Our friend Marleen at the
French Embassy kindly passed a copy of the English version of my book to His
Excellency, Mr Francis Etienne, the French Ambassador to New Zealand. He read
the book, he chuckled, and then he invited us all to lunch at his residence in
Wellington. Really! Vraiment!
Here's a fabulous photo of
the Ambassador and his wife, and their adopted dog, Tippy, plus a link to a
Dominion Post article about them and Tippy: click here. (There's a
photo of us with the Ambassador at the end of this post...)
So one day, during our
recent visit to New Zealand, we put on our best frocks and trousers, we slicked
down the boys' runaway hair and we primed the kids to behave better than ever
before. Come on kids, you can do it!
And they did. Phew.
We stayed for almost two
hours. And here's how it went...
I had been aware of this
magnificent, corner-sited residence on Hobson Street in Thorndon because 1. it
is such a beautiful, old New Zealand wooden building, and 2. the nice ladies
(Sue and Jen) who 'did' our curtains in our Karori house 'did' the curtains in
the Ambassador's residence some years ago too.
We rang the bell, we
entered the grounds. There were no hounds to run us off the property so we
gamely continued to the front door. We shook out our umbrellas because yes we
were in Wellington and yes it was winter and yes of course it was raining
(thankfully not horizontally). The door was opened by a staff member who took
our coats, our hats, our scarfs, our umbrellas and we paused to look around.
Glowing warm wood! Walls, floors, stairs, everywhere! Was it, could it possibly
be, kauri?? Probably, it was.
A dog barked. He was
half-way up the stairs. He looked like a darker version of Snowy/Milou (from
Tintin) so we didn't feel too threatened. We just wanted to give him a cuddle.
In fact we are pretty sure he was the doggy in the photo above.
And then the Ambassador
arrived from a room off the entrance. We were warmly greeted with a bisous for
the kids (kiss, kiss on each cheek) and a jolly handshake for lovely husband
and I. Lovely husband cleverly remembered to call the Ambassador "Your
Excellency", while all I could manage was a
"very-nice-to-meet-you" despite wanting to say something sparkling and
clever in French. Then we met the barking French dog. We figured he wouldn't
speak English (the dog) so we tried to think of what to say to a barking French
dog but were assured that he was now bilingual and could cope with English just as
well. We didn't have time to talk much to the doggy because we were then
greeted by the Ambassador's tall, gorgeous, flame-haired Australian wife, Jane,
who warmly bisoused us all with a perfectly-accented "Enchanté". (The
English translation is basically, "I am enchanted to meet you".
Awwww.)
"Call me
Francis", "Call me Jane", they offered. Alright, we will! We
moved through to the formal sitting room that was less formal than super
comfortable with great big, soft, squishy sofas and finely furnished chairs,
and with what I suspect was a mixture of New Zealand and French art on the
walls.
So we chatted. They had
moved from France to Germany with their daughters who had faced very similar
experiences to us with a new country, language, life and culture overnight,
hence their interest in my book. They had had the foresight to provide a tutor
for their girls from the start, and for seven days a week until they were
confident with their schooling in German. Lovely husband chatted with Jane,
while I chatted with Francis. I found my mojo and managed to elicit some French
from the recesses as we talked about our respective children's adjustments to
new cultures and languages.
We were served kir royal
(champagne with blackcurrant juice, a French speciality) and yummy nibbles. The
children had juice.
Both Francis and Jane
wanted to talk to our children and to hear from them of their thoughts on
moving to, and life in, France. We had told the children that the residence of
the French Ambassador was officially French, and that therefore it was
obligatory to speak in French if they were spoken to in French... That seemed
to work, and they, for the first time during our visits back to New Zealand,
spoke their second language, fluently, beautifully and confidently.
We talked about the 2011
Rugby World Cup, especially as the final was between New Zealand and France,
and we were in France at the time (see an earlier blog post about this).
Apparently the French rugby team visited the Ambassador's residence after their
horrific loss to Tonga. Clearly, they needed some help. According to Jane, the
Ambassador inspired them all with a very stirring speech, inciting national
pride and fervour, followed by a little champagne and relaxed chatting. They
went on to win their next match against England, so something worked!
I then perceived (being overly
attentive in new environments) a nod from their staff member to say that lunch
was ready. We moved through to the circular conservatory overlooking the rainy
(beautiful) winter garden and started lunch. Jane introduced us to her
right-hand staff member, and spoke warmly of their staff and especially of
their French chef who has children of his own and knew what kids liked to eat.
Jane hosts cooking classes with their chef at their residence in order to raise
money for renovations to the house. They are popular and well-attended. (I'd
love to go!)
So here's the menu:
Entree: an avocado, salmon,
orange and rocket salad with balsamic dressing
Plat principal: chicken
with a reduced vegetable sauce
Dessert: apple tart with
chocolate and berry sauces
Followed by: coffee.
Apart from youngest son (7)
having two, no three, urgent calls of nature during the meal, the children did
extremely well to eat politely, quietly and to engage in conversation. In fact
youngest son hopped up to ask me during the meal if he was doing well...
("Darling, of course you are! Now pop back to your seat and keep waiting
patiently.")
And then it was back to the
comfy sitting room where I presented the French version of my book to the
Ambassador. He has kindly offered to write a foreword to the book, and we spent
some time talking about that. After he had refilled his fountain pen with ink,
I happily wrote a dedication in my book for him (which seems to be an important
and significant thing for a writer to do for their readers in France). I then
asked if we could take a photo. Before we could take one of him with us, he
whipped out his phone/camera and took a photo of us in front of his fireplace
with the flags of the European Union, France and New Zealand on the mantelpiece.
Jane had slipped away before dessert as she was teaching English to her
students at Victoria University that afternoon, so we had said our goodbyes
earlier. And then it was our turn, so here's lovely husband's photo of us with
the Ambassador:
 |
| His Excellency Mr Francis Etienne, Sara Crompton Meade, and the kids! with a French version of my book |
And just so that you know,
I think the five most important requirements for the job of Ambassador are:
1. to have a warm and
welcoming personality,
2. to be able to instantly
put people at their ease,
3. to be really, truly
interested in what others have to say,
4. to promote your home
country and your host country with equal fondness, and
5. to have a fantastically
supportive and delightfully personable partner to share the socialising rigours
and pleasures.
It was an honour, pleasure
and privilege to be invited to such a special occasion and we were all so
impressed with the graciousness and warmth of both Francis and Jane. What an
exciting lunch!
Marleen told us later that
we were the first family to be invited to this Ambassador's residence, to her
knowledge. We felt honoured, proud and very special. A great experience and
probably a once-in-a-lifetime one. Yay! Well done kids! And thanks France for
choosing such a great Ambassador who clearly loves New Zealand.
(And here's a Createspace Amazon link to my book in English 'Waking up in France and surviving with a smile', click here, and to the French version 'Se reveiller en France et survive le sourire aux levres', click here. It's also available in ebook and paperback formats from all major Amazon websites.)
