shapes people’s lives, including their creativity, goals, and well-being, as well as what mechanisms contribute to mood episodes and recovery. She'll begin with a discussion of how scientists measure creativity in life and in the laboratory, describing what we have learned from hundreds of experimental studies on creativity and mood. Some findings indicate that happiness, at modest levels, can help foster creativity, while negative moods can interfere with it. We’ll consider how we can draw from these scientific findings to protect our own creativity. Turning to mood disorders, Professor Johnson will describe how mania was a well-documented part of the lives of major creative figures such as Lord Byron, Vincent Van Gogh, Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, and Alfred Tennyson. Beyond biographical summaries, she’ll highlight findings of a country-wide study of the Swedish population which connected higher creativity to a personal and family history of bipolar disorder. She’ll also outline findings of studies designed to test why mood disorders might relate to creativity, and we’ll consider the evidence so far on whether medications for bipolar disorder help or hinder creativity among those with a history of mania. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: From a self-portrait painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 after slicing off his own ear (Courtald Institute of Art / Wikimedia).

Korean for Everyone - Beginners: Free Class & Cultural Meetup

**Come hang out with us at the San Francisco Korean Culture and Language Meetup Group!** This Meetup is for **beginner-level Korean learners**. If you already have a basic understanding of Korean and want to focus more on **speaking fluently and improving expression**, please sign up for the **Intermediate Level** class instead. In our last session, we learned how to form the past tense in Korean. For your review, here is a simple summary of the past tense forms. In Korean, the past tense is usually made by adding: –았어요 (used when the last vowel of the verb stem is 아 or 오) –었어요 (used with all other verb stems) –했어요 (used with all verbs that end in 하다) Examples: 저는 집에 갔어요. → I went home. 저는 커피를 마셨어요. → I drank coffee. 저는 어제 공부를 했어요. → I studied yesterday. Vowel Sounds 👉 https://youtube.com/shorts/cNpBn5vFmas?si=_4iMeM01Tv0CMfRZ Combined Vowel Sounds 👉https://youtube.com/shorts/bFM4dQIEzfE?si=LMeRs1OPMoncUQWY Consonant sounds 👉 https://youtube.com/shorts/5huk-375qTM?si=HKLK-h-aeLyeV_dX Combination of vowel and consonant chart 👉 https://youtu.be/ihtB9EVOfpg?si=AYfyYVJPyIJ0fY-l **For the Intermediate Level, please RSVP separately for that class. We have opened another Intermediate Korean class on Meetup.** Address: 1911 Hayes Street Time: 2:30pm (Intermediate Level) See you all!

Plus Arcade Party