• sébastien balandier and megumi yanagawa met in paris, france in the fall of 1983, and both will still describe it as love at first sight. megumi was an international student from tokyo, japan who met sébastien during her first semester at université de la sorbonne nouvelle; both were linguistics and music double majors, and from that common ground a strong relationship developed. their son, emile tristan, was born march 14, 1987 during the last semesters of both parents; megumi took the rest of the semester off to care for their son, and the couple was married in the summer. their last child,
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rosetta, was born three years later. emphasis was put on their children being cultured, and so emile and his sister attended private school, receiving english, spanish, and music lessons on top of this.
• the family remained in paris, minus the occasional trip to japan to see megumi's family, until emile was eleven years old; during this time his father had become a university professor himself, and his mother had taken a job as third chair violist in the orchestre de paris. because of her occupation, however, her hearing began to debilitate, eventually leaving her entirely deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other. when she retired from the orchestra, sébastien took a job offer as a french language and 20th century france professor at the university of delaware. once the semester was over for emile,
rosetta, and their father, the family packed up and moved across the atlantic to newark, delaware.
• adjusting from the metropolitan hustle and bustle of paris to the slower, more compact city of newark proved to be amazingly difficult for the entire family, and multiple times, sébastien mentioned packing up and moving back to paris at the end of the semester. this never happened, however, and eventually the majority of the family settled into the routines of newark. emile believes that if he hadn't met
vivienne, then he never would have accepted newark at all and would be back in paris today.
• both emile and
vivienne were amazingly stubborn before the beginning of their relationship, the attraction being mutual but neither wanting to be the first to admit it. over the summer before high school, emile decided that he was done playing games, showing up at
vivienne's front door and telling her that if she didn't fall in love with him right that second then he was going to get a different girl to be his girlfriend. she hit him in the face with the television remote she'd been holding when she answered the door and shut the door in his face; he got one of the multiple girls that fawned over him to go out with him. emile and
vivienne started dating exactly a week later, and have been together since.
• once
vivienne and emile graduated from high school, the two went through with their plans of moving in together, scouring through newspaper after newspaper to look for the right place to start their life together. after a few months of searching through newspapers, real estate ads, and driving around, they finally found a house that they both fell in love with -- it was in new jersey, so it would put distance between them and their parents, but was close enough that they could go visit without being too far away. basically, it was perfect, and they used all the money that they'd been saving for moving out up until that point (with a little help from their parents, of course!) to do just that.
• people tend to comment on the nature of emile's relationship with
vivienne -- they act more like best friends than they do a couple, teasing each other, wrestling, and trying to catch each other in dumb moments, though they aren't without their mushy streaks. all in all it's exactly what it looks like; they really are best friends, they just happen to love each other more than that, and everyone knows that the best foundation to build a romantic relationship on is friendship, which they definitely have.
• emile tristan balandier
• 14 march 1987, 20 years old
• half french (father), half japanese (mother)
• born and raised in paris, france
• speaks english, french, japanese, spanish, and knows french sign language
• moved to newark, delaware at 11 years old
• met vivienne there and ended up falling for her after a long stubborn streak
• has been with her since the beginning of 9th grade
• took a year off before going to college in order to move them to longport
• is now a sophomore speech pathology and audiology major at rscnj
• employment situation is a bit abnormal -- essentially, he works at the borgata hotel, casino, and spa in atlantic city, though his schedule rotates through three of its different shops: whim, misura, and carina.
• despite his taken status he's still a ridiculously huge flirt by nature; he tells vivienne it's because she beats him and he's looking for a nicer person, though he's only joking
• almost obnoxiously outgoing and will talk to anyone, though if he dislikes you you'll know it
• still retains a small hint of a french accent, but you have to be paying attention to really identify it -- usually, people just ask him where he's from because he "sounds different"
• is big on surfing and other marine sports now that he lives in longport, loves the beach and everything related to it
• is a fat man on the inside and will eat basically anything in put front of him
• owns about 40 fish which he and vivienne have "rescued" from walmarts throughout the northeast; these fish live in various tanks that have their own room in their house. each has a name of its own, and they are referred to as children, not pets.
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