One thing I absolutely love about blogging is receiving emails from readers.  So, when I received a request to participate in the Women Who Inspire Us Series, I was over the moon.  Today’s post is the twelfth in the Women Who Inspire Us Series.  You can read the previous posts here.  You may also want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or “like” my Facebook page to catch the upcoming posts.  As always, if you would like to share your inspiration by participating in the series, please contact me.  I would LOVE to hear who inspires you!  I’m a little too fatigued right now to write much more and maintain coherency (is that even a word?), so I’ll just get right to it:    

My name is Lucie Esther. I’m a 22-year-old Jewish girl and live in Paris, France.  I’m currently studying law. I love baking, drinking really good red wine,reading, writing, taking pictures and sleeping.  After my graduation, I would like to move to Israel to study in a religious seminary for one year and then take the Israeli bar exam to become an Israeli lawyer.

My Chinese teacher when I was in highschool (10th-12th grade)

What is her relationship to you?

She first was my Chinese teacher but she became a really close friend of mine since 2010.

I first met her in highschool in Strasbourg (France) when I was 15 years old.

I was still a teenager and I definitely think that the time when I met her for the first time had a great impact on me.  Because of her I learned Chinese for five years (in highschool and at the university) and decided to study law.

I remember that when I was her student I would always be amazed by the fact that she was a “smile-person” and that her outfits looked always great on her.  She taught, without even not knowing it, that looks was something important and it still has an impact on me today.

I also remember that she was very kind and polite to anyone – even people that no one talked to. There was a disabled person in my highschool who was doing maintenance work and usually nobody said “hi” to him. My Chinese teacher always said “hi” to him and always asked him how he was doing.

I also remember that when I needed somewhere to sleep over one time she told me to call her if I had nowhere to go. And I did call her and she wasn’t really surprised. I slept in her home and she made me feel so comfortable. In May 2011 I phoned her when I was feeling really bad.  She comforted me for more than an hour, even if it was late and she told me I had to talk with a doctor. Then she gave me her sister’s number who is a doctor (and a really greeat one). I realized then that she would never let me down and I was (and still am) so grateful to her.

She definitely made me a better person. She taught how important it is to always have an “ayin tov” toward people and toward yourself and how keeping calm was the best way to act.  She also taught me the mitsva of having an open home and how important the mitsva of hospitality was. She also showed that she is a great mother and I wish my future kids could be like hers and that I would become a great mother as she is.

I think about her everyday because we’re texting a lot together and I always feel better kinder and happier.