Our Holy Matrimony 15 May 2010

It's finally done and dusted, set in stones, moments captured forever!

If I were to blog about our wedding - those are my sentiments exactly. A mixture of relief (almost of good riddance), happiness and a sense of bemusement all rolled into one. I'd love to imagine that I was an eager bride; bathed in all those abundant romance with dreams of her big day. Filled with high hopes and expectations (the part about the expectations was probably true). I wasn't...exactly.

When we discovered that our plans to elope fell apart; we sat down and set the date for the big day. For the initial month or two I was filled with enthusiasm. In a day or two I managed to picture the whole wedding down to the details. I most definitely drove AJ to frustration and tears with my constant droning about the wedding. I drove myself to tears for his lack of participation.

Month 3 onwards... I got bored. Dealing with all the logistics just drove me mad. Dealing with vendors (photographers, bridals, tailors, wedding venues, florists etc etc) and two sets of mothers and fathers (bless them) from across the oceans weren't exactly exciting. Very trying would be the best phrase to decribe how I felt most of the time. Somehow words didn't translate well across all that distance. I marvelled at all those bride-to-bes who managed to maintain their enthusiasms till the very end. By month 6...I almost gave up. During the last few weeks leading to the BIG DAY...I found myself swept away by the forces that I found I could no longer control. ACCEPTANCE was a difficult but necessary concept to swallow...especially for a Chinese bride with liberal ideas.

AJ did come to the rescue in the end. And God did send his angel in the form of Big Kev. Many thanks! Both to God and Kev. And many love and kisses to AJ.

All in all despite all the kerfuffle, I am amazed now looking back how well everything turned out. There were minor blips, a few frustrated tears, some minor disappointments (mainly due to my apparently high expectations?) - at the end of the day it was a beautiful wedding and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So I shall blog more about our marriage - our holy matrimony. One of AJ's biggest contribution to the whole wedding preparation was to organise our marriage course with our pastor. With all the self vanity and at times overboard fantasies all rolled into one, it was very easy to forget what it's all about. In the midst of getting the best photographer, the ideal theme and colour, the dress, the shoes, all the teeny details - I could have easily missed the big picture all together.

Yes it was our wedding - but in essence it was more than that. A marriage; union in the eyes of the Lord. I'm glad that AJ insisted on the sessions with Pastor L. It made us (especially me) realise that the wedding was just the begining. As we made this commitment; most blessed sacrement to God, we have made a promise to uphold this promise for as long as we live. It made us realised that there's another person in this relationship, no longer just us. It's also not just a union of two persons, but of two families. That realization eased me into accepting (partially if not fully) our parents' demands for the wedding.

We've known each other for so long; that we took simple things like communication for granted. It was funny how we had to learn to 'speak' to each other again. All it took was a little more understanding, a little more effort and a lot more prayers to reduce the number of squabbles. And let there be peace in the home...It's easy to think of ending a relationship when the feeling's gone. When I understood what the Lord intended the marriage to be, love became more than just a feeling (1 Corinthians 13). I've learnt that in this marriage, our love needs to be nurtured. There will ups and downs. Happy moments and unfulfilled dreams. We will walk through many stages of our lives together (by God's grace); celebrate our successes together and cry in each other's arms.

I pray that the Lord will continue to nurture our marriage as we made our vows. It'll be sweet 50 years on when we sit by the patio in our rocking chairs, wearing our incontinence pads and false teeth; and look back through the years and say - it's all worth it.

More pics, click: http://picasaweb.google.com/adelinechiacl/HolyMatrimony15May2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCIzw99q3ptCr-AE&feat=directlink

Paris part 2....FOOD...Food glorious food!

This first night was rather a disaster. By the time we reached our hotel it was almost 11pm. I was so hell bent on at least seeing the Eiffel Tower that night but in the end the tiredness consumed me. We had our first meal in the hotel room; tapau'ed from one of the local bakeries. Cheap and cheerful meal AJ would put it, though we struggled with ordering. We lived in arrondisment 20, quite far away from the touristy spots so language was a problem. Nothing that a little sign language couldn't solve although we had no idea what we bought till we had a bite on them! Food was surprisingly good..even at 11pm from a bakery. The bread was fresh, everything freshly made. What a contrast from where we live...hmm...

Breakfast the next day was a street fare near Notre Dame - ham and cheese crepes. It's really good, but a bit steep for a fiver. We were quite sure we could get at least 2 quid cheap outside the tourist spots.

We went to a even posher 'crepeteria' and had a shock of our lives when we saw the menu! OJ for 4 euros!! This is how AJ looked when he realised how much he was supposed to pay after nonchalantly ordered 'deux jus d'orange'. An expensive lesson to swallow - quite literally. From then onwards we just ordered tap water for the rest of the trip! The crepes were great though, for some reason food is cheaper than drinks (alcohol on the other hand was not too bad).

We had yummylicious cake and ice cream near the Eiffel.

We had dinner at a restaurant near Eiffel Tower; fortunately waiters there speak English. So ordering wasn't as painful. We had foi gras and escargots for starters and the famous boeuf bourguignon for mains.

One of the evenings we ventured out to Le Marais and stumbled upon a small quaint all French bistro. We braved ourselves inside and amazingly ordered a table for two, ordered entree's and mains all in French!!! We had to pause and flick our phrase book of course..but still..not a word of English! AJ had a perfectly (absolutely perfect; we can longer find such perfect cooked steak) cooked steak in rare and I had duck d'orange. Didn't take any pictures though as our stupid camera then decided to run out of juice..sighhhhhhh. This was the best meal we've had in Paris. Good for value and all authentic. Needless to say we were the only non-French, non-angmoh in the whole place.

On our last day after our Louvre chapter, we stumbled upon another bistro owned by FBC (French born chinese). Having struggled for 3 days; we almost lost our will to get any more food in French! Ironically the waitress said "Ni men yau chi se meh?" with some indiscernible French. We were awestrucked and started to order in Mandarin. Oh God so loved us and wouldn't want us to starve in a foreign land. We had a fish starter and pork leg with saeurkraut. Another value for money meal....

We enjoyed the food in Paris. AJ vowed to learn French and come back again one day to satisfy our palates. Having said that; our best meal would have to be our dinner at Mayflower when we touched down in Bristol. Never thought I'd say this in my life but boy we were glad we reached English soil at last. Knowing exactly what we want, knowing exactly what the menu says, being able to order in the language that we know.....what a relief! And what can beat kangkung belacan, fried sotong and steam fish with rice...HEAVEN AT LAST.

Paris in March

The city of love, and art, and culture, possibly fashion, and food...glorious food. Everything tasted better in France, even the street food.

We planned this trip for months. After one depressing on call and feeling sorry for myself - I decided enough is enough. We needed a break; I no longer cared how much things cost. Just wanted to get away - and we did.

It was difficult enough to get leave together. My painstaking plans didn't fall through when the storm decided to hit France the day before we were scheduled to fly. And so our flight was cancelled and we were rebooked for the next day. Whether unluckily or predestined, we didn't know about the cancellation until we reached Bristol International at 5am (most ungodly hour ever known to men especially when you've had no sleep the day before due to on calls). Imagine my face when I found out we're not flying first thing in the morning....and my plans for the whole day just faltered. I could cry if not for AJ who cleverly rescheduled it the very evening. Half a day lost better than two days in total...sensible sensible man. As opposed to emo me...

And the plane....it put me to tears. I've never sat in a plane smaller than that. Not even Airasia. Wait..I might have sat once on a 6 seater plane before going to the interiors of Sarawak. Then again this is going to EUROPE!!

Anyhu....

We reached Paris at 9pm and by the time we reached our hotel it was 11pm. Tired, disappointed and hungry. On top of that we had to flick out our small French phrase book to try to speak some discernable French to buy food in the local boulangerie (bakery). A 48 hour crash course with a small phrase book didn't get us far - we resorted to sign language in the end when the baker said "me speak no english". Great...

Almost 24 hour without sleep; stranded in Bristol for one whole day; really dead tired; very hungry - we made do with eating some pasties and babs which were surprisingly good (or we're just very hungry). Hit the sack almost immediately after..so much for spending the first night in the most romantic city in the world.

The days thereafter were enjoyable. Besides finding out our existing camera is crap (he blamed me for being 'kiamsiap' and not geting a new camera before the trip); everything else went smoothly.

Like all tourists; we did the 'touristies'...and of course we eat..and eat..and eat.

We visited Notre Dame:

We saw gargoyles....

AJ had a go at becoming the Hunchback - ringing the church bell.

Of course, no Jong-Chia trip is ever complete without visiting the hospital. And what a hospital..even the garden hedges were artistically designed! It's even called "Hotel". It's an up and running hospital mind..not a museum.


We visited yet another church, St Chapelle - supposedly famous for its stain glasses depicting 12 books of the Bible. I could just about make out Genesis and Exodus.

We saw art at the Orsay:




We emulated the sculptures at the Rodins:

AJ in deep thoughts when studying...

AJ doing the 'alamak' when he failed....

At last...Andy when he passed.... (LOL)

We spent almost an entire day at the Louvre. We met the famous smiling/non-smiling overrated lady..she's real tiny! The queue wasn't that long but the crowd just grew and grew. I wasn't at all mystified; instead was awed by the "Wedding at Cana" opposite it. We actually took lots of photos here but lost half of them while uploading. Stupid stupid camera...have to add to my wish list of birthday pressies...

We spent another day at the Chateau de Versailles, the center of power during Louis XIV's rule.

We visited Sacre de Ceur, a Roman Catholic Church, also known as the Sacred Heart. Lots of people come here to get their 'patungs' or crosses blessed for reasons that escaped me and AJ. No pun intended..

A really traditional merry-go-round....

We walk down (up and down actually) Champs Elysees to see Arc de Triomphe and of course the ever so famous (G would vouch for this, if not for himself then for his other half!) Louis Vuitton HQ. I have made a vow here (never say never though) to stick to my no-LV policy for life..kekekeke. Fingers crossed!

A trip to the supposedly most romantic city will not be complete without a slow stroll to the Eiffel Tower. We took our time here; stopping half way and bought some ice cream and dessert. Never too cold for ice cream hehe..Nothing like sitting on a bench enjoying the breeze and admiring the tower! And the view from the top is just breathtaking (although I almost had frost bite from the cold!).

A great place to profess one's love - AJ's done it beautifully ;)

More to come...Part 2: Food...glorious food...