Diay, mae 👋🏼
“Diay, mae” means “hey, buddy.”
Last week, I was introduced to a new project involving the development of a test method for a new design. This project is more challenging but very interesting because it requires problem-solving to come up with a new test method that can still comply with ASTM standards. I’ve been working along with an RDI engineer and a quality assurance engineer, as well as asking feedback from the design team and the principal engineer. I’ve learned that when the standard has not established any specifications, the company will need to take the standard as a reference document and develop a suitable test method.
Tasks I accomplished last week:
- Created presentation slides summarizing all the outputs from different engineers and recommending next steps.
- Participated in a meeting with a supplier about a new design and witnessed how the triangle of project management (time, cost, and scope) is applied in an industrial environment.
- Helped the biosensor lab with programming due to a high volume of requests.
- Drafted a lab report for another project on new pad base preparation processes.
New tasks for this week:
- Revise a lab report for new base preparation processes.
- Revise presentation slides on the new test method.
- Prepare specimens and conduct testing for the delamination project.
- Analyze survey results for a proactive measures project.
- Mark test samples for another seal width project if needed.
Another intern’s dad came to visit Costa Rica and treated us to a Japanese restaurant. I ordered tonkotsu ramen, and its chashu (pork slice) was one of the best I’ve tasted in a long time since I left Asia. Lewis ordered a jalapeño sushi roll. My spice tolerance has decreased a lot, but I still prefer eating sushi with wasabi. “For the culture,” I tried a jalapeño one with wasabi, which was the worst idea ever. The back of my mouth was burning, and my ears hurt so much.😭
jalapeño sushi roll
On Saturday, Aiman, Summan, Korie, and I had a girls’ night. We used face masks and watched a Taiwanese time-travel movie called “Someday or One Day.” Its motif was about unresolved grief. Even though I’ve watched it before, I was still confused about the time frames and needed to take notes to understand the timelines. Despite the confusion, I enjoyed watching this movie because it made me think. We had samosas as snacks.
movie night with samosa
On Sunday, we hosted a potluck at our place. Korie and I prepared Japanese strawberry mochi (ichigo daifuku) and Brazilian coconut balls (beijinho). We made mochi from red beans and flour and coconut balls from grated coconut. Making Japanese strawberry mochi was more difficult and tedious than I thought.
First, we boiled red beans and ground them until they were soft, then mixed the paste with sugar in a pan and put it in the freezer to cool down before forming it into balls. For the mochi skin, since we didn’t have a lot of tools like a steamer, rolling pin, and circular mold, we got creative by using a microwave to heat and mix the dough, ziplock bags as baking sheets to place mochi, and a glass cup to roll out and cut the dough into small circular shapes. Once the red bean paste and mochi were ready, we cut strawberries, covered them with red bean paste balls, and then wrapped them with the mochi skin.
Mochi making from mochi skin, red beans, red bean paste, and finished strawberry mochi
Regarding my Spanish update for the week, I am in Section 2, Unit 2 on Duolingo. The topic is traveling, which I find very useful. Besides that, I learned that “Diay” is another Costa Rican phrase, just like “Pura Vida,” that can be used in all kinds of circumstances. You can use it to greet or express frustration, depending on the tone and expressions. It’s similar to how we use “really” in English.
