30 ans déjà

 

The French TV station TF1 often has programs called 30 ans déjà that look back on the life of some French singer who has been dead 30 years.

Today, I am thinking of what I was doing 30 years ago.

Heathrow Airport...Mike, the UK Manager of Interskill, picked me up to start my orientation process with my final destination as Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The job I had searched long and hard for in Europe had come through. It had only taken over 800 CVs (resumes).

Mike was a retired Air Force colonel whose opinion of women were they were all "dolly birds" and American ones were even lower on the evolutionary scale. However, I graduated to the human level when he discovered I knew the names and major events of English kings and queens in chronological order. Future trips had him finding B&Bs near historic sites for me as I prepared the company participation in a job fair.

In Switzerland I was housed in the company flat in Motiers, a tiny village where cows walked down the street morning and night to and from pasture. Despite that bucolic atmosphere, so totally different from my native Boston, it also boasted a champagne cave in an old monastery and the home/museum of philosopher Jean-Jaques Rousseau who had hidden out there when he was person non grata in other parts of Switzerland and France.

This was the start of Part II of my life as I would struggle to learn French, earn a living in a job which was not right for me and integrate.

Integration started the first evening I came home for work. The town had many fountains. All of them were decorated. My landlord, who did not speak English, did make me understand that this was a celebration of the village joining the Canton. He and his girl friend took me to tent to have sausages and beer.

On another evening he introduced me to the illegal absinthe, then illegal, now legal. Motiers and the valley was the origin on the beverage. Today, Motiers is a major producer. The poster marks the moment it had become illegal. 

I lived in Motiers in the company apartment for three years. Another employee Robbert or RB2 joined me. Together we formed a friendship that continues until today. He was born in South Africa. I asked him one of my more stupid questions ever, "Do you know Johnny Clegg?" Later we went to a Johnny Clegg concert as well as concerts by Chris Rea, Joe Crocker, Barclay James Harvest, Patricia Kass and more.

I introduced him to Argelès where he met his future wife. We participated in each other's weddings.

Trente ans déjà. It is the anniversary of the day my life changed.