My 15 Minutes

So it's not the funny pages, but I managed to get my picture in the local paper with an article to boot. I swear some people in town look at me funny now. Anyway, the local president of AVF (the association I belong to here) asked me if I would attend an interview with him at the local newspaper to promote our organization. He thought I would be a good candidate, seeing how I am the token American in the group. The two of us, along with the administrative secretary and web-master, were interviewed together, in French. It was difficult to understand everything and tiring too. (I can't tell you how much more I have to concentrate when someone is speaking to me in French.) I was convinced the interviewer thought I was an idiot since my IQ seems to drop like 50 points when I speak French. My sentences were simple, to the likes of, "I like Chambery, me happy here". In the end, I think he was generous to me in his article. Here it is below. (Just click the article to see it larger). And thanks to Nancy Cosman we have an English translation!

Printed in Le Dauphine Libere, Monday 23 November 2009

An Example of an American Arrived in Town

To follow her husband appointed to position of engineer at OCV, Mandy Tusim left the USA and the city of Columbus (Ohio) in February 2009. Her stay in Chambery should last three years. After nine months in France, she confides with a large smile that she is happy to be living in the region. "In a city of so many people where you can get around on foot".
A city of 60,000 inhabitants, very far from the million residents which make up Columbus. It is through an international organization that she became aware of the AVF associations. She knocked on the door of the one in Chambery and since her arrival, amoung other activites, she frequently attends classes...of English! A roundabout way, for Mandy, to learn French as well as making new friends. "It is never easy when one doesn't master the language of the country", adds the neo-Chamberienne. Exercises (training) in the language of Voltaire that she is perfecting notably during several voyages and moutain hikes organized at the AVF of Chambery.