PSA: Open house

I'm at Brandeis for an open house -- or I was yesterday afternoon, when I arrived here.

It was nice to meet the director of the Cultural Productions program and to talk about "what I'm interested in" -- for the sake of my admissions essay, that is national views of trauma and security; for the sake of my sanity, that is everything on the planet (I know, doesn't sound like much of a sane plan, does it. Sigh) -- but the highlight of the day was seeing that one of the two other students there was a Chinese woman, and asking her where she came from.

"Sichuan," she said. "Have you heard of it?"

But she must have seen my face light up before she even asked. We stole moments between academic talk with the director to talk about the things that really matter: a foreigner speaking Sichuanhua, and whether I liked spicy food or not. She laughed with recognition at all my "jokes" -- that I hate huajiao and so don't like ma po dofu, but that I love hot pot; my calling myself a laowai -- in that sincere Chinese way I've missed.

It was great.