Sunday, November 29, 2009

Tribute to our Caen Friends

Here is Chuck’s office space at GREYC - ENSICAEN.



Baptiste is defending his Ph.D. on December 2nd. He picked us up at the Caen airport. Chrystel is Baptiste’s girl friend and one of Chuck’s office mates. She is a graduate student. They went out of their way to help Chuck fit into the research lab.


Christophe is head of the lab where Chuck worked. He is a world class researcher in biometrics. He has created a wonderful work environment.


Jean-Claude is another of Chuck’s office mates. He retired from a French telecom and now directs graduate research. We enjoyed having dinner at Jean-Claude’s house.


Marc directs graduate students and entertained us. He helped make the lab a fun place to work.


Romain, Vincent, and Mohamad are graduates students that worked with Chuck. They made Chuck’s stay at the lab a very enjoyable experience.







Joëlle is the secretary of the building in which we live. She helped us with all of our living needs. Jan continually went to her for help with little things and she not only helped. But she became a special friend. She frequently invited Jan to have coffee or lunch with her friends and her. Jan learned so many things during the lunches. We discussed politics, religion, culture and food.

Joëlle introduced Jan to Subha because Subha is from India and speaks English. The funny part is that Subha has lived in France for four years (working on her masters and now PHD) and had to think hard to speak in English. She is a wonderful sweet person. She never tired of Jan interrupting to ask how to say something in French. Subha, Chuck and Jan went out to dinner and discussed India and France.




Joëlle also introduced Jan to Joanna, Joelle’s 21 year old daughter. Joanna is studying to be a lawyer and is in her 6th year of English. Jan helped her practice her English and they occasionally went shopping together.



We became friends with many people that went to the synagogue. We met Pénélope, who always has a warm smile and a double-cheek kiss when she sees us. We had dinner with her last night and she is a delight.


We met David, 13, who lived in Israel until 4 years ago. He sits next to Chuck and helps him with the prayer book page.

But the best was Rabbi David Serero, his wife Rachel and their two babies, Tehilah and Naomi. The Rabbi invited us to Friday night dinner two times, and Saturday lunch twice. We were around their house so much that their girls became quite comfortable with us. The 9 month old even let Jan hold her. Rachel had to translate for us because although the Rabbi spoke some English, he wasn’t comfortable using it but wanted to learn all about us. David and Rachel are really special people and made us feel part of their community.

2 comments:

  1. how does a building's secretary compare with a building's concierge? and have you read the Elegance of the Hedgehog? you must read it while you are still missing Paris. And now you owe me a blog comment :)

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  2. Joelle is actually the secretary for the dean of the college. She is also responsible for the 5 studio apartments that visiting professors use.

    No, neither of us have read the book. Hepefully, we'll read it in Romania. We're too busy reading about our next travels at the moment. Thanks for the recommendation.

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