Coming from a family that immigrated to San Francisco long ago, I am someone who can speak both Chinese and English. Because of that, I am able to understand two different cultures and their ways of life. I have lived in San Francisco for the majority of my life. Therefore, sometimes communicating with those who speak only Chinese, like my parents, can be hard. A language barrier has built up between my family and me for the years I have lived in SF. When I first emigrated to the United States, it was hard to get used the cultures. Things were just way too different from the five years I have spent in China because there are many holidays here. Holidays like Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Veterans Day don’t exist in the Chinese culture. In the US, I only kept the celebration of Chinese New Year as a celebrated holiday because of my family. But after many years, I became more accustomed to the US holidays while maintaining a balance with my Chinese culture. Not only that, growing up in San Francisco has increased my overall interest in art.
My passion for art started from the animes I watched on TV. Growing up with shows like Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Digimon, and more inspired me to draw. Drawing is usually a way for me to be free from the stressful work in my everyday life. I love how I can draw my ideas down freely on a piece of paper and digital canvas. Slowly, animation became something that I might want to major in. Seeing your creations move is an interesting idea to me, and you can feel a sense of achievement. However, with the vast variety of jobs available in the world, I am also interested in majoring in computer science. Which specific job in this field, I do not know yet. I only know that this is a possible field to study on. I enjoy coding and, just like animation, I like seeing them work in front of my eyes. Though I have mentioned my great passion for art, I want to major in computer science more. With the world involving more technology, learning about computer science can get me a much more steady job. And so, I see myself in the computer science industry in the future.
Other than art, I like to cook too. I like to make desserts and junk foods. In the past, I have made green tea crepe cake, shrimp tempura, popcorn chicken, Oreo brownies, and macarons. Only green tea crepe cake, Oreo brownies, and popcorn chicken came out good. The others I failed at because they were just hard to make. The preparing process of shrimp tempura is complicated. I have tried my best, but I couldn’t get the shrimps to be straight when it’s fried. So, it curled up and became fried shrimp balls. As for macarons, we all know that it’s the hardest cookie to make in the world. You need precise measurements, temperature, and cooking directions to get a nice cookie shell. I have attempted making green tea macarons with my friend. When the batter came out of the oven, it was flat, and it looked “raw.” We test-tasted it, and it was extremely sweet. The “shells” were still edible though, but just too sweet for my taste. Later, my friend and I investigated the cause of this failure. We both came in an agreement that it was the eggs that the macarons didn’t come out right. The egg whites didn’t foam up enough to make the macaron shells raise. The two of us gave up on trying it again because we were exhausted by the end of making these tedious cookies. As much as I failed at making good food, I still love cooking. I hope my cooking skills will be much better ten years later.
Why green tea flavored food? I would say it’s because of the influence of anime. Anime got me into the Japanese culture, like their food. I enjoyed eating their shrimp tempura, takoyaki, sushi, mitarashi dango, mochi, crepe, and just about anything matcha flavored. I recommend trying them (if you haven’t) as they are very good. Not only food, but I also like Japan’s beautiful sceneries. Their nature sceneries are my favorite because they give out a calm and elegant vibe. They also relax your mind and are perfect for memorable photos. Lastly, my goal is to visit Japan one day.