Chinese Version
06-05-2021, Saturday
Alisa is my PhD advisor Prof. Barkatt’s wife.
In May, I told Alisa that I will write a story about her to wish her happy birthday, and the story started:
At the beginning of 2021, Alisa sent me a greeting card that was made by one of her students. The greeting card was a collage featuring Alisa’s signature infectious and sunny smile. I felt happy when I saw her smiling the same smile in the many photos.
A few days ago, while looking at old photos, I saw a picture of Alisa and myself in the laboratory in the summer of 1991. I was very impressed that Alisa’s smile remained unchanged even 30 years later.
Recently, I chatted with my daughter: “I spend much more time on the phone with Alisa than with Ronnie.”
My daughter said, “Because women like to chat.”
I thought for a moment and remembered that Alisa shared with me many news about our common friends in CUA in the early 1990s, such as Professor May (one of my PhD committee members) had passed away a few years ago. I responded: “I think it is because Alisa enjoys talking about people she knew and cared, a kind of small talk.”
I actually worked with Alisa in the same laboratory for about 3 years in the early 1990s. Even after over twenty years, her English with a German accent is still very familiar to my ears, and we can easily engage in long conversations. I suddenly realized that the impression of people on me did not correlate with the duration with which I had stayed with them.
As my advisor’s wife, Alisa was cheerful and cared about graduate students who were working with her in the same laboratory. I can’t remember that she ever scolded us. We often had lunch together, I ate a home-made big lunch, Alisa often ate a simple lunch, such as a small can of corn or a piece of bread… Sometimes, we went swimming together . Our friendship spanned generations.
In 1998, while visiting her Japanese friends in Silicon Valley, Alisa also visited me at our Chamberry house in San Jose, on a very hot summer afternoon. I remembered that I was in a very weak state then because I was still pregnant with my son with both my face and feet swollen and I always felt tired. When I saw Alisa I felt her caring about me and I wanted to cry. Alisa also brought my daughter a colorful wooden Easter egg, as my daughter was born in April.
I am grateful to Alisa for her caring nature and sweet smile, which have continued to quietly influence how I live my life now, because I felt that I am more outgoing, more talkative, more caring about people who I know, and more cheerful now.
Little Episodes
1. Alisa’ New Year greeting card in 2021
2. 07-10-1991, Alisa and I in our laboratory
3. In April 2021, Alisa wrote a memoir for her grandparents:
