Lynell Marchese Zogbo

Hi everyone! 

I will let Anna Kay post this as I am still trying to find my way around the blog.

I got my BA in French from UCLA and then did one year in linguistics at UCSD.  I then decided to go off on a 3 year adventure, living and working in a small village in Ivory Coast, West Africa, doing research on the Godie language and being somewhat involved in Bible translation there.   No running water, except off the roof!!!!, and no electricity, lots of malaria and hard times but I count those years as wonderful and rewarding—me receiving far more than I could ever give.

I then went back to UCLA where I completed an MA, then Phd in linguistics, African linguistics.  My thesis was “Tense/aspect and the development of auxiliaries in the Kru language family”.  This involved research (through Fulbright) of 14 Kru languages in Ivory Coast and Liberia.  I loved it!   

After the Phd, I accepted a teaching post at the Univeristy of Ilorin in Nigeria where I taught syntax and semantics, along with other subjects!  Those two years were very, very difficult and I left to take a job at the University of Cocody in Abidjan, Ivory Coast as a researcher in linguistics.  One year later (no pay for a whole year, the administration moves slowly here!), I went back to the States where I made ends meet by teaching English as a second language at various places, before getting a “real job” at San Jose State University in San Jose, California.

This job, also teaching syntax and semantics, was also cut short.  During a jaunt back to Abidjan to lead a workshop on Kru languages, I fell in love with an Ivoirian, Georges Zogbo (his brother was at that workshop!) and we married in 1985.  During that same year I began a 25 year career as a Translation Consultant with United Bible Societies, working in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali and Togo (but mainly BF and CI).  We spent 2 years in Lome, Togo, while I was in training,  where our son  Kaligbeu Georges-Mario Jr was born.  Kaligbeu means “one who opens the village” in Bete.  Mario is for my dad Mario Marchese Jr. The Georges for obvious reasons.   

We then went to the States while I did more training in Hebrew and Biblical studies (Princeton, and Union Seminary in Virginia), after which time, we settled in Georges’ hometown Daloa, in central west Ivory Coast.  Georges works in rice, is an engineer in food processing.  Wane was born in 1990 in Bouake.  Wane means “their thing” and the underlying message is “Tolerance”.  We lived there 12 years where the kids went to the French school.  We moved to Abidjan in 1999 so Mario could have better schooling conditions at Lycee Francais.  In 2002 the war broke out. Though over, the effects can still be felt.  Due to schools being burned and shut down, Mario had to leave for his pre-BAC year, and stayed with friends in La Ciotat, France.  Wane had to leave for her 3e (9^th grade American) and lived with welcoming strangers in Sarcenas, up in the snowy mountains, above Grenoble.  She had a 45 minute bus ride every day down to the city for classes. Both kids came back to IC to get their French BACS in Abidjan.

Mario (24) has a BS in sound engineering from Full Sail in Florida and has been working installing sound/computer systems in courthouses.  He has just decided to quit and go back to school. He is currently in West Va.  Wane (now 20) is a year away from her BA in Psychology at the University of Concordia in Montreal. 

Georges and I continue to work hard as we move toward retirement.  Georges is very “into” rural development on all levels as well as medicinal plants.  I am “into” my job, which includes teaching translation and Old Testament stuff, including Hebrew poetry to francophone Africans in an MA program in a seminary here in Abidjan.  I spend a lot of my time also editing the “Sycomore” a journal promoting translation into African mother languages in francophone Africa and editing handbooks for Bible translators.  I am co-author of several of these handbooks in English and French: Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Judges, Hebrew Poetry and I, II Thessalonians.  Believe me, people, who would have thought I would USE ALMOST EVERY DAY STUFF I LEARNED IN BORDEAUX ABOUT FRENCH POETRY and FRENCH LITERATURE!!!!      You could just laugh about it or consider it, as some might, “a clin d’oeil de Dieu”….the “coincidences” of our lives!

In 1995 on leave in San Diego, I was diagnosed with breast cancer….but I am still here! Sally and Kathy planned a girl’s weekend to celebrate Lynell’s loss of hair.  Seonaid was able to join us for a meal.  At one point, prior Georges, Sally and I were both teaching at San Diego State, holding each other’s hands through trying times.  At another point, I was in Pasadena recycling Greek, with the family, with Kathy and husband John minutes away. That meant great meals, good wine, and walks with our kids (2, 2) in the foothills…fantastic…  Kathy, John and I were able to attend our Bx friend’s son’s wedding in Perigord a few years ago.  We 3 actually had a “pot’ in Bordeaux café and I saw my old Rue Vitale-Carles where I had a room next to the maid.  We shared the toilet, you cannot qualify it as a bathroom.  I had zero contact with my “hosts” except for the day I was “called on the carpet”, falsely accused of having a boy in my room!!!!!

Recently, and most memorably, c’était la fête chez Sally à New York, with Kathy, her husband John), Lynell, and Sally, and Jean Pierre and Claudie, our real true livelong friends from Bordeaux. We hope this is not the end! 

I am sorry to tears to hear about our dear American “Jean-Pierre”, so ready to laugh and loving to all, and Dennis, my comrade in arms, as we disguised ourselves with Kathy as KKK for a masquerade party in our French family.  They asked us to come as Americans and we wanted to make a statement!  I will try to scan and send the photo.      

Bordeaux had many trials, hitchhiking to Talence, staying up all night to finish that art history dissertation, trying to find a place to have a REAL BATH, but it also had so many memorable moments : my 21^st surprise birthday at an old mill, climbing over walls at ungodly hours, walking in patent leather shoes in the Pyrenees, with the rain pouring down…..  

Before Pau/Bx, I was serious hard working Lynell  (on the Aurelia to Sally, “No Sally I will NEVER eat snails!”) but I learned in Bordeaux to LIVE !  to ENJOY MYSELF, SAISIR LE MOMENT.  I am still hard working as you can see above, but I also know now life is to be lived to the fullest.  Let us all CONTINUE what our little group always termed the MOVEABLE FEAST.

With warm greetings and love to all, Lynell (Marchese) Zogbo

I was in San Diego visiting my dad (84) and sister 4 weeks ago….  And trying to make it back at least twice a year….

My year in Bdx--Susan (Blanc) Grayson

Yes, thank you Anna Kay and subsequent bloggers for bringing the Bordeaux experience back to life. It's more exciting than I would have imagined to see and hear about people I actually think about, believe it or not. I've already spent a few hours on this blog and, like Anna Kay, really need to get back to my work.

Since that year in France I've seen Paula Feldman Goodman (in grad school and as a friend) and Amy and Phil. In 1969 or 1970 I saw Julie Dunn (who doesn't resemble the photo posted on the link) and Nena Nocita. Ann Curl Joubert and Jay Golden were in grad school at UCLA.

It looks as if some of you had more fun in Bordeaux than I remember having....

Here's my post-Bordeaux story. In 1969 I married Richard (Grayson), a professor of music at Occidental College. We live in Santa Monica and are still happily and joyously married, but he retired in 2000 and is teaching music theory part time. I got my Ph.D. in French (18e s.) and, faced with a horrible job market in 1978, earned a second Ph.D. (and a license) in social/clinical psychology. I have a tiny private practice but it's not my main career. For the last 30 years I've been a professor of French at Occidental. Occidental, by the way, is the home of the world's most famous transfer student, Barack Obama, whose name I remember from 1979-81 before he left for Columbia U.. Couldn't believe it was the same person as the student activist.

When I took Richard to Bordeaux and showed him where I had lived (50, rue Forestier), he was aghast! The street was so depressing and isolated. Though we've been to France several times since we've not returned to Bdx.

It is so sad to hear about John, whom we called Jean Pierre. He and Candi and I went to Switzerland in Feb. or March (hi, Candi and Robert!). I've often thought about him, Florentia (hi, Florentia!), Beverly O. and Sylvia Freed, Virginia (Ginger), Aleen Grabow, Helene Neu and others. It would be lovely to get in touch, however briefly, though our lives have diverged greatly.

Back to work (re-reading __La Chanson de Roland__ for a class tomorrow).

Bonnes bises,

Susan

A Life-Changing Year for Candi and Robert!

How fortunate we were to live in France in 1968-69! In such a time of challenge to the status quo throughout the world (e.g., the continuing civil rights movement in the U.S. and resistance to the insanity of Vietnam, the struggle for liberty in what was then Czechoslovakia, the legacy of «les évènements» in France, etc.), how wonderful it was to be immersed in such a rich culture and to study such wonderful literature! No doubt each of us was changed in innumerable ways and enriched beyond words by our shared and individual experiences.

You'll notice in that last group photo that Robert and Candi are not standing anywhere near each other, yet somehow we were married just one year later in the Santa Barbara mountains—the best of all outcomes for the two of us from that first year abroad—and we've shared another 40 years of wonder together since then.

We returned to Bordeaux for another year in 1972-73 and lived about a block away from Place de la Victoire. Robert took his Master's exams in French there that year and worked as a “lecteur” at the faculté des lettres. Candi taught English at ENSAM. Both jobs required a grand total of about 12 hours each week, so we had lots of time to become better acquainted with the sud-ouest, and more importantly, we continued and cemented some great friendships that have continued to this day, and which became a big part of our lives. Since some of our best friends from those days now live in the région toulousaine, that's where we usually end up when in France.

When we returned to the U.S. in mid-1973, Candi was pregnant, and we needed some kind of income. So Robert took a job teaching German and English (eventually teaching French, along with several other subjects). Trying to figure out what to do for a career, he completed two more MA's: one in counseling and another in business management, but then he decided to try making some little difference in education, and he became a principal. Meanwhile, Candi bravely went back for a 2^nd degree, this time in a practical field like science. She has worked for the past 30 years in a hospital laboratory, now exclusively as a bacteriologist. Life is full of surprises...

We have 2 children: Lara, 27, got a degree in psychology and currently works in a Sonoma County winery (though she may be leaving soon for work in New Zealand), and Stefan, 35, is an electrical engineer in San Diego. He's married to Andreia, from Brazil, and has 2 boys of his own, ages 11 and 13.

We count ourselves most fortunate to live in beautiful Northern California. We have been hosting international winery interns in the fall for several years (several from France, but also from Hungary, Chile, Spain, and Italy), in the hopes that perhaps we might “pay forward” a bit of the generous hospitality we experienced so often in France when we were young.

Fortunately, we can still speak French (though not so well as long ago), and we are always looking for good reads in French, so send your recommendations!

Remembering [Sonya Varea Hammond]

Thanks Anna for setting this up. I do have fond memories of my year in France. The Aurelia - being told that it used to be the second the smallest ship still sailing the Atlantic, until the smallest sunk, and now the Aurelia was the smallest... getting three miles out from NY harbor and seeing everyone (underage at home) swarm the tiny on-board bars...the last day, coming up top, in the early morning fog waiting to glimpse the first sign of England...entering the harbor and seeing Bobbies, and feeling like I was entering a movie set...in France being greeted by Mr. Garcia as we got off the bus, he calling us each by name, even though this was our first time to meet. That always impressed me, and taught me a lesson, also professed by Dale Carnegie, about the importance of a person's name.

Ah, many more memories, but that's enough for today. An update on myself. After Bordeaux, I returned to UCSB where I was an RA in Santa Rosa dorm my final year. After graduating mid-year I went back to France, to a suburb of Paris to help run a little neighborhood grocery store with a fellow I had met in Pau. We returned to Santa Barbara the following fall, me for my MA and teaching credential, he went to SB City College and was elected Student Body President. We had a daughter, Karima, who is now 35 and living in London with her husband and their two children. My marriage didn't last, so I raised Karima by myself and my mom's help until I married my current husband George, and we've been happily married for 21 years. He was a controller for Nestle his entire career, then retired and now has a full-time post-retirement job with Classis Residence by Hyatt in Monterey as their accounting manager.

I have had several 'careers'. I was a parent educator in Santa Barbara for the County Office of Education for two years, even though I had never parented! But, it was good training for me. Then I taught ESL in Salinas high schools for seven years before going back to school in Arizona to get an MBA in international marketing. The international job never materialized, so I came back to Salinas and got a good job as a controller for an ag company. I started looking for something else after nine years there and found the job of my dreams with the University of California. I am the County Director of Cooperative Extension here in Monterey County. I oversee a group of UC academics who conduct agricultural research at the local level.

With retirement in mind, about five years ago we bought a lakeside house in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in South Carolina. It's about one hour directly south of Ashville NC. The kids call it 'the holiday house' and beg to go there all the time. We love the peace and beauty of the area. We also love the city of Greenville SC, about 30 miles away, and so we bought an 'urban condo', right downtown on the river to live in with the idea of working there. The downturn in the economy has delayed our plans, so we rent it out until we can move there, in about 18 - 24 months.

Thanks again, Anna, for setting up the blog.

Anna Kay (Ross) Bourg

Alain and I were married in 1970 in California and returned to Pau where he was a Math teacher at a lycée privé.  Then Pullman WA (WSU), Pau again (military service), Woods Hole MA (WHOI), Bern CH and finally, in 1981, a permanent job for Alain, an environmento-hydro-geo-chemist, in Orléans (BRGM).  I started translating in the early 80s for the BRGM, initially doing mostly technical reports, and later branching into Environmental and Risk Assessments as the field evolved. I taught English to science students and TOEFL prep courses for many years, both at the U of Orléans and the U of Pau, and for a time also counseled American exchange students – a job I loved, but unfortunately could never turn into a permanent job.  

            
About 13 years ago, Alain landed a job at the U of Pau.  We found a little abandoned "farm" for sale in Bosdarros, 8 km south of Pau. It was like coming home after 25 years of wandering!  We also inherited a Bourg-family house in the Ardèche (St Thomé). So now we have TWO old stone house to keep up!!! (Bosdarros and St Thomé are easy to find on Google maps and elsewhere on the Internet. Let us know if you are over and looking for a place to stay near Provence. The house in St Thomé is a bit rustic but has all you need.)

            
Daughter, Kristina (36), and her little family (husband and 3 children) are living in Angola right now.  Son, Ian (34), lives in Berkeley and his wife, in Cambridge MA!  Our youngest, Kathryn (31), and her boyfriend live in Bordeaux (Eh oui! rue Nérigean, entre l'église St Michel et l'église Ste Croix).

           

Florentia Scott

Thank you, Anna Kay, for setting this up.

That year in Bordeaux was certainly transformative for me in many ways. Things I did there and people I met set the direction for the rest of my life.

I met Jacques Janson at the "resto-u" in Bordeaux. We fell in love and decided to marry. He couldn't easily immigrate to the US; I couldn't easily immigrate to France. Jacques spoke no English. I remembered seeing in high school a film about a place in Canada where only French was spoken. It turned out to be fairly easy for both of us to immigrate to Canada. So off we went, to a land that neither of us had ever even visited. It seemed perfectly logical at the time . . .

The marriage ended after 10 years. We have two grown sons. Born in Montreal, both have now settled in California. They each have two delightful little girls. Jacques worked for a couple of French-language publishing companies, then for the Canadian government, as an editor and speechwriter. He also holds an elected position in the French government, which is enlightened enough to have seats in the legislature to represent its citizens living outside the country. We are still on cordial terms.

After a successful career in translation and public relations, I semi-retired to Vancouver Island a few years ago. I do some free-lance writing, mainly for the local newspaper. Some of my poems, short stories, and essays have also been published over the years. I spend winters in California, to be closer to my family. If I can ever figure out how to get affordable medical care in the US, I will probably move back.

I think of the people I was close to in Bordeaux from time to time, and wonder how their lives turned out. I'm not in touch with any of them at present. It would be nice to hear.

Regards to all,

Florentia Scott
(Fifth from the left in the front row)