Au revoir!

Now that the Maître family has moved to South Carolina, my family is going to miss them.

I first met the aged couple at church in November 2009. Most fellow churchgoers call them "the French couple", primarily because Mrs M. Maître is a Belgian citizen with a thick French accent, while Mr P. Maître is a dual French-US citizen with only a slight French accent.


The couple and I got along quickly, primarily because I can understand French. So at times Mrs M. Maître speak to me in French, though my replies came back in English.


Despite me having studied some French back in Indonesia, my very first introductions to French meals such as couscous and Bourdeaux wines came by when they invited me to their occasional dinners.


During those days when my mother and my sister haven't come to USA yet (in case you don't know, I spent around 15 months living by myself in USA, since Mom and my sis hadn't got enough money to come here), Mr P. Maître came and took me to the clinic and waited for me whenever I fell sick.


Then during the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, I asked them if I could come over to their house to watch football. I had no cable in my house because I never watch TV you see (except for playing my DVDs, Wii, and PS3). They welcomed me for all the Japanese and French matches, without hesitation.


In summers, I was also welcome to come to their house to swim in their rather-large pool.


When they decided to move to in a South Carolina town to be closer to one of their daughters, my family and some of their friends were rather saddened. They conducted a farewell party just two weeks ago by their pool, and there was quite a turnout. Though the Maître family do not belong to the elites of the town, it seemed like most people who have known them have a quite favourable opinion of them.

They are indeed, kindhearted souls.

Mr P. Maître told my family is the last time they will be moving, and alas, we have no idea when we will be seeing them again. The distance from my town to their town is around 640 miles away. We exchanged e-mails and Skype accounts, in case we want to communicate again online. However, they will always be remembered as good friends who have been there in times of need, and they shall be missed.