After college graduation, I worked at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. My work was involved with the identification of various proteins that could potentially be used as bio-markers for breast cancer detection. In this period of time, I developed interest in Computer Science particularly in web/network technology. Transitioning from Biology to CS was not easy for me. Luckily, I came across a program at the University of Pennsylvania that allowed me to get a computer science degree even when I had zero experience in CS. So I did that last year.
I came from Indonesia about six years ago. I often miss Indonesian food in the States. It's not just about the taste, people here don't really eat the kind of food I used to eat back home. Indonesians use mainly coconut oil for cooking and not olive oil or vegetable oil. Dairy product is almost never used, instead we use coconut milk and coconut water. The types of herbs and spices used are vastly different too, for example: red pearl onion (a kind of shallot), red chili pepper, garlic, coriander and turmeric are used very often. Whereas American food uses mainly onion, cheese, tomato, black pepper, bayleaf and rosemary.
There are other common Indonesian spices/herbs that are difficult to find in the U.S like: turmeric leaf, lime leaf, indian bay leaf, galanga, candlenut and key-root. This makes cooking Indonesian food harder here.
In addition to herbs and spices, the meat selection here is quite limited. In Indonesia food like internal organs (brain, gut, bladder, liver, etc), frog, snake, dog, bat are pretty common. It's unfortunate that people here don't sell these kinds of food.
Anyway, since I've come here, I have tasted different kinds of cuisines and I think Indonesian/Malay and Japanese/Chinese cuisines are still the best. I am a foodie, sometimes I travel around just for the sake of trying local cuisines.
I generally like to play sport. I play badminton (not competitively), jog and hike. I haven't hiked since I came down to California, so if you have any recommendation, please let me know. Like many stereotypical Asian guys who study Computer Science, I play video games even though not much anymore. Last game I played was World of Warcraft, and it had caused enough damage to me. So I am trying to find a game that is less addicting
I am also interested in Japanese culture maybe from watching anime and reading so many manga (Japanese comics). Quite some time ago, I was able to live one summer in Japan and immersing myself into Japanese culture in an exchange program called HIF. It was one of the best summer of my life. If you're interested in some kind of summer exchange program, I definitely recommend HIF. The only drawback is program applicants must have taken at least one year of college-level Japanese language. But it's totally worth it.
