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

Joyeux anniversaire à deux!

I interrupt all regularly scheduled posting to spread birthday wishes!
Premier, je vais dire "joyeux anniversaire" à ma chanteuse (et actrice) préférée!
That is, happy nineteenth birthday to Miley Cyrus! Its hard to believe I've been a fan since she was thirteen! I feel bad because I forgot to post a happy birthday post for my brother, who turned nineteen exactly a month ago. Joyeux anniversaire, Sébastien!
I was there to celebrate with him, though...

Anyway, here's my favorite picture of Miley. This photo was taken during the 2010 Oscars. Credit goes to the celeb blog this was from; I wish I could say it is my photo, but I'm not that lucky.

It's also somebody else's birthday today. Any guesses? Today, a dear online friend, Inky, is turning eleven! Joyeux anniversaire, Inky!!! J'espère que tu as une bonne journée!
Be sure to stop over at her blog today and say happy birthday! If you follow Miley on Twitter, be sure to tweet her "happy birthday"!

-Sabine, who feels left out with all these birthdays. Mine's next month so it's all good. :)

All that jazz!

Salut, tout le monde! Ce matin, je suis retournée aux États-Unis. La première chose que j’ai vu, c’était Sandrine! Elle a dansé et elle a l’air triste…

I used to think that dancing kept Sandrine sane, but it is now the thing that is further tearing her apart.

Sandrine is extremely talented en pointe and when it comes to ballet, but when she came to the States, she decided that she wanted to take up jazz, too, so she could try out for dance team. She fell in love with jazz, and I think that is her favorite type of dance. Regardless, she has always been told how talented she was when it came to dance, and I think that gave her an ego- she doesn’t think she needs to practice!

Because she thinks that, she is at risk for getting kicked off the dance team. I always remind her to attend the practices, but she never listens to me. The dance team needs her. Chrissa and Marisol are both extremely talented dancers, even if they haven’t had professional training. Malorie has received much professional training (she attended the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School), and I’m sure heiresses Alyson, Ashley, and Alyssa have as well. I don’t care if their trainers or dance schools were elite- Alyson, Ashley, and Alyssa are NOT dancers. They are performers. Sure, they pick up dances and can do them, but they are not anything great…especially when you compare them to others. They could probably sell you on a routine individually, but when performing aside other dancers, they look a bit off.

Oh, and Liz. I know it’s hard to believe, but she’s on the dance team, too. The only dance classes she has ever taken were jazz classes. Again, she’s a performer…not a dancer.

I think my sister is very talented, and that’s why I want her to succeed! I understand that it is hard for her, especially when the Edwards Heiresses are involved. They don’t care about Sandrine. They want to see her fall. They love it when she doesn’t come to practices. It fills them with some sort of sick satisfaction.

Sandrine probably realizes this, too, and I caught her doing something I never thought she would do- practice a jazz routine.

She first warmed up…

…and then she turned on the music and danced.

She didn’t look happy. In fact, she looked sad. I feel so bad for my sister. She has so much she has to deal with, and I never wanted dance to become her worst enemy. I wish I could help her in some way…any advice? I haven’t talked to her yet; I just lurked on her practicing. She doesn’t even know I’m back!



Sabine

Un cadeau pour Chrissa...ou Christelle?

¡Hola, todo el mundo! ¿Cómo están ustedes? Estoy bien. Sí, hablo español. Tengo que practicar español y hoy no quiero hablar el francés.

Oui, so I took a break from my regular French greetings so I could practice my Spanish. I guess I should have done this post title in Spanish- it would be un regalo para Chrissa o Christelle if anyone was wondering. Because of all of Julien's help, I have been in the mood to speak Spanish lately. It's such a beautiful language, and it is quite similar to French, so it isn't that difficult for me. A lot of the words are similar- for example, in French, library is bibliothèque. In Spanish, it's biblioteca. The only thing that sometimes messes me up is that there are no silent endings on Spanish words. Every letter is pronounced. I have a hard time saying the "s" at the ends of words as is...
Besides, Spain is a gorgeous country. Anybody who wants to visit should visit someday.

Anyway, I have made my decision. I have to come back to the boarding school. I miss the Americans too much (I even miss Chrissa)! Julien said that he would try to visit me, and MAYBE AURELIE WILL JOIN ME? It's been nice seeing my old friends, but I just feel that I need to gain that sense of adventure again.

Moving on...
My mom took me shopping, and I bought this charm. I'm not sure to whom I should give it!

Option 1: Chrissa
Oui, I know I complain about Chrissa all of the time, but I actually kind-of miss her. Yes, she gets on my nerves, but she means well. She is just passionate about foreign languages; therefore being in the presence of French people excites her. I should be more accepting of that. I'm glad she has an interest in a foreign language. It's more I can say about some of the people I have met. I don't know if I necessarily consider Chrissa to be a friend, but even if I did, I could safely say that she would be a better friend than some of the people I have met. She would love receiving such a charm, and as she would say, it would "make her life". She wouldn't be a true Francophile without an Eiffel Tower necklace! She has wanted one forever, anyway...

Option 2: Christelle
Christelle est de Paris, as most of you know. She did purchase an Eiffel Tower necklace in the States to remind her of home, but she constantly complains that it looks cheap. This charm is a little bit prettier (I think), and I could give it to her, and she could give her old necklace to Chrissa. Chrissa doesn't care what the Eiffel Tower charm looks like- I think she just wants an Eiffel Tower necklace. Not very many people are actually nice to Christelle, and I can admit that I am distant towards her at times, too. I think giving this to her would be a way for me to say to her that I am there if she needs to talk. Although she may be from Paris and I may be from Lille, we're both French- regional differences aside. Being French is like sharing a juicy secret that the Americans do not know about.

So, I need some feedback...who should I give it to?

Also, some updates to my ultimate holiday wishlist...
I don't think I want an iPhone anymore. My mom made a good point for once in her life- I already have an iPod touch, and I don't need an iPhone just for phone capabilities. I would like a smartphone, though, just because I want to stay in touch with my friends. If my mom can get me a cheaper smartphone, I think that would be better. I kind of want a new laptop, anyway. Mine is on its last stages of life. There are also some other clothing items I found that I'd like...

-Sabine

The Ultimate Holiday Wishlist

Salut, mes amis!
It's getting to be that time of the year again, and you know what that means- Christmas and my birthday (they are only six days apart!) I like to make my list early, and here are some of the things that made my birthday/Christmas

The best Christmas surprise ever: tickets to see Miley Cyrus in concert, the chance to hang out backstage with her, get her autograph, and take pictures. This would complete my life. However, seeing that nobody would do that for me, I'll go with more practical things I might have a chance of getting.

1. An iPhone
Chrissa and Lilly have iPhones, and they are obsessed and occasionally brag about their capabilities. My cell phone is quite old. Actually, it's a hand-me-down from my mom. I think I deserve a new phone- one that can hold my iPod's contents as well as function as a phone.

2. A black blazer
Preferably made from the LJ Sofia Blazer pattern, this tops my holiday list alongside the iPhone. It would go perfectly with both my pants and skirts.

3. A striped shirt
Like THIS ONE from Sew Urban Designs! It's so cute, and once again, it would look great with my black pants and black flounce skirt.

4. Gray pants
Enough said. I need gray pants.

5. A sweater dress
Gray or black, I don't care. I want a sweater dress so badly.

6. A trip
...to anywhere! I'm not picky. Preferably, I'd like to check out NYC or DC.

That is all for now. There are plenty of things I'd like- such as more clothes and shoes. I'll add more to my list when I think of things.
What does everyone else want for Christmas? I'd love to compare and contrast lists with my readers.

Sabine

La Toussaint

Salut, tout le monde!
I sometimes wish Halloween was celebrated in France just because it is a nice excuse to dress up. I never realized how much fun it was until last year when the Americans coerced me into going trick-or-treating (excuse me, candybagging as Ava would say) with them.
Instead, we celebrate La Toussaint- or All Saint's Day. It takes place on November 1st, and it is a day for us to reflect on our relatives who have passed. We place flowers, normally chrysanthemums, on our loved ones' graves, and some people attend special masses which emphasize the saints*. I've been to one once.
Schools (thank goodness!) and most other public places are closed on this day.

*I meant to talk about the Saints and French culture earlier! Aside from birthdays, most families celebrate their children's saint days as well. Saints play a large role in the Catholic church, and although I am not religious, I still take some time to celebrate my saint day. Sainte Sabine day is August 29, and hopefully, I'll do something exciting on that day next year so I can post about it. I'll talk more about Saint Days then.

As for the weekly dose of Nord-Pas-de-Calais culture:

We put chicory in or on most everything. Enough said. ;)

Sabine

I'm not much for dancing, but for you I did...

Connaissez-vous Bud Light, Miller Light, et Coors Light? I'm sure you do. Those, mes amis, are not beers. OK, they are. However, the perceived pride the French take in their wines also applies to beer...well, in the northern regions, anyway. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais is known for its beer, and its production of it probably stems from Belgium. Brands you might find in the North are Ch'ti andTrois Monts.

DISCLAIMER: This topic may be somewhat iffy to some, but in France, it isn't much of an issue. We are taught to drink responsibly from a young age, so it isn't uncommon to see a young French person drink some wine or beer. It isn't taboo as it might be in the States.

On to the letter...

Il y avais un fois quand j'aimais Julien- I used to like Julien. I had a major crush on Julien in 2008, I guess. I don't know...was it really a crush crush or simply adoration for him because he was my friend when nobody else was? Je ne sais pas. That year was awful for me. I was lucky that somebody at that school would actually talk to me.

If anybody wants to confirm their thoughts that I like him as more than a friend, then go ahead and do it now. Perhaps I do like him and should stop denying things myself? I just don't know what to believe in anymore. Growing up is a funny thing, and I guess the way you see people begins to change, too. Maybe not that much. I still see him as my best friend and probably nothing more.

But I actually danced with him. Yeahhhhh. Dancing totally means nothing, though. Julien's mother's friend is a great dancer, and I'm sure that at age 43 she could still dance circles around Chrissa. She wanted to teach Julien's mom and Antoine (Julien's mom's boyfriend) how to ballroom dance.

The funny part? Julien wanted to try it. He loves trying new things, and I do to a fault. Dancing isn't one of those things I would want to try again. It's simply NOT my thing. However, Julien begged me, and I really didn't care to sit at home and be yelled at by my mom all day, so I gave in.

It was...different.

Could I be a contestant on Dancing With The Stars? Never in this lifetime. Was it awkward? Most definitely! I felt myself blush a few times, and I'm sure my face was as red as my hair. It was even worse that Julien's mom commented on how "cute" we (Julien et moi) looked. Hmm...I think I would rather hear my mom's constant nagging...

Antoine said that Julien would make a fine husband. Oui. His future wife will be the luckiest girl in the world because he is so kind and wants to make everything perfect. He doesn't want to make his dad's mistakes. Crois-moi...

-Sabine

le 15 octobre

Salut!
Je m'appelle Julien. Normally, I'm a private person, and I wouldn't put my life on the Internet. But all of us have a story to tell, and I figure that I should tell mine. I had a blog prior to this, but I forgot the login and had to make a new one. The previous posts are from the summer.
I guess I should state the most important thing: I did not create this blog to talk about me as a person (though I'm sure I'll share some of that). As weird as it sounds, I created it to talk about Sabine and my rather strange friendship with her. OK...so maybe it isn't strange and it's just a normal friendship, but she has had a large impact on my life in different ways.
Enough about Sabine as I'm sure you read her blog. I know I said I wouldn't do this, but I will introduce myself more in-depth. I am fourteen years old, and I am in 3ème at Collège Paul Verlaine. I play football (soccer), but not for a school team because we don't have those in France. I love traveling, other languges, and other cultures. My favorite place in the world is Valencia, Spain. Spanish is my favorite foreign language, and I recently discovered that vosotros/as and its verb forms are not used in the Americas.
There are two things I want to be when I grow up- the world's best dad and a cours préparatoire (first grade) teacher. I'm fine with young children (considering that I have babysat my little sister Delphine forever), so teaching that age group doesn't bug me.

On to other things...

I haven't seen Sabine since 2008. She left the country for some boarding school without personally telling me "goodbye", and I won't lie. It kind-of hurt, considering we're good friends. She returned to France a few months ago as a result of her mother's demands. When I first saw her face, I felt like America had changed her. She actually wears her glasses now; she used to hate them.
Fortunately, she didn't change much personality-wise. I'm glad of that. If her personality changed, that would have been like having a whole new Sabine. Her clothing style is still the same, and I'm glad that she hasn't adopted sweatpants. I appreciate it when girls dress nicely. It looks much more respectable.

Things between us weren't too awkward as I had expected they would be since we hadn't spoken face to face in so long. The first thing she brought up was Miley Cyrus, which was expected. I then asked her if she wanted to help me babysit Delphine, and she said "sure". We talked some about America, and Delphine insisted that we had crushes on each other.

I thought she was being the typical little sister who liked to get on my nerves, but maybe her words had some truth to them. Some truth...I mean, I admire and respect Sabine and I love her in friend sense. I wouldn't say I have a romantic-type of crush on her. I don't think I could ever date my best friend because I wouldn't want to destroy our friendship. I have much more respect for her, and I'm sure she feels the exact same way*.

*Or maybe not.

Sabine invited me to her house for dinner, and afterwards, we went on her balcony to talk as we usually did when we were younger. Her brother snickered at us, and once again, I was assuming he was being the typical older brother. Her parents didn't think anything of us going on the balcony, but then again, we French seem to be more relaxed about relationships with the opposite sex. Sabine told me that some Americans are weird with boy-girl friendships, and I can safely say that society is more liberal in Europe. We don't always assume the worst.
We were talking about America and Miley Cyrus again, and in the midst of conversation, I remembered I had something to give her. I handed her a note that she had written me three years ago, and after she read it, she looked like she was going to faint from shock.

After I left, I regretted returning it to her. She gave it to me, and giving it back was rude. I was expecting a confrontation about it, but fortunately, she dropped the subject. In some ways, it's just best to leave the past behind.

-JH

To further procrastinate from sharing the letter...

...I will kindly direct all of my readers to this interesting topic. CLICK HERE!
Since I have red/auburn/whatever-you-want-to-call-it hair, I found reading this interesting. While red hair isn't common to France as a whole, I will say that it is far more common in the northern regions where the people are lighter. I have yet to see a redhead in Nice, but I'm sure some live there. One's coloring just depends on the region s/he lives in, I guess, and some people don't get that because I was asked by an American (hint...her name starts with a "C" and ends with an "A") if I was seriously French* because "French people don't have red hair". So yeah, to reiterate, most have darker hair, but regional differences also play a role...AND THERE ARE REDHEADS IN FRANCE. In some ways, I feel like she is stereotyping...

*Note that she never asked Christelle this question, and Christelle is rousse, too.

To add to our discussion of regional differences, here's #3:

Maroilles*- it's probably one of the more common cheeses from the Nord=Pas-de-Calais (and the Picardie region, which is below the NPDC). In my previous post, you can see that it's also common to dunk it in coffee. Not going to lie, it's strong if you aren't used to it, but I think it is delicious.

*You're probably wondering how to pronounce that..."mar-wahl". :)

Sabine

C'est octobre...

...and I haven't posted. Ugh, life has just been unbearably busy. You have no idea what the French educational system is like until you've been in it. Basically, all of the teachers assume their students have no lives, so they drown the students in homework every night. Oh, and we have half a day of school on Saturday, so I can forget about having a complete weekend...
So, here is #2 of my "You Know You're from the Nord When" series:

Café au lait- or coffee with milk- seems to be a huge French stereotype of some sort. I cannot begin to tell you how many people assume that I drink it because I'm French. I do drink coffee, true, but not with milk (because that stuff is awful). I like to drink it with chicory, which is extremely popular in the Nord. We Northerners add chichory to a lot of different things- even waffles. Wild leaves are usually bitter, but in foods and things, chicory is delicious!

Another thing we do in the Nord is dunk maroilles (a type of cheese- it's very strong) in our coffee. I like that, too. This cheese is extremely popular in the Nord, and I have yet to see it in another region of France.

Also, I styled my hair for once in my life! I normally like to wear it down because it always looks best that way, but I'm enjoying this style. My mom helped me with it, which was a shocker. She never really helps me with anything.

I still need to relax some, and then I'll share details about the note mentioned in one of my prior posts...it's shocking. Croyez-moi.

Sabine