I'm Back and I'm Married

Obviously, I’ve been in a blog hiatus. From the moment I stepped on Philippine soil, I’ve been busy. But happily and excitedly busy preparing for my BIG DAY: My Dream Wedding.

Now, I’m back to my reality – back to work, back to cold England and back to being alone ( well, for the time-being until my dear husband can join me here). Before going home, I thought I’ll have all the time I want with my 5-week holiday but now, looking back, it seemed so short as I would have wanted to spend more time with my family, my in-laws, my friends and previous colleagues and of course my then-boyfriend and now-husband – Zach.

The first week was spent attending to all wedding-related issues such as marriage license application, family planning seminar, pre-nuptial pictorial, make-up trial, gown-fitting and meeting with suppliers and coordinator. It was really amazing that my gown fits me perfectly and didn’t even require any alterations. I was so proud of my mom who did the body measurement while she was here last August; of our designer, Glen Canlas for doing a very excellent princess-like gown; and of course of myself for maintaining my figure for 4 months. Hehe!!! Zach did a great job of choosing our wedding suppliers and coordinator as they are very friendly and professional people. They went an extra mile in extending help to us especially to Zach who was solely doing all the plans and coordination as I was abroad all the time.

After a year...back in each other's arms.:)

In between appointments, Zach and I bonded and pampered ourselves together by going to facial, body scrub, body massage, foot spa, manicure and pedicure, and hot oil treatment for my hair. Towards, the end of the week, we met up with my highschool friends and shared an all-seafood dinner and chatted over coffee afterwards.

At Marina with all-time friends

Catching up over coffee

Kantahan na!!! (Fritz, would you like to share the other mic with us?)

On the second week, we juggled between Manila and Angeles as relatives and family members from abroad started to arrive. After a busy first week, this was kind of breather for us as we have finalized almost everything with our suppliers and we were only dealing with minor things. We even had time to go to the chapel and reception venue for an ocular check and witnessed an ongoing wedding ceremony just so to get a feel of what it will be like on our wedding the following week. We were fortunate that Typhoon Seniang came a week early and did not bother to wait for our big day (unlucky for the couple who married on that day though!).

Working together on our DIY wedding favors. L-R: Auntie Baby, my mom's cousin and the Tres Marias - Auntie Nenet, Nanay and Auntie Darling. They went back home in the Phils just for my wedding. ;-)

The week after, I spent most of the days with my father and my younger sister, Joy, who came home from Qatar. I also took time out to visit my previous colleagues. The rest of our family members and relatives from Bacolod arrived just two days before the wedding and didn’t even waste time to roam almost all the malls in Metro Manila before travelling to Clark on the 16th of December where our wedding will be officiated.

Our BIG DAY started out smoothly (which I will be discussing in detail in the next post) with our make up artist, florist, coordinators and photographers coming in earlier than expected. Friends and relatives started arriving early in our rented Holiday Inn Villa in Mimosa Leisure Park.

It was not a complete rest for us the week after the wedding though. We attended dinners hosted by cousins for our balikbayan relatives, meet up with friends, and frequented the airport to send-off those that flew in for the wedding. Due to the limited time as I was scheduled to go back to London in two weeks time, we cancelled our planned honeymoon and didn’t really have a formal one. Huhu! Guess, we’ll just have to postpone it later when Zach will, hopefully, be coming over here in England.

Christmas Eve was spent with Zach’s family. We went to Midnight Mass and went home for Noche Buena. We hardly slept after as we had an early morning flight to Bacolod to have Christmas Day with my family in the beach.

The following days were spent pigging out with Bacolod’s authentic fresh seafood recipes, La Paz batchoy, cansi, inasal, KBL and others (Oh my! It’ll be a long time before I could taste them again. Huhu!!!), shopping, family gatherings, and meeting friends. On the 30th, my parents prepared a post-wedding lunch buffet at home where neighbors, friends and relatives who were not able to make it to our wedding attended and shared our joys.

Moments of Relaxation:

We welcomed the New Year in Bacolod and it was more of poignant for all of us as we were all missing my dear sisters who were not able to spend the holidays with us. Nevertheless, we still had a merry new year with my little brother, Eugene and nephew, Kyle, enjoying the fireworks and firecrackers and of course having an official new member in the family, Zach!

It was indeed a busy, fun-filled and merry holidays cut short because of me having to return back here. As always, vacation days spent with people close to our hearts are never enough. I guess, I have no other choice but to look forward to my next homecoming to my dear Pinas.

Oh My!!!

Just when i thought I'll have an idle day tomorrow as I have completed my task for this week, I received a mail from our teamleader that I need to complete the databuilds for three network elements based on my reviewed design.

Oh my!!! It should supposedly be a whole week task but he is asking if I can finish it before leaving tomorrow.

Well, I guess it's fine with me. At least, I have something to do than count the minutes of every hour and feel the tickling excitement that is starting to encompass me now.

All Set!!!

Finally, I am done with my packing. It was a bit gruelling for me since there are just so many stuffs to bring with only 23 kilos allowable check-in baggage and only a single hand-carry luggage with dimensions no bigger than 56cm x 45cm x 25cm. Whew!!! It took so long before I finally relented to leave some of my clothes and shoes. Definitely, I can’t leave the pasalubong for the people back home and some items for my BIG DAY!!!

My taxi booking has been confirmed and it will be picking me up tomorrow from my flat at 5:30 in the afternoon for the 45-minute drive to London Heathrow Airport. Hopefully, motorway traffic will not be that bad so I may have enough time to relax before boarding and check out the duty-free shops.

Too bad, I wasn’t able to do my laundry before leaving as planned. It’s not that much anyway and they should wait until the new year before they will be washed. Hehe!!! The kitchen, lounge and my room has been dusted and cleaned except the other room where I am doing my packing. I should remember to do the cleaning tonight as well as dispose whatever is left in the fridge and bring out little rubbish collected in the bin. Most importantly, I need to secure the window and door locks of my flat and car. Not that burglary is rampant in my place but it’s more of peace of mind that I still have my belongings to return back to. Hehe!!! All along, I was thinking of shutting down the main electric switch so as to leave the property safe and conserve energy, but I was informed by my estate agent that I need to keep the heater on its lowest possible temperature just so to air the whole flat and avoid dampness especially at the onset of winter. Well, she should know better than me. Hehe!!!

As for work, I already finished my deliverable for this week and my review is scheduled this afternoon. My boss will be driving down here from Huntingdon in the course of the afternoon solely for my second-half evaluation (you see, he is based in a different office location). So, that leaves me with an unruffled Friday and I would just be counting the hours to keep me occupied.

Just a few more hours….and I’m all set for my departure.

Warszawa!

Warsaw Pact, Warsaw Convention and the Treaty of Warsaw - I just came to know this Polish city from what I used to study during my High School World History Class.

But, I finally came to see and know the city first-hand. I flew in to Warsaw last Tuesday afternoon with some colleagues for the bi-annual technical seminar for our Consulting and Integrating Team. As expected, the flight was delayed and we landed in Poland at 10:30 in the evening. After about 10 minutes of waiting for the blanked-faced Immigration Officer to encode whatever information he found in my passport in his computer and finally approved my entry, we were off to Westin Warsaw , the venue of the seminar.

Palace of Culture and Science - previously known as Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science but was changed at the wake of destalinization.

The foggy view of Warsaw from my hotel window

Jana Pawla II - one of the prime avenues in the heart of Warsaw's business district

The seminar was very informative and an ideal means for knowledge cycle to enable engineers to share and re-use experiences on respective projects thus developing our knowledge. There were three streams with simultaneous sessions and one can choose subjects or topics he/she wants to attend. More interestingly, I got to meet colleagues that I’ve been working with in previous projects and met new ones as well. The whole attendance came from all over Western Europe.

On Wednesday evening, we were brought to a traditional Polish dinner and dance. The restaurant was about 45-minute coach ride from the hotel and located at the outskirts of the city. It was a totally new experience for me as the venue has a barn-like theme with traditional Polish band playing wearing their national costume. It was more like a visit to the past and I truly enjoyed it. Food was delicious and mouth-watering and vodka was overflowing. I just fell in love with their warm wine with a fruity flavour and served in an old-fashioned mug. After dinner, I, together with 20 others, had an attempt of their traditional barn dance with a folk music played by the live band and it involved a caller who instructed the dancers in their dancing. It was pure fun but exhausting with all the jumping and kicking. It seemed that I burned up all my dinner with just a 10-minute dancing. Then the old Polish games went in full swing with lots of cool prizes.

The main entrance of the "barn" where the buffet of authentic Polish dishes and overflowing vodka greeted the guests.

Parlor Game: old-fashioned Polish ski race? It's not as easy as it seems.

Colleagues enjoying the Polish music and dance

With the seminar taking the whole day the next day and the sun setting down quite early, I didn’t have enough time to look around the tourist spots and the shopping centers. But immediately after the closing of the sessions, I grabbed my jacket and ask for the assistance of the hotel attendant to hail a taxi for me and I was off to Warsaw’s Old Town or Stare Miasto. The Old Town was established in the 13th Century and is impressive with its quaint cobblestone streets and unique old architecture. The center of the area is the Old Town Market Square with all the traditional Polish restaurants, cafes and shops. Walking alone around the town gave me a poignant impression of the place on how the Poles survived the German Nazi and Soviet Union invasion. I would have loved to walk further if not for the biting cold. So, after buying some souvenirs and managed to conversed with the limited English of the taxi driver, I was on my way to a modern shopping mall close to the hotel.

Here are some "night" images:

The Royal Castle or Zamek Królewski - the official residence of the Polish Monarchs located at the entrance of the Old Town.

Supposedly, that's the Zygmunt's Column. But the kind gentleman whom i asked the favor of taking my photo just didn't bother taking a shot of the whole monument....just a whole body shot of the pretty lady. hehe!!!

Indeed three days is too short to spend in Warsaw. Given another opportunity, I would gladly go back and get to know more about Poland and its friendly people.

Counting the Days

I’ve been on my tamad mode lately. Maybe, it has something to with the weather that I just want to do nothing and lie down on my bed all day. The days had been rapidly getting shorter and the nights longer and cooler. Things in the office had somehow slowed down a bit that I still can afford to do my latest thing: literally counting the days towards my homecoming.

It’s just less than a month to go and I will board the plane and fly off to Manila. Thinking about it sends shivering feeling in my spine. That’s how excited I am!!! I just can’t wait when I can finally get my hands on even the last parts of organizing our BIG DAY.

Good thing that one heavy burden was eased off my shoulder just before going home. I took my Driving Theory Test last week and thank God, I passed it. I really prepared hard for that exam since I heard from Filipino friends out here that one should really study as it won’t come easy if you are not familiar or doesn’t know what to expect. I just can’t imagine having my holidays back home and still think and study for that exam. At least, it’ll just be practical exam that I’ll take care when I come back in January.

Surely, I am having my bouts with loneliness now that my parents have gone back home. But God is good; He is keeping me occupied for the whole month that I’ll be on my own again. I have a scheduled trip somewhere (and alas! colder!!!) next week and will be away for a number of days. And this, too, is something that is adding to my excitement.

I am just overly excited. I hope things will turn out perfectly and by the way…I just looked up my calendar and it’s just 23 days before I go home. Hehe!!!