I was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I am younger than my sister Leanne. I do not remember anything from Jeddah. Did you know that I have the same name as the first queen of Belgium ...

When we moved to Romania I started going to nursery on the compound where we were living. After 1 year in the nursery I was ready to join Leanne at the American School of Bucharest. I still remember my teachers and I liked them very much.

Just like Leanne I really like my school in Geneva, CDL - Collège de Léman.

Because my mum and dad had to move to Algeria in 2001 and there was no International School there I started attending boarding school in the UK. In the meantime they from Algeria to Karachi, Pakistan, and more recently to Almaty, Kazakhstan, so I am continuing to board. The first three years I was staying at the Sherborne Preparatory School in the small town of Sherborne in Dorset. And I do miss home, especially my mom, just like Leanne and Lawrence do. I am always happy when she calls me. Most of all I am happy when we can go home for mid-term break or holidays. At the time I was lucky because Lawrence was also staying in the same school and I got to see him every day. Leanne was in another school, St Antony's Leweston, just outside Sherborne. I only saw her during exeat weekends or when we could go shopping in town over the weekend.

At Sherborne Preparatory School I played quite a bit of sports. I actually played in both the netball and the hockey team. I was a member of the girls U12 hockey team. We played competition sometimes against other schools like here against Knighton.

For the last three years I have been attending St Antony's Leweston School, just outside Sherborne. So I have joined Leanne at her school. I managed to settle in rather quickly even if the the studies are more difficult and I manage to continue playing sports in the school team. I try often to see Lawrence who is now staying alone at Sherborne Preparatory School, in the town of Sherborne. I see him only during exeat weekends or when we can go shopping in town over the weekend.

At the time we were traveling back and forth between school and Karachi so often that we became "frequent flyers" on Emirates Airlines. We have nominated Emirates as our favorite carrier. On a trip in 2003 one hostess took a Polaroid picture of us on our way back to school. Here you can see me with my brother Lawrence. Now that we travel frequently between London and Almaty we hope to enjoy the "frequent Flyer" benefits of Air Astana.

Saturday June 23, 2007 was Speech day At St Antony's Leweston School and Sports day at Sherborne Preparatory School. My dad was on a busines trip in the Caucasus when on Thursday night June 21 I called him to say that both Leanne and I would be getting a prize on speech day. So he decided late night to change travel plans and to fly to the UK from Istanbul on Friday night after his meetings instead of returning to Almaty and to surprise us.

I was the first to go up and receive my prize from hands of the head girl. I had been awarded the "Old Antonians Prize" for best overall performance and results during the year. Unfortunately the quality of the picture is poor as it was taken with my Dad's phone as Leanne had forgotten to put batteries in her camera ...After the prize giving we went to Sherborne Preparatory School to see Lawrence and to go out for lunch and to attend the school play at Leweston. The next morning my Dad was on his way back to Almaty.

Last Updated: 10-03-2008
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