This is the story of a buried treasure brought to light — a precious gemstone unearthed from some foreign, mathematical land, and it begins at the intersection of many different worlds: Switzerland.
During the day, I was a teacher of math and physics at a boarding academy in an alpine village of the French-speaking canton of Vaud. Despite the location, the students were exclusively Japanese, and as an American, I was hired to teach solely in English. To add to the linguistic mix, every evening I drove a half hour through the alps to the German-speaking canton of Bern — undoubtedly the most beautiful commute on earth — where I lived with my Viennese wife and son.