the engagement..

With special requests from ant and para, i shall now update. haha. maybe you guys should do this more often so that I won't get lazy. (",)

13 May 2007/Mother's Day
Last Sunday was Sis' engagement day. Yes, it is the kind that you see in TV shows where the groom brings oranges, candles blah blah. My future bro-in-law brought oranges, 2 bottles of red wine, 2 pairs of candles (apparently there're 2 different kinds and the bride's family is supposed to keep one of them and the groom takes back the other), many many cans of pig's trotters (requested by my family cos it symbolises 骨肉), many many boxes of cakes and not forgetting the big big angbao（the 聘金 i suppose） in which we kept a portion of the sum and return the remainder to the groom. I shan't disclose how much was in it..hiak hiak hiak!

Relatives started arriving early in the morning at about 7+am to start preparing lunch for the many many other relatives who have yet to to come. OMG and they are the ones who woke me up from my precious sleep. Guess wat?! i woke up at FREAKING 7.45am! 1st time since the start of holidays. The entire lunch was like a war. The kitchen and the whole house was like in a war-torn area. So many chefs in the kitchen all giving commands and the kitchen just isn't big enough. You can imagine how chaotic it was. But nonetheless all the old folks enjoyed this "war". I may complain about how noisy the old folks were and how dirty the house was but i'm really blessed and grateful to be part of this huge family who helps you out unconditionally meets up every other day. Very few such families around now..

One of my mum's frens commented that he thought we're opening a shoe shop when he saw the shoes outside at the car porch. I should have taken a picture of that scene! wasted..haiz.. but nvm, i took pictures of the enormous bunch of bananas that we(the bride's family) bought for the groom to take back as part of the engagement ceremony. The bananas resembles 多子多孙。Mind you there were 118 bananas in that bunch after some serious counting by the groom's family. Apparently only the hainanese or maybe only my 家族 has the practice of inviting relatives over to celebrate the engagement, be it you're the bride or groom. 60 people present that day is simply an underestimate. I think there was easily 80 people in my house that day.

So my sis was the limelight that day (I'm stating the obvious right?) with everyone congratulating her and asking to look at her wedding album. It set me pondering how exactly is my sis feeling right now? If it was me, I would certainly feel a slight tinge of sadness cos I'll be leaving this family which I have lived with for 28 yrs and starting a life of my own. FYI, their flat is ready at sengkang.

After all the guests have left, we no doubt did all the cleaning up. oh man.. You won't want to know how much work there was! I finally got to rest at 11.30pm. Quite an enjoyable gathering despite the hardwork.

Congrats my dear sis! Here's wishing you a happy-and-happy-and still happy marriage!

Love,
ks