Page 67 - Van Que | Nature Woman / Feme Nature

ingrid NGUYeN
Notre vie FaMiLiaLe
C’est avec grand plaisir que je contribue, à la
demande de mon ex-mari, avec ces quelques
lignes sur notre vie familiale, à son livre.
Notre histoire débute avec notre rencontre en 1966
à Toulouse. Qué, un Vietnamien, venait de passer
sa thèse à la Faculté des Sciences de Toulouse. Pour
ma part. j’étais une allemande née au Japon, et
ravie de travailler comme stagiaire au laboratoire
de l’INSA. Un ami commun, H.J., nous a présentés
l’un à l’autre, et je me souviens de tout comme au
1.54 m. tall, from the “height” of my 1.68 m., he
Ingrid 1967
oUr FaMiLY LiFe
It is with great pleasure that, at the request of
my ex-husband, I am contributing to his book by
writing a few lines about our family life.
Our story begins with our meeting in Toulouse
in 1966. Qué, a Vietnamese, had just upheld his
thesis at the Faculty of Science in Toulouse. As
for myself, I was a German, born in Japan, and
delighted to be working as a trainee at the INSA
laboratory. A mutual friend, H.J. introduced us
to each other and I remember everything as if
it were yesterday. Qué was (and still is) of small
stature, he had just washed his hair, and to
flatten it down was wearing a skullcap with the
Baden-Württemberg colours, a souvenir of Lake
Constance in Germany, where he and H.J., along
with friends, had spent memorable holidays at the
home of H.J’s parents. I gazed at this little man,
made me laugh, I thought him likeable and, above
all, I was far from realizing the momentous role
which he was to play in my life.
Qué admitted to me later, that, at first sight, he
had decided to make me his wife. Consequently,
he set about seducing me with tremendous
efficacy. I was painting, (not as well as him),
on the other hand, I had abandoned the piano,
on the consideration that I was not sufficiently
gifted, and that I had to make too much effort
for a result which I found unsatisfactory. He
encouraged me, galvanized my self-confidence.
For two years I studied with Madame C. the best
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