Thoughts

I met this woman yesterday at the beach. She was one of the people from the group. She could really talk. She was originally from Corsica where her family had a house right on the beach facing Italy . Her father would have to get up very early to get to work so would see the sunrise. He told her that every sunrise was beautiful ...and it's true..
She was married to a Greek man and they were very poor. She told me that he had freckles everywhere, even on his lips. He was Greek. They lived in Greece and she made due with very little. She has 2 children,a boy that is 19 and a girl 17. When they lived in Greece she spoke to them in french .When they moved to france, the boy was able to fit right in no problem. She tells me that he is very quiet and brainy, likes to play chess and plot his life. The daughter is completely opposite, she's loud and always looking to have fun. She said something about the first one was born to make way for the 2nd lousier one.

This woman spoke many different languages. She lived in New York in the 70's...Scarsdale. Her accent is all kinds of a mix. She told me that she is very good with languages and picks up dialects quickly. I think she said she is an interpreter. There are many of those here. She has been everywhere.
I was mesmerized by her talking and her story. She must have been in her 60's, long brown hair with grey roots. She was about 5' 3 or so, but she was bulky big. She had on a bikini and did not seem to have an ounce of self consciousness.

When I had a chance to get a word in edgewise, she stopped me and said, I love your accent.
Increasingly I am feeling as though I sound like John Wayne. I am very sensitive to how I sound when I speak both English and french . Perhaps it's that I never really thought about how I sound.
I used to think that people from the Albany area is NY sounded like Dan Rather and other news anchors. They sound neutral. I know that I have a bit of a NYC accent. I can hear it at certain times.
I am not sure I picked up anything in California...everyone is California is from someplace else.

I hope that I don't sound unsofisticated or ham handed with my American accent.