Engaged, Officially

And so here we are, the final weekend of my Australian trip is ending with my own engagement party. I have successfully put on so much weight during my trip ( you can tell from my photos), clearly I have been having too much fun eating those Australian chips.

We invited Greg’s family and our friends to have a bbq beside Ginnendera lake to celebrate… other than that, we didn’t really plan much else.

I treated myself to go to the farmers market in the morning with Jess and Anita to buy whatever I feel like serving on the party. It also worked out as an excuse because I'm in love with markets! I end up getting some fabulous sugar plums and an amazing bunch of dahlia’s to decorate the table.




It was a chaotic morning to begin with. Our picnic spot had been taken over by someone else, and what’s left is picnic table and bbq in the middle of the sun. The rest of the place are extremely crowded with people too. I got upset and panicky… it took me awhile to convince Greg to move at the state I'm in, but we finally did. It was a bit of a hassle to move everyone, but the place we moved to is very shady and quite. It was worth it.





It was a great BBQ. Greg's dad said grace for us before we begin to eat. Our guests are involved with 3 groups of people. There’s Greg’s family, Greg’s church friends, and my friends. This party had confirmed me of the random collection of friends I have. None of them belonged in a particular set of group, just random people I meet that I somehow get along, and they somehow knew each other from somewhere else. Greg’s friends are the cool people sitting on the picnic rug under the tree looking at my friends going, “What’s up with all the hats?” Haha, I love my friends, they’re all fruitcakes. I’m still trying to get to know Greg’s friends, I guess I’ll have more chance when I move there.





I spent most of the time talking to people I forgot to eat. I sent out invitations with more of ‘sorry I can’t make it’ response than positive ones I thought I’ll only have 10 people on the picnic table with a $200 worth of meat and a bucket-full of fruit juice ice cubes. But in the end I had so many surprises I feel like I’m sitting in a concert with the ‘surprise guests’ turning up. There were friends I haven’t met in years, and friends who had driven up from out of town to be there. It made me so, so happy to have people that I love to be there.

And guess what? All 3 couples that got married in these past weeks had somehow finished their honeymoon and made it to our party.

Mr. Darran and Mrs.Sarah Holder:


Mr.Henry and Mrs.Joanne Halder.


And Mr.Nat and Mrs.Melissa Walker.


One of the highlight there is that we were going to have speeches. I wanted to hide behind Greg the whole time because I was shy… for good reasons. It’s not our wedding day and people already said embarrassing things about me and Greg. I have to say that in this case, Greg’s friends are the better story tellers. My friends had known me waaay too well to be able to blow all my secrets that made me want to dig a hole and hide, and Steve particularly is having difficulty to know when to stop. But all of them made me laugh and some made me want to cry even. My relationship with Greg would’ve been so boring without the people we share our lives with.



At the end of the speech, Greg’s grandma said prayers for both of us, and when she finished it felt like we are now properly engaged.



We took another quick family photo as we might not be together for much longer. I'm leaving for Jakarta the next day, Joanne and Henry are moving to Bangladesh permanently sometime in May and I wouldn't be back again sometime after that. So here's to us!





When the party was almost over, there is one thing left to do…. I have to announce my bridesmaids. This issue had been one thing that had been scaring me for years. Sometimes I even wake up in the middle of the night feeling all worried about it. One time I got so desperate I asked David (who's living in Germany) if he would be my bridesmaid. His response was "Can I say no and still be invited?" I told him that he's allowed only if he brings back a life-size gingerbread man from Germany to my wedding. He liked the idea, and planned to get an extra one way plane ticket for it.

The problem is that, I don’t have a sister or that one particular best friend. But during this trip, I have made the decision, and they will have to know before I leave the country the next day. Greg wanted 3 groomsman, so I picked 3 bridesmaids, and one of them is Caroline. When she told me she’s leaving because she needs to take some people home, I had a little battle inside my head. Should I just email her? Call her via skype? No, no I have to tell her face to face! Ok, how?

“Don’t go yet!”

“Why? ”

“Just, don’t go yet!”

“Do you need help?”

“Yes, I need help!”

O great, now I have to find an excuse for help…. O look, Jess is just sitting on the picnic rug by herself, and Liz vaguely standing behind me! Quick, grab her! I pulled Caroline and Liz and sat them down on the picnic rug where Jess is and said, “Ok you guys, I’ve thought long and hard about this… but… you guys are gonna be my bridesmaids for my wedding… I’ve thought looooong and hard about this… … blab la blaaa….”

Ok, so I couldn’t get over about the ‘long and hard’ thoughts because it was super long and hard to come up with that decision, but all 3 of them were a little too shocked and happy to notice the weight of seriousness in this matter. Jess said, “Wow… that’s a big honor…” Liz was giggling going, “Wow, I’m sooo… happy…!!!” and Caroline was making ambiguous Luis Armstrong sound sort of laughing voice and smiled so crazy it made her face look stupid. Hahaha… I’m laughing my head off as I’m writing this… aaaah… memories…. So, why was I so stress again?



I didn’t realize this, but I picked 3 different people from 3 different era’s of my time in Canberra. I don’t know how well they knew each other, but I’m sure it will all be crazy and fun!



Another highlight of the event is of course, the presents! I have never seen piles and piles of real presents dedicated for my household before. Not since my 6th birthday or something. It’s fun opening them up too. Pillows, towels for two, queen bed sheets, a set of wine glass…. Hm… was that my engagement party or my wedding just happened?

Because I felt nothing but love, love, love and looove...!



This is the triple layered chocolate cake that my friend Prabha made for the party. It disappeared as soon as it was served! Thanks Prabha, it was sooo yummy!

Notice how this post had better pictures than usual? My friend Ben Thomas took all these photos except 2 of them. You can visit his amazing site at:
www.benthomasphotos.com

And so, let the planning begin! =)

Getting Hitched

I am now engaged. My boyfriend Greg asked me to marry him on a hill looking out to the Kintamani mountain in Bali on boxing day.

I think this story is more interesting to be told on his perspective since he did all the work, all I did was wait. I knew he’s going to ask me, but I didn’t know when he’s going to do it or how. He asked my parents permission to marry him on the 24th. It was a bit strange for my parents because back in their day, they didn’t have to get engaged to get married. So when Greg asked my parents permission, my dad thinks that Greg is talking about the wedding,

“When are you thinking of having it?”
“I don’t know, maybe tonight, tomorrow, or the next day.” – so I guess with that sort of answer my dad had figured that he’s talking about something else other than the wedding.
And my mum… hehe… my mum…. She didn’t say anything, but as Greg about to leave the room she said, “Fionna, Fionna, Fionna… Fionna needs to exercise more”- as in... to get fit and skinny for the wedding day.
Anyway, they get it in the end and gave him the permission.

Greg doesn’t have a clue of where he’s going to be for the proposal and because of that his proposal plan is relying on the Christmas present he’s going to give me. The plan is that, I’ll open the present with the question inside it, and when I look back at him he’ll be on his knee with the ring. Rough plan but Ok, it’s good enough for Greg.

The 24th of December arrived, and where are we? We are in my parent’s friend’s Villa in a place called Penyabangan half an hour away from Ubud… practically in the middle of nowhere. Greg’s challenge is to find a nice place to go to in order to give me his ‘Christmas present’. The Villa is an amazing building that looks out to an amazing view of valleys and mountains, but Greg didn’t want to propose in front of everyone so he still need to find a nice place to open the present.

I got sick on Christmas day so I just stayed in bed with a book. I was wondering why Greg kept bugging me, “Let’s go out somewhere, let’s go, let’s go!”. We finally did, but it was already dark by the time we went.

So boxing day is Greg’s last shot, I mean… I haven’t got my Christmas present yet! I was suffering a bit of a Bali belly so I was reluctant to get out, and Greg is stressing out that my illness may well ruin his plan.

We were on our way out to explore the surrounding area with the rental motorbike. We planned together to bring our Christmas presents with us to open. On the way out, I was shaking his present and asked, “Is my ring in there?”
He just said a straight, “No!”
“Oh good… cause if it is I’ll get a bit nervous!”

We started driving South. We drove and drove and found nothing (except that deer in the middle of the road there). At one point I asked again, “Can I open my present now?” Greg was reluctant because the view was not good enough so I let him put it off again. My stomach was feeling bad a couple of times and I kept on asking him if we can drive back home and open the present there. We almost did, but suddenly I felt better and so we started driving up north. We knew that Kintamani mountain is only 20minutes up North, plus we have a map, so we’re safe to go.

Sure enough, we got up there and the view was AMAZING…!!! Though, you know… it’s Bali, so there’s no way we can stop and park at somewhere descent without being approached by people trying to sell us stuff, so we stopped at the side of the road.

Anywaaay… present time…!!!

Looking out at the amazing view of the volcano and the lake in front of us, I opened my present. It was a box, and inside it sits a stem of red rose made out of origami. On the petal of the rose, it said, “Fionna, will you marry me?”. It even has the Indonesian version on the other side saying, “Apa kamu mau menikah dengan saya?”


I was so surprised that I started jumping around and make stupid girly noises like I always do when I get excited. And Greg, who was so keen to see my reaction got distracted and just stared at me that when I looked at him, he’s just still sitting there on the motorbike. I wasn’t 100% sure if that was ‘it’ cause he's just sitting there looking at me. So I said, “Is this it?” He just nodd at me with the maddest smile and I was like, “Where’s the ring?” “Oh, it’s in my pocket!” He got the ring out and it was a single diamond in a simple solitaire white gold band. Of course I love it! I never dreamed of owning a diamond ring, and the thought of being married to Greg is just so HUGE it’s overwhelming, but we’re both are very happy and excited.


Though… ppl still manage to try selling us ‘stuff’ while we’re there, they were like, “honeymoon artwork, this is story of Rama and Sinta… bla, bla, bla…” over and over again. I got so mad I yelled at one guy, “Oh my god! Will you leave us aloooone…!!!” and that scared him off completely.

Driving back down the hill, Greg told me about how he got the ring and how he made the rose, I was very impressed with his work and initiative. He said that the ring was the most expensive thing that he ever bought in his life, and it’s worth it! Oh man, I feel SO loved it's almost unreal! =)

Arriving at the villa, I ran to my parents and told them, “I’m engaged!”. They don’t really know what’s going on, but they were very happy nevertheless. My dad gave me a really big hug and he was like, “So… where’s Greg ring? Are you going to give him one too?”
“No dad, they guy gets the ring for the engagement, and the girl just has to wait… patiently!” =)

Wedding Bells in February

By this December, Greg and I would have been going out for 3 years, which is for us, is an Ok amount of time for not being engaged yet. But apparently, 3 years of waiting is a little bit too long for most of our friends.

It’s only October, but it looks like my Calendar is already full for next year’s February. All these wedding dates are flying at me only in the past couple of weeks, and they all happen to land on February.

Greg’s sister, Joanne is getting married to Henry on the 6th of February. They had been going out for 3 years and the relationship has been striving through a painful long distance since Henry lives, and is from Bangladesh. They met at Bible school in Australia. They’ve been trying to get married for awhile but Henry has been having problems in applying for a VISA to get in the country to get married. Their July 09 wedding is delayed till February 2010.

Our friend Nick is getting married to Anita on that same day. That's a photo of Nick there, the only one I have of himself.... Actually, I don’t really know this couple. I’ve seen Anita around at church years ago but never really had a proper conversation. I don’t even know Nick. When I recently came to Canberra for a visit, Nick randomly appeared to crash my lemon dinner party. It was rather surprising since we don’t even know each other but now I guess I’m entitled to go to his wedding if I wanted to. I think it’s only been a year since they’ve been going out.

This Tuesday at work, what I thought is going to be a boring morning turns out to be quite an eventful one. I checked my Etsy account finding a sale from Melissa’s boyfriend, Nat. He left me a message there saying, “Are you going to be around next year’s February? Wedding bells might be just around the corner!”

I… was… ecstatic!!!

My quiet American friend Melissa had only met Nat a couple of months ago. Mel spent half her life on the computer so it’s nor surprising to hear that they had met through facebook. They finally met in person a couple of months later to find that they couldn’t stay away from each other.

When we met Nat, we immediately thought that he looks, talks, and thinks exactly like Mel. I thought this is kindda creepy, because I always thought that Mel is very unique, but at the same time, this is really cool stuff! I told my German friend, David about this via skype. His response was,

“So… Mel is getting married to herself?”- as if he wasn’t sure of what I just said or something.

“Well... more like the male version of herself.”

The couple is flying over to Boston this November to meet Mel’s parents, and if it all goes smoothly, then just like Nat said, there’ll be an extra wedding bells ringing by February. If they do get married by then, that means they had been going through the whole 3 process of going out, getting engaged and getting married within 9 months.

Half an hour later, I got an email from my friend Sally who is currently living in London with her boyfriend. “Good news! We’re engaged!”

…And apparently that’s not enough ‘good news’ for the week.

Today Greg sent me an sms saying, “I have good news! You better ring me back!” but then I never did cause my phone died and I never get that message. 4 hours later when I turn on my phone and did find out that there is a good news, Greg said to me, “Actually, I can’t tell you about it now cause they rang me back saying that they wanted to let you know themselves.”

…I think I nearly died with curiosity. My imagination ranges from my best friend Lyndell is pregnant to my friend Caroline (who is happily single) is going out with Greg’s cousin (which is just impossible really). It was really killing me! I had to ring Greg and begged him to tell me who's the person involved in this 'good news'. I think Greg took pity on me and have kindly rang the mysterious person and ask them if he can just break the news to me. But instead, they just went, "It's killing her? Good! Tell her we'll ring her on skype by 9pm, otherwise you can tell her"

Gaaargh!

I finally got a call from Skype… slightly past 9pm though. It turns out to be none of all of my guesses. It was one of my really good mate, Fizz who’s been living in Sydney. He is now engaged to his girlfriend, Sarah. He knew me well enough to know he’d get a mad reaction out of me when he break the news. I found myself taking deep breaths and yelled at him over and over again for keeping me in a torturous suspense, “DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!!!”

And guess what? They are getting married at the end of January or February.

So now, I am freaking out. How the hell am I going to get back to Australia this February?!?!?!

And by the way, later in the evening Greg said to me, “Maybe we should get married in February… it seems to be the way to go!”

Visiting David

After the full on exhibition in Frankfurt and a day trip to Paris, I get to visit my German friend David in Stuttgart. We were planning to go for a roadtrip... well... there isn’t really much planning involved and the result is rather chaotic....

I met David in Canberra, Australia. He was a friend of a friend and we got to know each other at a church camp. At the time, I had devised a game of mismatch Bible characters for an ice breaker game. So a person with a ‘Samson’ name tag has to find ‘Delilah’, ‘Mary’ has to find ‘Joseph’, etc.... I had to sign people as they come in and my name tag was ‘whale’ (I had to find my partner Jonah, and yes I know that the fish who swallowed Jonah isn’t exactly a whale). David walked in and said, “Thats a nice name you call yourself.”

David was an exchange linguistic student in Australia at the time. After he finished the exchange program, his rent was expiring and he stayed in me and my housemates flat for a couple of months. David is a bit of a hippie. One Christmas, we were the only 2 people left in Canberra. We celebrate Christmas at the back of his house doing a good ol Ausie BBQ with a bit of metal barrel, bits of coal and gum leaves and wired tray for the sausages to sit on… with hippie-ish music playing in the background.

It was hard for his friends to imagine that he has parents or live in a normal house. We’d like to think of him and his girlfriend living in a forest, inside a semi- perfect, cube-shaped house with triangular roof. His house would be on a tree, filled with old rusty furniture that he got from random garage sales in the closest village. The ladder up to the house would be a single firm knotted rope and his friends would be a variety of wild animals. He would write books on the trials of his life, his travels and a collection of mysteries and contemplations of a living God on an old type-writer. His other activities would be reading, teaching his animal and other hippie friends to speak Pidgin and search rhubarb plants for food.

But as I arrived at the front of his house, I soon discovered that David lives in a normal German house, with normal parents, eats normal German food and brothers who are almost exactly like him.