Let’s face it, the roots of our passions and what we love today are forged by our childhood experiences and memories… so here are a few facts that my readers should know before embarking 🙂
I was very privileged from the start, being part of a not so conformist family, and exposed from a very young age to multicultural interactions. This is something we now take for granted, but when I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, having Chinese or Russians guests at your house, was not so common, as you can imagine!! (imagine, all THE people… – I’ll come back to that later!!-)
My father, a researcher in nuclear science, worked at the time at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, and for that reason we had a few visitors from the countries above mentionned, and many others, for dinners, which my mother took great care in preparing (hmmm, the smell of the gratinated scallops!!)
We lived in a wooden chalet in the mountains, above the city of Gex (see Bleu de Gex cheese, hmmm, but not as great as Roquefort!)… so right there I was bathed in a mixture of foreign languages, conversations ranging from the new plans for the LEP accelerator to the amount of snow that was falling and how our guests would make it back home without snow tires!
… but, most importantly, enjoying the amazing dishes (coquilles Saint Jacques au gratin, coq au vin, far breton….)
BREAK TIME !!!! I am writing about food and it’s 12.30, so off to lunch now!!
Mr Pacaud, my first English teacher, also provided some help in setting me up on a globetrotting path… through the lyrics of… The Beatles, I was officially a fan from the age of 14 and I really shed rivers of tears on Dec. 8th, 1980…
I still am to this day, although I have broadened my musical horizons since then… but let’s get back to our subject here!
Two other determining factors 
were my first trips to England, to Aylesbury : I was 12 when I first travelled there and placed in an English family, the Bonds (just like James, yes!) who had very good musical tastes and made me discover Simon & Garfunkel, the first album I ever bought was I their greatest hits album…
I went to Aylesbury a few times, in a couple of other families (can’t recall their names now, but still carry the reminder of some horrific strange coloured artificial jelly dancing on my plate at tea time… and there I was desperately looking for a place to discreetly get rid of it… eventually my English “Mom” would take her eyes off me I somehow managed to wrap the unwanted chemical mixture into a handkerchief, and proceeded to rush out of the house to meet my French friends for an evening at the game hall, where they had some local band covering Status Quo’s “What you’re proposing”, loved it!!
On my way there, I disposed of the unwanted jelly and bought myself a nice greasy Fish & Chips wrapped in gossip newspaper pages, from a truck with round eyes and an open belly…
A couple of years after my mother (the French one this time 🙂 ) pushed me even further out of my comfort zone : “Why don’t you go to the USA next time”? and “I have heard of a hotel school, the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, wouldn’t you like to register?”
Since I was 14 and there was a 7 year waiting list, I said, why not? Little did I know this choice would shape my entire life to come…
I hope you enjoyed the read, I guess you know now where this is leading to… next week I’ll tell you about the little dots!! and the first time I had to wear a tie 🙂
