Playing Santa

Salut, tout le monde! J’espère que vous avez eu un bon Noël! Moi, mon Noël était chouette! J’ai reçu mon pantalons gris. J’ai donné aussi des cadeaux à mes amies.

Well, I hope everybody had a great Christmas! I sure did! Although the shirt I'm wearing and my gray pants were technically birthday gifts, I tend to open my gifts on Christmas because it's only a few days after my birthday. Mère and Père said that Sandrine could have the shirt before Christmas Day. Although my sister and I don't really get along, she was nice enough to let me borrow her shirt because I let her borrow my dress.

As for the gray pants...hmm, I wonder what is hiding beneath this tissue paper? ;)

It must be my GRAY PANTS! My parents wanted me to open my pants on Christmas Day because they wanted me to wait and wear them with "something special"; however, that "something special" hasn't arrived in the mail yet. The wait is killing me!

Not only did I receive awesome presents (and I say "presents" because I'm sure whatever is to come in the mail is great), I also gave some special gifts, too. I decided to play Santa, as the Americans call him, and give presents to the two people I should try to treat a little bit better.

First, I gave Chrissa her present. Remember that charm I posted about?

Fortunately, she loved it! I knew she would. She was extremely happy when she saw what the charm was. "C'est la Tour Eiffel!" She gasped. She said that she will be sure to buy the chain part of the necklace with her Christmas money. She said it beats the pointe shoes her parents bought her. Apparently, they didn't buy her the correct brand.

Then, I handed Christelle her present. "Pour moi?" She asked. I don't think she expected me to buy her a gift because we don't really speak to each other.

I'd like to become better acquainted with Christelle, but the truth of the matter is, she isn't always a nice person. I go out of my way to speak to her, but she sometimes is rude about it...

She first pulled the card I made her from underneath the ribbon.



It says:

“Joyeux Noël!

Un petit cadeau de ton amie.

Bisous,

Sabine"

She carefully tore at the wrapping paper...

..and she pulled out a doll that is wearing a shirt with la Tour Eiffel on it!

Close-up of the doll:



She said, "Merci, Sabine", but from her tone of voice, I could tell that she wasn't too thrilled. Actually, that somewhat hurt my feelings. I understand that she doesn't really like dolls; I don't, either. However, when I saw it, I immediately thought of her. I know she misses Paris, and I thought the design on the doll's shirt would make her feel more at home. I had another present for her, too, but I can't find it at the moment. I hope I find it as I'm sure it might make up for any disappointment.

Regardless, my Christmas was wonderful, and I felt great giving those gifts.

Sabine

Joyeux Noël!

Joyeux Noël à mes amis et ma famille! J’espère que vous êtes heureux!

I will do a post on my gifts and such when I have more time. For now, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and that I hope you guys have a great day!

Sabine

Quatre: Julien et Micki

Salut, tout le monde! C'est la veille de Noël!
Before I begin with the scheduled post, I guess I should talk about Christmas Eve in France.
Although my family isn't very religious, we normally attend La Messe de Minuit- midnight mass. We normally go with my grandparents. Last time I went, which was years ago, my mom texted the whole time when it was her idea to go. I thought it was extremely disrespectful, but that's my mom for you. I even told her she was being rude, and she told me I was being rude for talking to her during the service. Um, double-standards much...?
Anyway, after the mass, we go back home and have le réveillon, which is a huge meal that celebrates the birth of Christ. What is eaten during this dinner varies; it is heavily based on region. The main dessert is normally une bûche de Noël, which is a rolled cake. It resembles a log.

More about Christmas in France/Lille tomorrow...

Anyway, Micki decided to go crazy for Julien, too...

Micki entered the room, and she was curious about what was going on.

Lilly told Micki about Lucía and Julien, and Micki was actually somewhat rude to poor Lucía. She didn't say "hi". Instead, she said, "Come on! Why are we standing here when there's a cute French boy to talk to?!?!?!"
I had to explain to Lucía that Micki was just like that. Micki's my roomate; I know how she is. I'm glad that Lucía didn't seem to offended.

Micki began to tell Julien about Belgium, and for a second, Micki actually seemed sane and down-to-Earth. Her conversation was real- it didn't involve any of her Sun Queen nonsense or how she wants to "start a war" against her cousins. She told him about how Bruxelles was the best city, and having been there, he agreed. She said that the States were pale in comparison to the beauty that she was used to in Europe.

And then, Chrissa had to burst in and ruin Micki's moment of sanity. She was furious with Micki for taking "her man". Promptly, Micki said, "Do you want to fight about it?"



They had an argument over who was the prettiest, and they even took to asking Julien's opinion on said issue! Julien, not wanting to encourage such behavior, ignored the question and croaked out a "um..." after they asked.

I should really start calling myself Saint Sabine the Benevolent because I saved Julien once more! But, of course, when I intervened, Chrissa and Micki went crazy. Micki proceeded to ask me if I wanted to fight about it (it=dating Julien), and I simply told her to leave him alone because she was being too intimidating. Micki then accused me of wanting him to myself, when that isn't the case at all! He isn't used to people being so outspoken and boisterous! Chrissa added that she thought I said he was single; therefore, she can talk to him. I told her there was a difference between talking to somebody and making them feel totally awkward...

It didn't stop there, unfortunately. I have much more to report.

Until then, happy holidays!

Sabine

Notre anniversaire!

Salut, tout le monde! Aujourd'hui est très chouette! Pourquoi?
C'EST L'ANNIVERSAIRE DES MOI ET MA SOEUR!!! :)

I apologize for the excitement; however, today is our (Sandrine and me) birthday!
We didn't do anything fancy as we normally receive most of our birthday gifts on Christmas since our birthday is so close. However, each of us opened one small gift.

I'll start off with Sandrine. Sandrine receieved a beautiful hand-paited parapluie- an umbrella! I love it. I may have to borrow it sometime.

Somebody shoved my present in a bag and didn't even add tissue paper! I avoided the temptation to peak- no worries. I wanted to be surprised.

I literally screamed with delight when I pulled out my present! I received a Hannah Montana cosmetic bag...or at least I think it's a cosmetic bag. It will definitely get a lot of use, especially when I go somewhere and need a bag to put my toiletries in.

That's not all, though...one more birthday present for each of us is on the way...

These pieces are from Cutie Pie and Me (not my photo). The shirt is for Sandrine, though I'll definitely wear it, and it looks like I finally got my coveted gray pants!

So that was our birthday. Instead of having cake, we ate some delicious peppermint ice cream and two pieces of dark chocolate. Lilly told me that she is saving her present to me for Christmas; she claims it is that great.

Sabine

Trois: Chrissa et Julien

Bonsoir, tout le monde!
The inevitable is here. It is time for me to tell you what happened when Chrissa met Julien. This is a continuation of the last post.

So, Lilly pointed out to me that Chrissa had decided to join my shy friend. She slightly shoved him aside, and she took a seat next to him.

What happened exactly? Um...
1) Chrissa had a typical Chrissa-like reaction to Julien- "OH MY GOSH!!!! IT'S A FRENCH BOY!!! HE'S CUTE!!!" Honestly, how else would Chrissa have reacted? Would it be like her to keep her cool? No. She literally shouted all of this at the top of her lungs. I should have stopped it before it had reached the point of embarrassment.
2) She actually told Julien that she was obsessed with French people. I have nothing to say to that.
3) She asked if Julien was single. This was the moment in which I should have hit my head against the wall. Wow, Chrissa...
4) She cannot get the nasal sounds right, nor can she apparently get anywhere near close to the correct pronunciation of Julien's name. She calls him "Julianne". Once more, no comment...

Being the awesome friend that I am, I had to intervene and save Julien from dire embarrassment. He was mortified. The look on his face said it all. I warned him about Chrissa, but I don't think that he ever thought he'd have to experience her nonsense firsthand. I mean, it's amusing when you hear my stories about her. Julien just laughed. Now, he actually feels frightened by her.

I asked Chrissa if I could speak with her alone, and she followed me. I told her to get her French-speaking accent right because his name IS NOT JULIANNE, and she promptly told me that she was from the Midwest and therefore didn't have an accent. I left it at that because there was no way I could fully get the message through to her on said topic of accents...
I also threatened her! Threatening is nothing that I normally do; however, Chrissa loves Christmas and presents. I told her that I had a wonderful present for her that she would appreciate, and I included that I wouldn't give it to her unless she stopped scaring Julien.

Oh, and then, the best part of this whole thing happened.
"Is he your boyfriend? If he is, you're the luckiest girl in the world. If he's not, then I call him!"
I was already exhausted from hearing the "boyfriend" thing from Lilly, so I flipped out on Chrissa and told her that we weren't dating. Any guesses about what happened next?

Yup. She assumed that she now has "exclusive rights" to him because I said we weren't dating. I should have said that he was my boyfriend just so she'd quit. Julien gets overwhelmed with extremely extroverted people, and with Chrissa, things might also get, um, creepy. I think that's the word I want to use...

Oh, and wait until I tell you about what happened when Micki got involved...

Sabine

Deux: Lilly et Julien

Salut, tout le monde!
Now, I am returning to my originally scheduled posts and telling about what happened when the Americans met Julien.

I am not going to lie. Julien was extremely nervous. Like me, he is quite the introvert; however, he's far worse than I am. I go out of my way to talk to new people, even if I don't feel like it. He doesn't. I feel for him because I get emotionally drained whenever I have to talk to people I don't know well for extended periods of time. Still, the Americans aren't going to kill him, even if it may seem that way. ;) Julien hid behind me for awhile and asked various questions about the people I talk about.

Lilly approached me and gave me a massive hug. She was telling me that she "saved" her algebra grade; it's now a B. She was also talking to me about other things...which didn't change. She was talking about 90 miles per hour, but then she suddenly noticed Julien. Then, the world stopped.

"Is he your boyfriend?" She asked me. I froze. Um, no. He wasn't my boyfriend. He was just a close friend. I thought I had explained this to Lilly. Clearly, my explanations didn't help at all. She said that if he was my boyfriend, she didn't blame me because he was "so attractive". Ugh. I wanted to die. Best friends are supposed to understand everything, but clearly, Lilly is nothing like Aurélie. Or Julien for that matter.
She is extremely obsessed with finding a boyfriend, so I understand why she is constantly houding me about dating Julien. On the other hand, she asked me if I was going to give her a black eye for calling Julien "cute", which disturbed me. Apparently, at her old middle school, Lilly decided to say that a certain boy was cute, and his girlfriend overheard and gave Lilly a black eye for saying that. Wow. Some people are certainly crazy, if I do say so myself...
I'd never do that to Lilly. I wouldn't even give her a black eye for saying that Julien is my boyfriend, even though it is getting old and is far from the truth. I just want her to understand that boys and girls can be close without "dating".
Anyway, I'm 14. I seriously don't care about dating anybody at this point. I want to survive school and bullies and things of that sort first.

Lilly did do one great thing, though...

...she informed me that Julien was being "harassed", and you can only imagine who wants to be Julien's friend more than life...

More on that during the next post.

Sabine

Ma chambre!

Salut, tout le monde! If you want to hear about the Americans' reactions to Julien, you're going to have to come back tomorrow or Tuesday, which is when I should be posting about such ridiculousness. Lilly seriously made me mad. I guess she has that kind of power...
Anyway, today's post is dedicated to my room. With all the room talk in the blogging word, I figured that I should share mine.
Here are some flashbacks of bedrooms past:
My first room...

Oh, how I miss this particular room! It was my favorite because of the roof. I even put blue (my favorite color) stars on the roof. And I loved that Miley poster...
My second room:

I shared it with my sister and Christelle. It was crowded, to say the least...

Now, here are photos of my current room:

This is the entryway. I keep some of my clothes in those drawers, as does Micki. Micki's delinquent dog, Sugar, lives on the bottom shelf. I'm not sure who owns Licorice or the Westies you see, but I don't like them in my room...
Here is an overhead view:

Where I keep my purse, Sandrine's purse, a shopping bag, and Zan's backpack.
You can see the dogs in this photo...ugh, I want to find out who owns them so she can get them out of my room...
I also hang my flag there because that is the only place it can be placed without it being disrespected. Yes, I did pay attention to those flag courtesy 101 lessons from school. It's touching some things, so I'm afraid it might be borderline disrespected...

My bedside table that is cluttered with junk...
Some things need to be put away, like my passport and map of Europe. I'm not sure who owns the paint set, but if I had to guess, it would be the same person who owns the dogs. The Eiffel Tower is Christelle's, but she wants it in my room because she doesn't have space for it in her room. I like it in my room, anyway.

My three favorite movies' posters hang above my bed- Bienvenue chez les ch'tis, The Last Song, and Jeux d'enfants. On the far left is my LOL (French version) movie poster. On the far right is my Hannah Montana: le Film poster. Next to my bed is my suitcase. On my bed is the bear I've had since I was a baby and a decorative pillow.

More posters...LOL (American version), Rien à Déclarer, and L'auberge espagnol. I know you can't see the one over my bedside table. It's for Tout ce qui brille.

My "office" space! This is where I do all of my homework. Micki does her homework in here, too. My laptop is currently broken, so it's missing from the scene. I hope to get a new one for Christmas.

I love staring at the stickers and photos on the walls. There is a soccer poster, which reminds me of Julien. There is also a photo of Felicity and Zan and one of Nellie and Samantha. The biggest shocker? A poster that says "I love my Westie". The owner of the dogs has clearly been in my room...
What's on the desk? Random things...
A croquet ball that shouldn't even be there
A pail that shouldn't even be there, either...
A candle for serenity
My cell phone that I should charge
My water bottle
Christelle's Eiffel Tower postcard/picture that shouldn't be there
A teacup
A Minnie Mouse figure
Some flowers
Liz's box of atomic fireballs that shouldn't be there as well
Some magazines and books

Yeah, it looks like I have some cleaning to do...

Now, here's Micki's side of the room:

She plans on decorating more. I'll post photos when she's finished. She doesn't surf or do any watersports; Kailey just asked her to store that stuff there. You can see the soccer ball in the mirror (it's behind the surf board). Micki does play soccer, and that is in fact hers.

Hope you liked the tour of my room...er, our room if you want to say I share with Micki...

Sabine

Un: Lucía Carillos

Salut, tout le monde! Joyeux decembre!


Birthday countdown:
dix-huit jours!
I found something else that I wanted...any guesses about what it is? (Hint: it's a dress! But what dress?)

Julien and I made the journey to Pleasantview Private Boarding school, as I said in my post about Sandrine. Admittedly, he was a little nervous because of the stories I filled his head with. More on his lovely introduction to the Americans later. They came out of nowhere and made him jump…

Today, though, I have decided to talk about Señorita Lucía Carillos. Her introduction will be part of a four or five or more part series on the return to PPB.

I thought that Julien was going to be the only “new” person, though he technically isn’t “new” since he isn’t going to school here and is just staying for the holidays. However, a major surprise was in store.

Tout le monde, rencontrez Lucía Natalia Carillos…

Lucía is from the beautiful southern Spanish city of Málaga. Málaga is in the Andalucía region of Spain, and that region is where flamenco originated. I don’t know much about Lucía other than her name and where she’s from. She seemed shy, and I wasn’t sure if she spoke English or not, so I began speaking to her in Spanish.

That was a huge mistake within itself. I couldn’t keep up with her, nor could I understand every single word. I then asked, ¿hablas inglés? Fortunately, she answered, sí. She said she liked listening to me speak Spanish because she liked hearing her language spoken with different accents. I told her that she would be disappointed because the Americans speaking Spanish wasn’t exactly flattering to the ears. Some are better than others; for example, Marisol’s Spanish is fine, but I couldn’t say the same thing about the rest of the class.

I decided to show her around. She told me that it was nice to meet me and that she could see us becoming friends. I told her that I was from Lille, and she seemed very interested in my hometown, too. She's only visited the south of France, and she said that my accent was different, which it clearly is since accents in France vary by region, too. I would joke around and say that is because I speak ch'ti, but I wasn't sure if she'd get it or not.

So there you have it: Lucía. I am currently spending some time in a special English program with JUST SANDRINE, so I won't see Lucía again until later this month. In the meantime, I'll share more interesting things that happened last week...

Sabine