Longest day of my life
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004
Sunday 20th June 2004, 0900h. Announcing the arrival of flight MH601 from Kuala Lumpur.. aaaahh.. home at last.. after a 12-hour flight from Amsterdam to KL and a 2-hour transit in KL, we boarded the plane headed to Singapore…home.. sweet.. home.
I hardly slept on both flights.. I tried.. I just couldn’t. I wanted to sleep because I knew I’d have a long and tiring day when I arrive. This is the one time when I badly needed to sleep but I just couldn’t. Well.. the most I slept was prolly for 2 hours. Hardly enough.
We arrived in Singapore, headed home in a taxi.. opened the suitcases and took out all the presents and started handing them out.. we didn’t buy that many presents, mainly because it was just too expensive with the euros and stuff. Well.. also because we couldn’t think of what to buy.. everything seemed so “normal” because we’ve bought some other stuff before in our earlier trip to Europe. In the end we realised, let’s just buy food.. we can never go wrong there. Indeed. Among other things, we also bought a lot of winegums, autodrops (I even drove past the autodrop factory in Holland, courtesy of Thony!), chocolates (especially for daddy!) and some other unique stuff like the “bruidsgebakjes” (little cakes coated with sugar and filled with “spijs” – almond-flavored pastry cream) and “beschuit” (Over there, they usually serve it with little antiseeds covered with a thin layer of sugar – blue and white for baby boy, pink and white for baby girl. Its called “beschuit met muisjes”. “Beschuit” is Dutch rusk and “muisjes” literally means little mice.)
After giving out the presents, I rested for a bit. Everyone seemed happy with their presents. Of course, Wing wanted more.. as always. Then I tried to sleep, just couldn’t. I guess when you’ve passed the point of being too tired, it just gets more difficult to sleep. So I got up and showered to get ready for the wedding rehearsal. Brought all the stuff that I needed for the wedding and headed to Laguna Golf and Country Club to meet Jas – my singing partner whose got an exceptionally wonderful voice.
We arrived at about 2pm and the sound people were not quite ready for us. But as soon as they were, we started practising. Jas’s husband was there too.. he is good with all these musical stuff. So that really helped. I’m the only person who knows nuts about singing in public. The most I’ve done was gone on stage and sang with a bunch of teachers during our last Youth Day celebration in school. That was my one and only singing stage “experience”. So I was nervous.. very nervous. With the jet-lag setting in, I just felt worse and worse. Jas tried to comfort me. She was very sweet, I tell you. She even told me that if I was too scared before the performance, I didn’t have to perform. I felt slightly better. But I wanted to perform. It was for Nad. She’s my best friend and this is HER day. I will perform and there was no question about that.
We stopped rehearsing at 4pm. Nad messaged us to remind us to drink plenty of water and not lose our voices before our big performance. I miss her. Ever since she left for Belgium, we haven’t gotten too much chance to communicate. Of course, we had the occassional chats and emails, but it wasn’t the same. And with her new job and the wedding, she just got busier and busier. She’s achieved so much in such a short time, I’m proud of her. She’s learnt a new language, settled in quite well in her new environment and got a new job (in a foreign country, mind you!).. in a matter of 4 months or so. Amazing!
Well anyways, after the rehearsal, we went our separate ways to get ready. I got back to the country club at 7pm. Tired. I realised I hadn’t eaten all day. I wasn’t hungry – which is bad. I was afraid I will collapse. Urrgh.. suddenly I got super nervous. Will I remember the words? Will I be off-tune?? Arrgh! I went to look for Nad in her room. I saw both Jan and Nad – all ready in their costumes. They both looked great. Nad looked absolutely gorgeous but I could see that she was tired and nervous. I was nervous too. I wanted to stay and be with her but at the same time I wanted to be alone. Maybe I was too tired to be with anyone. I don’t know. I left the room and waited for my family to arrive.
Soon, more and more people started coming in. Well, just like any “typical” Singaporean wedding.. it didn’t start on time. I think it was about 8.15pm or so before the ceremony actually started. The MC welcomed everyone and they showed some photos of the couple which had been taken earlier in the day. Then, Nad and Jan arrived in the ballroom. The kompang (small hand drums) played as they went down the aisle and sat down on the dais. They also performed the pencak silat (an art for self-defence and also a dance form) for the bride and groom. This practice dates a long time back when we had kings and queens. Various performers will present their items to the royalty. Here in this case, the bride and groom becomes like king and queen for the day. Which is why the whole ceremony is designed in a way fit for a king and a queen.
The food soon started arriving. Everyone ate and ate and ate. So did the bride and groom. Food was good. But with every course that appeared, my turn to go on stage got nearer and nearer. After a while, Nad and Jan together with Nad’s parents and Jan’s parents started walking around from table to table to take photographs with the different guests. After that, they made their speeches. I felt happy for both Nad and Jan that his family could turn up for the wedding. Apparently, at first they could not make it but they somehow did in the end, which was good. Then, the cake cutting ceremony followed. It was a sweet looking cake actually with flowers as decorations. Looked different from other typical wedding cakes.
Soon.. it was the moment for me to get up and sing.. urrgh.. I was nervous but not like a total wreck. We got up and started singing. It turned out ok.. no one jeered us off the stage. Haha! I think Jas managed to garner some fans with that performance. She’s good. Well anyways, when I was singing, I kept looking at Nad and Jan.. that helped a lot. Looking at faces who means so much to you.. singing for them.. their song.. soon.. it ended.. thank goodness.. it felt good.
After the song, we went back to our places.. everyone said it was good. So that managed to help me feel slightly better. I don’t think I’ll ever sing in public like that anymore.. haha.. its just not for me. They then gave us our cakes. It was a delicious cake for sure! Yummy! After that came the phototaking sessions. I think it was about 11.30pm before we finally left. Long and tiring day I can tell you.. I got home.. changed and washed up. Checked my emails and went to sleep. It was going to be a loooooong sleep for me.
Sunday 20th June 2004, 0900h. Announcing the arrival of flight MH601 from Kuala Lumpur.. aaaahh.. home at last.. after a 12-hour flight from Amsterdam to KL and a 2-hour transit in KL, we boarded the plane headed to Singapore…home.. sweet.. home.
I hardly slept on both flights.. I tried.. I just couldn’t. I wanted to sleep because I knew I’d have a long and tiring day when I arrive. This is the one time when I badly needed to sleep but I just couldn’t. Well.. the most I slept was prolly for 2 hours. Hardly enough.
We arrived in Singapore, headed home in a taxi.. opened the suitcases and took out all the presents and started handing them out.. we didn’t buy that many presents, mainly because it was just too expensive with the euros and stuff. Well.. also because we couldn’t think of what to buy.. everything seemed so “normal” because we’ve bought some other stuff before in our earlier trip to Europe. In the end we realised, let’s just buy food.. we can never go wrong there. Indeed. Among other things, we also bought a lot of winegums, autodrops (I even drove past the autodrop factory in Holland, courtesy of Thony!), chocolates (especially for daddy!) and some other unique stuff like the “bruidsgebakjes” (little cakes coated with sugar and filled with “spijs” – almond-flavored pastry cream) and “beschuit” (Over there, they usually serve it with little antiseeds covered with a thin layer of sugar – blue and white for baby boy, pink and white for baby girl. Its called “beschuit met muisjes”. “Beschuit” is Dutch rusk and “muisjes” literally means little mice.)
After giving out the presents, I rested for a bit. Everyone seemed happy with their presents. Of course, Wing wanted more.. as always. Then I tried to sleep, just couldn’t. I guess when you’ve passed the point of being too tired, it just gets more difficult to sleep. So I got up and showered to get ready for the wedding rehearsal. Brought all the stuff that I needed for the wedding and headed to Laguna Golf and Country Club to meet Jas – my singing partner whose got an exceptionally wonderful voice.
We arrived at about 2pm and the sound people were not quite ready for us. But as soon as they were, we started practising. Jas’s husband was there too.. he is good with all these musical stuff. So that really helped. I’m the only person who knows nuts about singing in public. The most I’ve done was gone on stage and sang with a bunch of teachers during our last Youth Day celebration in school. That was my one and only singing stage “experience”. So I was nervous.. very nervous. With the jet-lag setting in, I just felt worse and worse. Jas tried to comfort me. She was very sweet, I tell you. She even told me that if I was too scared before the performance, I didn’t have to perform. I felt slightly better. But I wanted to perform. It was for Nad. She’s my best friend and this is HER day. I will perform and there was no question about that.
We stopped rehearsing at 4pm. Nad messaged us to remind us to drink plenty of water and not lose our voices before our big performance. I miss her. Ever since she left for Belgium, we haven’t gotten too much chance to communicate. Of course, we had the occassional chats and emails, but it wasn’t the same. And with her new job and the wedding, she just got busier and busier. She’s achieved so much in such a short time, I’m proud of her. She’s learnt a new language, settled in quite well in her new environment and got a new job (in a foreign country, mind you!).. in a matter of 4 months or so. Amazing!
Well anyways, after the rehearsal, we went our separate ways to get ready. I got back to the country club at 7pm. Tired. I realised I hadn’t eaten all day. I wasn’t hungry – which is bad. I was afraid I will collapse. Urrgh.. suddenly I got super nervous. Will I remember the words? Will I be off-tune?? Arrgh! I went to look for Nad in her room. I saw both Jan and Nad – all ready in their costumes. They both looked great. Nad looked absolutely gorgeous but I could see that she was tired and nervous. I was nervous too. I wanted to stay and be with her but at the same time I wanted to be alone. Maybe I was too tired to be with anyone. I don’t know. I left the room and waited for my family to arrive.
Soon, more and more people started coming in. Well, just like any “typical” Singaporean wedding.. it didn’t start on time. I think it was about 8.15pm or so before the ceremony actually started. The MC welcomed everyone and they showed some photos of the couple which had been taken earlier in the day. Then, Nad and Jan arrived in the ballroom. The kompang (small hand drums) played as they went down the aisle and sat down on the dais. They also performed the pencak silat (an art for self-defence and also a dance form) for the bride and groom. This practice dates a long time back when we had kings and queens. Various performers will present their items to the royalty. Here in this case, the bride and groom becomes like king and queen for the day. Which is why the whole ceremony is designed in a way fit for a king and a queen.
The food soon started arriving. Everyone ate and ate and ate. So did the bride and groom. Food was good. But with every course that appeared, my turn to go on stage got nearer and nearer. After a while, Nad and Jan together with Nad’s parents and Jan’s parents started walking around from table to table to take photographs with the different guests. After that, they made their speeches. I felt happy for both Nad and Jan that his family could turn up for the wedding. Apparently, at first they could not make it but they somehow did in the end, which was good. Then, the cake cutting ceremony followed. It was a sweet looking cake actually with flowers as decorations. Looked different from other typical wedding cakes.
Soon.. it was the moment for me to get up and sing.. urrgh.. I was nervous but not like a total wreck. We got up and started singing. It turned out ok.. no one jeered us off the stage. Haha! I think Jas managed to garner some fans with that performance. She’s good. Well anyways, when I was singing, I kept looking at Nad and Jan.. that helped a lot. Looking at faces who means so much to you.. singing for them.. their song.. soon.. it ended.. thank goodness.. it felt good.
After the song, we went back to our places.. everyone said it was good. So that managed to help me feel slightly better. I don’t think I’ll ever sing in public like that anymore.. haha.. its just not for me. They then gave us our cakes. It was a delicious cake for sure! Yummy! After that came the phototaking sessions. I think it was about 11.30pm before we finally left. Long and tiring day I can tell you.. I got home.. changed and washed up. Checked my emails and went to sleep. It was going to be a loooooong sleep for me.
Well.. i’m a sucker for romantic stories. Anyways, this entry is written for my best friend. She’s getting married. Well actually, almost everyone of my friends are getting married. Another best friend of mine (I have 4 best friends!) will be getting married in September, and she wants me to fly to Indonesia then! I can’t wait 
