And just in case you don't know me by now...

Surprise! Guess what I filled out? :P

What is your name? Were you named after someone else? Do you like your name?
Je m'appelle Sabine. I wasn't named after anybody to my knowledge. My mom wanted a unique name that wasn't too popular at the time I
was born. I don't really like my name, but it's not a big deal.

Do you have any pets? If yes, what kinds, and what are their names? If not, why don’t you have any pets?
Oui- a chocolate lab named Cocoa Chanel

Do you like to cook? What’s your favorite food? Are you good at cooking?
I guess! My favorite food is Waterzoï, and I am decent enough at cooking. My aunt Françoise taught me.

Where do you live? Have you ever lived in another country from where you do currently?
Currently, I am back in Lille for the school year.
Prior to that, I lived in the US for three years, and I'm returning this summer.

Have you ever met a famous person? Who was it?
NON!!! :( I am dying to meet Miley Cyrus, though!

What do you do in your free time?
I listen to music, write, watch movies, hang out with friends, sing, and shop.

Do you like sports? What are your favorite sport?
I don't like playing sports, but I like le foot (soccer). Julien and Gérard play, and I enjoy watching them. My brother used to play, but he's grown far too busy for that.

How old are you? Do you like being the age you are?
I'm 14, and I think that's a great age for me.

What are your hobbies?
Listening to music, singing, writing

Do you have a religion? What is it?
I'm not religious AT ALL, but I'm Roman Catholic. I consider myself to be more agnostic.

How many languages do you speak? What are they? 4- French (fluently, native language), English (fluent enough), some Spanish, very little German

Who do you live with?
My parents- I'm 14!

Are you a morning or night person?
Night definitely

Would you want to be famous? Why or why not? DEFINITELY! :) I'd get to travel the world and meet my friends and Miley Cyrus.

What are five things people don’t know about you?
1. I'm definitely an introvert. I'm just outspoken when I write.
2. I like Taylor Swift. (merci, Cate!)
3. Not telling, but maybe you can already figure this out. ;)
4. I kind-of like Sonic even though I don't like fast food.
5. I'm not really much of an Alizée fan. I only like her song "Fifty-Sixty". Other than that, not a fan.

Sabine

Perdus et Retrouvés

Salut, tout le monde!
Before I begin to talk about my life, I wanted to say that I’m going to start a new weekly feature on my blog. It’s called “You know you’re from the Nord when…”, and I will be sharing some unique things about my region with everyone.

Here is the first one:


Let me explain: "biloute" means the same thing as "ami" does. However, you'd only hear Northerners using that word. It is our Ch'ti slang for "friend". Ch'ti what people from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais call the Picard language, and you can find Ch'ti slang in northerners' vocabularly. I know I certainly use quite a bit...

Now, back to ma vie quotidienne...

I invited Julien to my house last night, and my brother thought it was hilarious. Ugh, I am so sick and tired of everybody (by "everybody" I mean Delphine and Sébastien) thinking Julien and I are an "item". Because guys and girls totally can't be friends without dating...ughhhh. I'm thinking Julien's sister and my brother are merely suffering from Annoying Sibling Syndrome and that is why they keep commenting.

After eating with my family, Julien and I went on my balcony like we always used to when we were younger.

"I'm glad you're back," Julien blushed. Immediately afterward, he said, "I mean, it was just weird without you."
"Oh, yeah. I understand. I missed all of my old friends, too. Lilly was cool, but she could get annoying really fast."
Julien laughed. "I'm sure she did. You sent me her email to her penpal. That was bad."
"That was typical Lilly."
He looked up at Lille's starry and cloudy night sky. "Just like old times. This was the place where I told you about my parents divorce."
"And the place where I told you I wanted to fly."
He then abruptly turned his head.

"I'm assuming you wrote this here, too, Sabine."
He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled letter. I didn't know what to say, so I took it and smiled. We continued our conversation about America until his mom texted him and told him to come home. When he left, I buried myself in my blanket and uncrumpled the letter.

And I was shocked- JUST SHOCKED- by what I wrote. At first, I wanted to pretend it was my handwriting from when I was eight or nine or something, but it wasn't. I wrote it when I was almost 12, and I wrote it at the same time awful things were going on.
I have nothing to say about this, other than WOW.

Sabine

Ma coiffure fabuleuse!

Bises, tout le monde, bises!
I'm so sorry I have been MIA, but I am preoccupied with other things...like danceline and dance classes. I don't really go to danceline practice, anyway, so I should have time to update you people on my life. Oh well. I'll try to be better about that! Now that my sister had to go back to France, I'm stuck doing my own homework now. NOT COOL. I hate math so so much...

Anyway, this post was inspired by the lovely Cate Flannery. She has beautiful red hair like me, and her latest post reminded me that I had a few photos of my latest and most favorite hairstyle. So I will share those with you.

Here's what I did: I parted my hair in the center and crossed over the front of the left side to the right side and French braided it.







Isn't it so elegant? I love it!

Oh, bonus photo!


Bises,
Sandrine xoxox

La Francia, te quiero!

Salut, tout le monde! Des choses ont changé, et je suis assez triste. Toutefois, je suis heureuse. Mes amis me manquent, et il y a un ami qui me manque en particulier. Il s'appelle Julien Hérvagault...cliquez ici...


So I have returned to dreary Lille for the school year. It was a last-minute decision, but it was made by my mom. Not me. I would have stayed in America.

Her reasoning for my return was that American schools weren't challenging enough for me. I pleaded to stay, and I even told her I was taking the hardest classes. But no! That wasn't enough. I am no longer a high school student; I am in 3ème- my last year of collège (middle school).

So oui, I am back in French schools and back to being challenged. The first thing I did was go out to dinner (late lunch) with Aurélie and her family, and we went to my favorite Flemish restaurant in Vieux-Lille. I had konijn in geuze, or in French, lapin à la gueuze. It's rabbit cooked in a certain kind of beer. It's one of my favorites. For dessert, Aurélie and I had ninoofse vlaai, a type of bread pudding. It was nice to see Aurélie and her foster sister Chanson, as well as her parents. Sometimes I secretly wished that I had her family. They are my idea of perfect. Her parents are so kind and supportive- well, my dad is, but my mom isn't. Oh, and to boot, the Fauberts are hosting a Brazilian exchange student named Fernanda Alencar. I'm excited to meet her and share my culture with her. I'd like to learn more Brazil, too, since my knowledge of it is so cursory.

I parted ways with them since they lived in Vieux Lille, and on the way home, I saw Julien. He hasn't changed since I saw him last. His dark hair still hung in his face, and he was still skinny and little. I wanted to hug him, but my inhibitions decided against it. I waved and said, "salut", and he approached me.

"You're back!" He was shocked. He gazed over my body and nodded his head. "You haven't changed except for the fact you wear your glasses now."

I laughed. "I grew to like them."

"That's good. Then you won't ask me what the board says. Speaking of which, are you excited for school?"

I sighed. "Un peu."

"Well, um, do you have free time? Do you want to come to my house and babysit Delphine with me?"

Impulsively, I said "oui". On the way to his house, I told him about Chrissa. When it came to Chrissa, Julien was a secret. If she knew he existed, she'd go crazy and act all weird and obsessive. If Julien ever visited the States with me, I'd have to sneak him past Mademoiselle Maxwell. I can only imagine: "SABS!!!! IS THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND?!?!?!?!"

And the answer would be no. No, no, no, and no. I have a crush on him, but I could never date him. We have been friends for too long- that would be weird. My mom thinks we are dating, which is just wow. She said the same thing about Gérard, too! Oh, so now every guy friend I have is my boyfriend. Why can't they be just friends? Back to my time with Julien...

Delphine, his eleven-year-old sister, claims that he has a crush on me as well, and Julien denies it. Julien and I were sitting on the sofa, which was littered with Delphine's throw blanket and pillow, and Delphine took a photo of us on our cell phone.

"You two kind of look like you're dating!" She proclaimed.

Julien blushed. "No. Dating a friend would be awkward."

Delphine giggled. "Um, Sabine is awkward! Dating her wouldn't be different from being her friend."

I then blushed too. Merci, Delphine. Merci beaucoup. I informed her once again that we were just friends.

"Wait a few years and then tell me," she said. "Oh, and I'm sending both of you that picture!"

Here is the picture:

We were just watching TV. There is nothing wrong with that!!! We are just friends! Though, I did show my brother the photo and he declared "couple", but Sébastien has no idea what he's talking about. I feel that 14 is way too young to date- definitely way too young to date seriously- so yeah. You don't have to worry about me! :)

Anyway, I got in trouble for going to Julien'a without my mom's permission, so Mère took away my laptop for a week and I haven't been able to post.

-Sabine