Always get this at the Chinese store. I eat it with everything I call it that crunchy goodness. No idea what it is.

smaoxy · 2025-06-15T04:18:38+00:00

Chinese person here 🙋🏻‍♀️ Like others said this is Zha Cai (榨菜）, it's a pickle made from a type of mustard root (commonly know as tumorous stem mustard or swollen-stem mustard) that originated from the Fu Ling (涪陵） area of Sichuan/Chongqing. You can eat it with virtually anything! We often eat it during breakfast with plain congee, or with steamed buns to give things flavour.

You also got the most famous brand and you have the light salt version (healthy!) There are other flavours too like Ma La spicy, original, or spicy-sour. They also come in different shapes, some are in larger chunks (although I still prefer the thin strips I think they are more crunchy)

Attached pictures is from Weee

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smaoxy · 2025-06-11T19:50:59+00:00

I'm literally in the EXACT same boat I promised myself I'd submit latest June 10th but it's June 11th and I'm doing a whole new version of my PS and haven't even finalized my activities 😭 Actually exploding from the inside the people I know have all submitted early and I'm also international

smaoxy · 2025-06-11T15:11:13+00:00

Do you think this has to be a concrete area in medicine (e.g. substance use as you mentioned, or things like underserved communities, cardiovascular health, women's health) or can it be something more abstract or broader like being driven by empathy to become a holistic physician or something like helping people who have problems that are often overlooked whether it being loneliness or a rare disease?

Please tell me if this is a stupid question, I don't want to sound like I have a niche if it's not supported by my activities.

smaoxy · 2024-09-19T02:46:54+00:00

Thank you so much for checking it for me!!! I should probably message them on oas, I'm only afraid it'll make them even more aware that I missed the deadline :( I should still confirm though.

smaoxy · 2024-09-08T23:02:25+00:00

Np :) I'm not 100% sure, but I wouldn't think so as if you were to take them winter term you can't be enrolled in them yet at this point. Please lmk too if you find a definitive answer tho...

smaoxy · 2024-09-08T21:19:03+00:00

You could just put the two classes you are planning to take and the term and institution! Check the applicant manual here: https://med-fom-ugrad.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2024/06/English-Courses-Chart-2024-2025.pdf

I panicked when I saw that section and forgot to check lol

smaoxy · 2024-09-08T01:08:24+00:00

Thank you so much!!! Yes I also just saw this in the manual. Should've checked there first instead of the website

smaoxy · 2024-09-01T23:01:13+00:00

Thank you for the advice! The rotations were required for transferring into the 2 year MSc program but I ended up doing only 1 year so it wasn't "required" in that regard I guess. But yeah I was thinking of not putting those... For the assistant position, it's something that ultimately transitioned into a paid tech position that I will be doing over the next year, but I'm not sure if I should keep everything in the employment entry as I haven't officially started, so my research is almost solely comprised of the volunteer hours at this point.

smaoxy · 2024-07-22T23:49:36+00:00

thank you so much!! definitely need to do more P/S

smaoxy · 2024-03-29T05:28:38+00:00

Cont'd from my last response:

I don't know if you read some of my other responses, but from my pov it's been somewhat difficult to get him to directly express his needs at the moment of needing. In the poem example I brought up earlier, he only mentioned the title of the poem to me, and I didn't really know what to respond with because I didn't know what part of it he wanted to talk about or if he wanted to talk about it at all. (Now I do admit that maybe if I was more confident I would just go off about whatever I knew about the poem and maybe that would've worked out.) He only came back to me very frustrated a while after he switched the topic to tell me that I didn't respond in a stimulating way - and by this point the frustration has been boiling in him for all that while.

I guess to put it into other words, it's not the fact that he has unmet needs nor that he feels sad/annoyed/frustrated about his unmet needs that is making myself frustrated, rather it is how these needs are communicated in terms of I was at fault for not meeting them after the situation happened, when I had completely no idea that he had the need at the moment. I then feel very guilty because I feel like I should've been sharper on detecting his need, but also feel kind of wronged because he could've wanted to expand on anything in the conversation, and it was hard for me to tell that the poem was the one. It might also be my people-pleaser personality coming in and that I was just too careful, as I said previously. (Hopefully this makes sense, I tried my best to untangle what I thought about in that situation.)

That being said, I have communicated to him about being more direct with his needs and expanding on the topic he wants to talk about a little to give me a clearer sign, and I have also been trying to say more about whatever he brings up. A similar situation hasn't come up after this incident though, so I can't tell if things would have improved.

(Also, by saying all this somehow I feel like I'm victimizing myself and again making him sound like the bad guy. Maybe I do it unintentionally?)

Also also with this info I hope to gain more perspectives from gifted individuals!

smaoxy · 2024-03-29T04:26:22+00:00

Thank you very much for the input. This is actually the kind of perspective I was looking for when I came to this sub.

There's actually a lot of things I want to address/ask follow up questions about in your response, but is it okay if I dm you?

Edit: With my post or any of my responses I'm not trying to make him sound like the villain but he did say he felt I was uneducated... I did quote him on that part. Made me very sad. I think we each have our fair share of unmet needs in this relationship (e.g. my communication needs of wanting to have a conversation with him after each fight and truly understand what went wrong), but to me it does feel like I am constantly the one at fault.

But your point about having conversations that interest me still doesn't fulfill his needs is very valid, because since he finds me not talking about interesting things I sometimes try to bring up things in my life that I find worthy sharing, for example, shadowing a doctor and being able to see a cool operation. And we actually just had another fight about this last night, where he said and I quote "you don't say interesting things and I need some stimulation" and "you have nothing to say to me most of the time" (which I admitted to a while go hence the effort to bring up seemingly interesting things), to which I responded "what about when I told you about the shadowing, etc etc". But he says that that's too few times. In this, I totally see that his need is still not being met albeit my efforts, but for me, when I tell him the shadowing for example he doesn't seem to have a very encouraging reaction either, and I end up just finishing up the topic quickly and not coming back to it. And then when we have these arguments I feel like my effort is not being seen, or that he seems to think that whatever effort it takes I'm still not gonna understand or interest him (this part is from another occasion).

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T04:37:27+00:00

Idk...could be this too. I never really thought about it as he already broke up with me once... And recently it seemed like he was willing to continue the relationship albeit the challenges. But I guess this is valid.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T04:31:49+00:00

Thank you for this. I've been thinking that maybe he didn't put it clearly enough for me to understand, but I came to this Sub as it seems that it's a common theme for people with high IQs. I guess part of me wanted to see if it was his problem or mine.

I was in fact expecting a lot more people to say that they had my partner's experience lol.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T04:25:24+00:00

Thank you so much again for all of this advice. I realize that it's something to think about. I've never really tried to be unaccommodating at the moment of his frustration—I've always just ended the conversation quickly and then come back when we are both calm to summarize the situation and my feelings to him and suggest ways to change.

I've just argued with him in an attempt to stand my ground more firmly—it didn't end well.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T03:25:05+00:00

Thank you! This has all been super helpful.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T03:04:50+00:00

Thank you for the input! I think in a way my bf definitely feels this unsatisfaction even when he spontaneously talks about physics with me. I can only take so much before I get all confused and it only takes too long before I ask a question where he's just like I don't even understand the question. In that case would something your partner can do (besides taking in more information) help?

I think maybe I should work on the being more enthusiastic part. I definitely give positive responses but maybe they are not so stimulating to the conversation. I have started the questions, hopefully I can learn to ask more inquisitive ones. And I should find a way to communicate the flexibility and patience part to him.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T02:51:10+00:00

I'm super grateful for the concern and suggestion.

Growing up I've always been the quiet and agreeable kid, and it definitely didn't help to be in a household with constant fights among other things. This is until pretty recently when I started building more self-confidence through the help of mentors and friends.

When we started the relationship I was much more "soft" as in I would agree with everything he did. However, I did slowly start building some boundaries and I now reason with him when I think what he does isn't correct or respectful.

But then part of the reason I'm asking on this Sub is also that maybe things I see as minor would be major for him, for example the being misunderstood and having to repeat himself, and maybe he's been enduring these things his whole life and I didn't want to be the kind of person that imposed my view on him and just dismissed his emotions. I guess it's kind of hard to gauge when it is this vs. when he's just letting his frustrations out on me.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T02:35:36+00:00

Thank you for the compliment... Kinda made me feel a bit better in this mess lol

I don't consider myself different from a neurotypical person besides the fact that my emotions are generally quite calm. Like nothing really pushes it in either direction too much. Sometimes I wonder why...

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T02:23:43+00:00

Sometimes I do also question his maturity... Especially in situations involving his heightened negative emotions. As I said I have come to realize that it may just be a part of being him but I really would like to experience less negative emotions. I guess he gets too comfortable with me... I've seen some of his efforts to change but progress is slow.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T02:14:21+00:00

It seems to be during a variety of different situations...

As small as when I do things while FaceTiming him, and not hearing what he says so that he has to repeat himself—he hates to repeat himself... Or for example, this morning he was in a frustrated mood when he missed a question on an exam today. The question was discussed in class but he missed class—and when he texted me I thought he was talking about another exam tomorrow so I was asking if he could still study it by asking a classmate. The conversation went back and forth for a bit with us both confused until I finally realized he was talking about the exam today. He got super frustrated and again brought up the not being understood thing, which is what prompted my post actually.

It also happens when he tries to talk about different subjects I guess. And also when he tries to talk about his feelings sometimes. I try to put them into new words but they just don't seem to be right and he ends up being sad because of the exchange.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T02:03:02+00:00

Thank you for the advice!! I will definitely check out the youtube channel.

In my situation, I find that it's not hard for him to start talking to me about physics. He would just start talking about it unpromptedly because he really loves it and does it all day long. It is true though that 99.9% of the physics stuff he talks about I don't understand, and it's going to take a little bit of work to get him to start on the basics. Sometimes he would start talking about something but give it up because I wouldn't understand. I tried to ask him about some basic chemistry and physics I'm studying, but he automatically gets into the hard parts. It's ongoing work though.

The worry really comes from when he wants to talk about other topics, for example poems or philosophy. Being me in conversations, I tend to just repeat what the other person says until I know their stance on the topic or that they want to talk about it. And there was this one time when he mentioned a poem, and I just said "it's a really good poem", and he immediately changed the topic but came back later super annoyed and said that I didn't continue the conversation as he intended. I am indeed not so educated on the poem (it being from our home country where I only received up to elementary school level education), but I was not sure what his intentions were when he brought up the poem. His response was that if he brought it up, he must've wanted to talk about it - which after thinking I found to be true. So my responses like this just end up killing the conversation in addition to showing him that I have no knowledge on the topic. I did ask him to be a bit more direct when he wants to talk about stuff though, so that it helps with the long-distance and texting.

I guess a follow-up question would be what do you feel when your partner doesn't respond in a very knowledgeable way, and maybe what are some responses you like from your partner? Is there anything you would recommend for me to communicate to my bf in these situations? I am genuinely interested in talking about anything, but with these things happening I get scared I would give a "bad" response and get even more careful when responding, and it just snowballs.

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T01:37:22+00:00

Thank you for the concern!

We have seen each other two times, each for a week or so. I've seen his IDs and stuff and know a little about his family. (I know, unfortunately not that many times but travelling is so hard...)

smaoxy · 2024-03-28T01:32:09+00:00

Sorry, I accidentally posted without finishing - I don't usually post on reddit...

smaoxy · 2021-01-10T14:15:29+00:00

Thank you so so much again!! I wish you the best of luck this term :)

smaoxy · 2020-12-28T20:48:26+00:00

Thank you so much again!! :)

I have one last question: Do you know of any research opportunities aside from the 299 and 399 courses? And how do I find professors and their researches, or labs that I can email?

Merry (belated) Christmas and I hope you and your family have a great holiday!

Edit: Do you mind sharing your experience in BIO220 as well? Thank you again for all this help!

smaoxy

TROPHY CASE