Vincent Mandrilly - 2007 year Website

Summary

I plan to offer you the following contents:

- a professional section:
Presentation of my services / prices ; professional personal presentation ; Curriculum Vitae, diplomas, etc.

- familial section:
Blog, photo album, family / friends presentation.

- political / intellectual section:
In this section, I propose you take a little break, please set aside a moment your everyday life, and start to have a personal view about our world, start to dream.

What's up?

I started my first website while I was studying one year in the US after completing my French graduation.

I still consider the years prior to my depature for the US as my golden age, for my personal intellectual growth. I first learnt through scientific materials about our world, what we are, and later started to differentiate between what the world is and what it should be.

My departure for the US is also for me the starting point of my social life, my integration into the society. When I got back to France, I first study political sciences at a well known institute : The Political Studies Institut of Lyon II, and started after-class studies of the Chinese language. This is also the same year I met Bin, whom I married 3 years later. The same year, I also started to make my second personal website.

The next year, I moved to Lyon III University to study the chinese language, a language that didn't interest many at the time despites it was the first language by number of speakers, since this language is mainly spoken in China, and China's economy is poor. At the end of the 2nd year of studies, I had the opportunity to go to Beijing, China, to teach Oral French. This job was finaly extented 6 months, because I concluded a contract with the Manager of the French department of the Agency I was working for. My work consisted then in helping Chinese students to get enrolled into French language schools and universities. The work finaly ended in March, since my partner didn't respect the terms of our contract. Besides, he deceived me many times, for not being honest with everyone. Because I didn't receive the part of the cake I was supposed to get (it would have been very difficult to take the case to court, which would have cost more than what I would get, as a lawyer - a friend - told me), this otherwise very successful work left me with a very bad memory. Back to France, I got back to the university to study a 3rd year and get the Licence Diploma. Meanwhile, I did keep in touch with a partner I met during this first job. His name is Pierre Lignier, who was at the time Headmaster of Lyon's municipal art schools, where my wife has completed her graphical design studies, a school that is now part of Lyon national Fine Art school. Pierre was going to retire, he became my friend. He gave me the spirit to leave one's chair and go ahead to lauch projects. I started a business, the goal was to create a special prepa class with French courses and art courses to prepare for French art schools entrance exams. Pierre was to organise this class, and I would be remunerated upon the services provided to the foreign students recruited in the program (visa demand administrative papers, lodging, airport pick up, and so on). Besides, we organised a network of French art schools. For this project, we contacted Edufrance (th main French agency for studying in France), who also had a similar project. We decided together the date for a founding meeting, but Edufrance gave a phone call one day before this date to ask us not to come (!), saying they didn't need our help.

Edufrance did afterwards create a network called Eduart, but they would only consider membership of public schools (they changed their policy later once they realized most majors only exist in private schools). Meanwhile, we invited many private art schools and public schools to create their own network. Many private schools directors and a few public schools funded the art school network CESANNE, still active today.

At this time, I also married Bin (a French marriage in my hometown Sézanne). This marriage also symbolize for me the achievment of my 'socialization period': no more bear, no long hair anymore, and no sport clothes! Now was the time for costume and tie... also silent, my dreams and ideals for a better world... however, despites apparence, these ideals never left me, and awaken sometimes when the occasion came, especialy during extraordinary moments, such as when I participated in the creation for the 'décroissance' movement after the conference by Pierre Rabhi, who later presented himself as candidate for the French Presidency, or with the discovery and the re-discovery of the 'Terre Sacrée' website, which can left no one unmoved.

When my wife finished her art studies and got her dipoma, it was the opportunity to think about the future. My partner, Pierre Lignier, still support me, but the classroom had difficulties to meet success, and the Director of the school where it was organised (A school called Formacentre) didn't renew the cooperation, while continuing this class on its own... From this comes a second feeling of failure, a second difficult time which is also the hard way to learn about life...

What did really annoy me, though, was the difficulties that gave me the French administration, who seems to find every possible way to make your life tougth. After paying your taxes (even when the company lose money, after finishing your accounting and after paying the VAT, you still have to face personnal social benefit fees, even when you didn't give yourself any salary at all. And when your company has no money left, you still have to pay many varous fees, such as publishing a note in a newspaper, and your accountant to ask you much money for... a few lines of accounting for the period of time your enterprise didn't have any activity at all anymore! In the end, I lost much money, much time... while at the same time, help France to get richer, a State that seems to have a strange way to say 'thanks' to me...

Whatever. This work has been an interesting experience. But it didn't really helped me to progress in Chinese, I had to few opportunities to speak the language. Since it is my major, and one of my best professional advantage, I asked my wife, why not living in China ? (The main reason was probably that I missed this country whose people welcomed me so warmly). We left France for China in the summer, and had finaly the opportunity to organize a Chinese wedding ceremony in my wife's hometown, which was a unforgettable moment too. We then lived in Beijing for more than 6 months. Bin had the opportunity to find an internship at the French ambassy's cultural services as graphist designer, while I made some translation for former partners, as well as giving some training to some students preparing their visa demand to study in France. I even had to prepare a few business visa demands of a few clothes shops managers that an oncle of my wife's family presented to me.

My wife's internship didn't became a normal job despite what they first told us. Before I came to China, I had to project to work one day for The French ambassy in China. But they deceived me extremely. (they didn't answear my e-mails, their information on internet, what they tell you on the phone and what they tell you face to face is different. They wouldn't let me enter the room for visa demand despites my name was on the list on people allowed in ; they made me wait 2 hours inside and finaly refused the visa demands without any explanation, and I could tell many more real facts...
The work opportunity came from elswhere, through an old friend who was my classmate, Cécile Bovis, who told Jean-Claude Busa and Blandine Benazeth I was the most reliable French man she knew in China. They work in the import-export industry, mainly for clothes that they sell in France (BEPO BAKAO company). I took the plane for South China in February to met them near Guangzhou, stayed a little longer than expected, then decided we would move to Humen - a famous place for clothing industry -, to be their agent and be in charge of the production process.

Before moving there, tough, I went back to Beijing to give back our appartment keys, and then we left Beijing for the North-East of China and spend some vacations with the family and celebrate the Chinese new year (the new year starts the 17th of February and ends 2 weeks later. And this is where I am taking some time to write down these few lines.

Vincent Mandrilly, 8th, March 2007