Sunday, July 13, 2008

My Betrothal Gifts...

Yeah yeah. Today was an auspicious date for Guo Da Li, so Junneng and Shanmei came over with the gifts on behalf of Junwei. The groom is missing in action! Keke. Anyway, guo da li means the exchange of gifts between the groom's family and the bride's family before the traditional wedding. Wahaha. Dun ask me much details bout it, cos I only just learnt about all these things. Oh, and my bride's price was included too. I'm worth $999, but mummy returned back $299 as a token, so I'm worth $700. Haha.

We had two huge baskets of gifts. Hee. But whatever the groom's family gave us, we had to return half to symbolize yi ren yi ban, I guess. Every gift has a significance, for example: Longan means feng yi zu shi (be well fed and well clothed), bing tang (rock sugar) means tian tian mi mi (sweetly in love always) , oranges means ji li (good fortune) etc. Oh yeah I dunno about all this till my mum in law taught me. Haha. So didn't my mum. We are suagus about all this. Waha.

The most worth-it gift, as described by my mum, is the exchange of two orange syrup for two bottles of martell. Woho. Lalala. That's my dad in the pic.

Oh yar. We also had the Long Feng candles, that need to be lit on the day of our wedding. My mum keeps the pair of Long candles (the dragon) cos' it means she has another son in the family, and we return the Feng candles (the pheonix) to my in laws. So cool. I wonder where we can place it in our house though, no altar and no urn. But we'll figure it out. =)

My mum and the ang pows she received. She also had to bao 6 ang pows in all. For Ah Ma, for Shanmei, for my mum-in-law, for dad-in-law, for junwei to buy shoes (yeah practically, it says for junwei's shoes), and for the Dai Lu Ji (ie the chickens which lead the path, dun ask me whad is it, i dunno wad, but it sounds interesting to me. Wahaha)

I love the ang pows. Hehe. All very sweet. Guess will only receive them once in a lifetime wad. Wahaha. So nice right, the pic of the couple kissing.

Right. And here's what my parents had to give my in laws, as what they call the bride's dowry. The orange syrup, a pair of lamps to be lit the night before our wedding beside our new bed (they say cannot let the fire be extinguished or else it means bad luck, so guess wad, we upgraded from oil to battery operated lamps. Keke), a sewing basket with needles and thread and scissors tied with red string, a toothbrush mug and a toothbrush for jw, a comb, a tea set for the wedding tea ceremony, a blue potty, a pink baby bathtub, some red pieces of paper called Yuan Qian, which needs to be placed under the new bed to symbolize I will get along well with my new family.

Hee. Cool? Interesting to learn bout Chinese customs. Bet jw doesn't know anything bout all this too. Well well. Less than 2 weeks to the wedding. Kinda excited and nervous all at once. =)

Be back soon for more updates. Tata!

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Byebye boxes..

Finally!!! Triple PHEW...

The shippers are here to clear the boxes.. Woho! Total 33 of them. Wow. I think I only used up half the volume of what I am entitled to, but it already felt like I was practically shifting my whole house. Wahaha.

I felt like a man again on Monday. Why? Cos' I went to buy bedlinen for our new home. And guess wad, I bought a queen comforter, 2 queen sized bedsheet sets, 2 super single sized bedsheet sets, 1 single sized bed sheet set, 1 floor mat, and 2 cushions. And mum had already left me behind so I was left all alone to carry the load home. Well, it was at Blk 201, so not that far off from my house, but that walking distance (slightly more than two bus stops) felt like a long long way cos I had to keep stopping to prevent my arms from breaking. Haha. All red marks when I reached home. Worse is that uncle only gave me a pathetic 90 cents discount when I bought near $200 from that one store. And WORST, i came home to realise that I bought the wrong size sheet for my bed. HAHA. Stupid me. I wanted a pink colour bedsheet, but I forgot I had upgraded my bed two years ago from single to super single, so now, I have to go find another super single bedsheet. Those two sets I bought, currently one is at jw's house for his bed (or rather, our bed) during the wedd nite, and the other has been shipped to sweden. HAHA.

At last, no more packing, sealing, taping, and writing of my name on the boxes. Phew. Can't believe I did everything alone, so somehow deep down, I am hugely exhausted but rather proud. WAHAHA.

My new blue bike. Bought from Carrefour at $118. Not even 1/10 of what I spent there in total. Hope we'll put our bicycles to good use! Hehe.

Oh yeah. This is secretly taken from my mummy's room. Heard them loading my stuff, so juz taking a peep and making sure they are not throwing my fragile boxes around. Wahaha.

And yesh, finally my room is no longer a store room, but a bedroom. Woho!

Byebye boxes.. Till we meet in sweden 6 weeks later.. Don't get lost!!!

~Summer~ 3:15 AM

Friday, July 04, 2008

Breathless..

Oh yeah.. that's how I look now.. HAHA.. tired, yao suan bei tong, exhausted, lonely..

These two days of no work has been a more hectic time for me than it was when I was still at work. Haha. Rushing to the embassy to get my visa processed (& so qiao there was a fire evacuation at Singapore Power Building and I had to wait for nearly an hour), rushing to Sim Lim to buy multi plugs, converters for use in sweden, and to get wireless usb for my mum-in law, and to go around hunting for the cheapest way to produce my wedding favours (which I'm not revealing here so as not spoil the element of surprise).

In addition to that, I have to write wedding invites for my guests and junwei's guests, and it took me 4 straight hours this morning to get it right. *Phew*. I skipped lunch unknowingly cos I was super engrossed. Haha. Next up I had to unpack the $1.4K of goods I bought in Carrefour, and segregate them and then pack nicely into the boxes provided by the shipping company. Wah lauz. In April when jw shipped his stuff, I helped and his parents helped. But now it's the case of me, myself and I. To pack for 3 years of stuff that I'm gg to bring over. You will be shocked at what we are shipping over. 60KG of rice, endless preservatives and cooking sauces, dried food, enough luncheon meat to feed an army, long stream of titbits/biscuits, plus cartons of beer, green tea, ribena, milo, 100 Plus, Iced tea, plus 1 year worth of shower foam, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and other toiletries, etc etc. Yeah yeah. I'm gg to a super ulu town, so it's essential to ship all this over and make sure we are fully equipped.

Right. So from folding the boxes, to taping them wif masking tape, to packing, naming them, writing down the contents, labelling the boxes, sealing them, arranging them, it's causing me a super backache today. Just feel like lying down on my bed to rest. Arrghhh. And guess wad, i dismantled my digital piano on my own and packed it in boxes. Took me over an hour but I'm super proud I unscrewed everything, all the nuts and bolts, and I packed the keyboard and the stands nicely. (ermm, not that nice lar, but good enuff). In times like this, I feel like a man. HAHAHA.

AND i still have alot of things on my list to buy and pack. AND I still have many things uncrossed from my wedding to-do list. HAHA. It's gonna be a real hectic, tiring, and busy 3 weeks ahead. I really can't wait for the disco on 26 July. That would mean I settled my shipment and that the wedding was over, and I could really get down to nua-ing. Waha.

I wonder why I always make myself as busy as a bumblebee. Alot of my frenz will say I zi zhao one, cos' I am such a perfectionist sometimes and everything I also wanna do on my own for my wedding, and everything I also wanna make it personalized and special. I dunnoe. Perhaps it's in my blood.

Well well. Gonna have the guo da li in a week or so (you know, before the wedding, the two families will exchange gifts to symbolize good fortune and bliss for the couple). How weird. Us doing this when the groom is not around. But well, we still have to do it. =)

Counting down again.. Yawnz.. It's 3am.. Meivis (my cousin cum make up artist), will definitely scold me if she noes I stay up so late.. HAHA.. Lalalala.. But I'm shuang, and if shuang sleeps at 12midnite, then that's weird.. Woho..

Buaiz buaiz..

~Summer~ 2:29 AM

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Last day

At last, i've waited till 1 july. Today marks my final day of work at omd, after a good 2 year stay here. Guess i've learnt quite a fair bit here, but if you were to ask me wat i gained most, i would say friendship. I got to know wonderful frenz like elv, mitch, addy, janice, ariane, ai tee etc etc. And i hope the bonds are here to stay. Now, i'm feeling sad and happy, excited and calm all at once. Can't wait till tmr comes, when my $1400 worth of groceries n toiletries will arrive from carrefour, and i can go settle my visa and flight to sweden, and i can start packing my shipment, and i can focus on my wedding prep very soon. No more familiar path to the mrt at 8plus am in the morning, no more my melody alarm ringing at 7plus, no more having to fill timesheets, no more lunches at tanjong pagar, no more alot of things. Time to move on to another phase of life. Tata.

~Summer~ 9:04 AM