How can an introvert Asian engineer like me make friends?

Asian is waaaaaay too vague but I did take a semester of Japanese for the heck of it perhaps a decade ago, and the OP did ask to meet ladies, and the class was about 50% women who would fight over the opportunity to "study" with a native speaker. So lets go to the coffee shop after class and discuss the homework further, etc. So find the local higher ed school and ask the teacher if they'd like the help of a native speaker, even if all you do during class is sip a soda I'm sure you'll get all the attention you can tolerate both before and after class. Stay on the teachers good side by never interrupting or correcting them unless prompted (their class, not yours). Aside from language, an ethnic cooking class might like your help.

OP may think being foreigner means Americans won't care, but I found it totally fascinating talking to a Korean coworker for endless hours. You need a collection of conversation starters "well, in Korea we have vending machines that contain beer" or "ah well a twelve hour flight back home next summer" or "let me tell you about real korean bbq" or whatever.

I can only speak for myself as an introvert; however, beyond needing that alone time to recharge myself, I find that I tend to like to be social only in small groups. When my wife and I go to social functions.. if it's a larger function, it's pretty much a guarantee I'll latch onto one or two people and chat with them the majority of the time (learning more about interesting aspects of their lives, professions, etc.).

I also think it's easier to begin to become acquaintances and friends with those you have the higher frequency meetings with. The easiest way to make that happen is to look at things you (OP) want to explore and / or improve upon. Perhaps those could be improving his english ( http://english-conversation.meetup.com/cities/us/ca/san_fran... ) and / or perhaps some sort of activities (do you want to try rock climbing? yoga?...find some things that interest you and give them a try by finding some beginner classes...)

- improve your fitness and yourself confidence - meet new girls - have a socially structured environment. The sport you're playing is a topic you can talk about with your teammates.

There are few other reasons why you should play join a sport team in your situation but they are not coming to my mind at the moment.

Good luck

- join a local group of some sort: my best recommendation would be a theater class, my preference, improvisational theater; given, this could be scary for an introvert (but actually is loads of fun and you really get to bond with people in a unique way); helps you with meeting people, English, self-confidence

- join a local facebook group of some sort: e..g expats in redwood city, or become a volunteer if you have your weekends to spare

- if you are a programmer, start your own projects and learn new stuff; take that alone time and turn it into something constructive, maybe something you can even show later to people and have as a point of conversation; choose a fun subject that other people can use immediately; be patient and stick with it, this can take some time (there was an idea sunday thread on HN, maybe you should check that?)

- befriend people at work to begin with, join them for lunch, or ask if they want to join you for lunch; how to befriend people? Ask about their favourite music, movies, books, their lives, stories. Be interested. Remember. One day, ask if they want to grab a beer after work