Retirement

I wanted so much this last project demo of mine to be successful.
I knew I needed luck because the project was a demo only and not a finished product and in matter of image processing which it was about, the fine-tuning of algorithms with different lightening conditions is a long process I did not have time to finish.
It worked very well, “thanks God”. Laurent, Bernard and Phillippe were well impressed and appreciated the technical features of this C# project.

Friday September  30 was my last day in office.
The management had asked me if I wanted a farewell cocktail, I said yes (because this was the best way to say good-by to many people I’ve known there) and they arranged everything for me. Including two gifts from the company which I chose by myself: a home cinema Hi fi amplifier by Yamaha and a Sony camera.
Some sixty people came to the cocktail in the cafeteria
Bernard and Laurent spoke about my professional career of which 27 years were with this company.
I expressed my gratitude to the company and greeted the colleagues, thanked them for their sympathy and support in difficulties and for their farewell, this particular moment when the presence becomes a souvenir. I thanked them for the money they collected for a gift for me and announced I decided to give the amount to a cancer research programme (Institut Curie).
After the speech and the applause, there was a glass of champagne and some light snacks (to me, not sufficiently vegan though).
There was also some music I brought with me: video recordings of mazurkas of Chopin played by Fei-Fei Dong and by Ingolf Wunder during the 2010 Warsaw piano competition. Some people including Jean-Pierre, Zaiqun and her boyfriend Gabriel asked me more details about Chopin competition.
Many people came and talked to me and wished me happy retirement.
And that was it, simple as I had wished and yet a high moment, not only to me, I suppose.
Thank you, Yvette for your help in arranging this event.

Invitation 2011 Sept, 30

with Claude, 1985

with J-P, Marina and G, 1985

with Samira and Henri-Martial, 2010

Disruption

As I was leaving Poland in October 1972, I knew it was for a long “trip”.
I think my family also knew although, to avoid pain we had never discussed it.
Communist Poland of those days was offering dull prospects for young people and the dissatisfaction was widespread. That was some years after March students’ manifestations and invasion of Dubcek’s Czechoslovakia in 1968 and many years before KOR-Solidarnosc movement and John-Paul II.
I had graduated from the Warsaw Polytechnics two years earlier and had been working for a state owned company in Warsaw while still living with my parents.
In Paris, I stayed with family’s friends who offered me shelter.
I started looking for a job but as soon as a company was willing to employ me, I crashed against the immigration laws and bureaucracy.
After four months of vain efforts, of many hours spent in police immigration lines and interviews it became clear that France was not willing to accept me.
Disappointed, despite support from friends, I was about to decide for a different destination, Australia or Canada when unexpectedly one employer, using his personal relations, obtained a work permit for me. Then I acted unfair and untrue with him and used the work permit for a job which suited me better, with a different company. I apologize to you, friend.
I could envisage life in France now and was planning to marry the daughter of my friends whom I had known for some years and who was a support to me during tough months.
Few months after I started my job, a routine health scan showed that I had tuberculosis and I was sent to the Alps to the Sancellemoz cure house.
The illness is so discouraging when you are young and need all your energy to build your life. Some of the antibiotics I was treated with were really pulling me down to an abyss.
I wanted to go home.
In those days, a visit of friends was a comfort I remembered long after.

Some months later I was cured and was able to resume my job.
We married one year later and rented an apartment at Montmartre.
It was a very happy September 1977 day when our daughter was born. Our son was born ten years later.

CHEN

Chen left our company end of January, a year ago.

The management insisted on economic conditions and despite my efforts it was impossible to arrange a new work contract for her.

I felt sad to see her go away although I knew, for her professional and personal development it was better to find another job.

I liked her curiosity and willingness to learn when she arrived for her internship two years earlier and during her stay with us she fulfilled the job expectations.

She opened my mind to the Chinese culture and speaking with her, I learned a lot about it. We visited together the Guimet Asian museum in Paris. It was interesting to see it with her who is familiar with this culture. The exhibits I liked most were yet not Han but Tibetan Buddhist deities expressive of passions and Korean ancient paintings and logically structured Taoist manuscripts.

She used to be very fond of traveling and she went on several trips in Europe during those two years she spent with us. I liked her Norway landscape photographs and those from her last Christmas trip to Laponia.

I once invited her to our place and she showed us very nice pictures from Budapest. It was a pain to me to see that my family members did not try to be more open to her and didn't show much interest to her Chinese background.

Like many foreigners she suffered injustice from immigration laws in France and from egoism of many people.

She suffered pain early in life, loosing her mum at age of eleven and more recently being ill.

All the difficulties she had experienced have not affected her courage and her determination to build her life her own way, a true Chinese phoenix, Fenghuang.

After her internship with us she graduated from the French school and I must say Chen, on the ceremony day you looked beautiful, in your qipao.

I learned from your friend, another Chinese girl who is working in our company, that you found a job in Luxembourg and moved there.

Today, like everyday, I wish you all the best from life, Chen and happiness you look to.

Graduate

Eating Rice

with Fabien

with Fidel

Solving a Problem

Problem Solved