Disney Dreams

Two weeks ago, Aurelie and Romain told us about their weekend in Disneyland Paris and the new show Disney Dreams when the park is closing for the night. I was so impressed that I convinced Wolfram to drop the luggage after the flight from Stuttgart and rush to the park for the evening.
After a bit of traffic jam on the way back from the airport (Thank you Yann for driving) and a quick change of clothes and shoes, we were on our way to the park.
This trip to Disneyland was sadly disappointing this time. The magic of Disney did not work as well as usual (and it's been 20 years that I visit the park ... time is flying). Several of the attractions were not working which is even more frustrating when you are there for only a few hours. Even more when one of them is "It's a small world".
The mining train was first not working, then re-opened. We queued for 35min which is not that bad especially because we were smart enough to use the second row that nobody was using. We enjoyed the ride until the last part in the mine. BUT then it stopped. We actually got stuck into the dark mine with the brand new fake bats shining on top of us. We ended up being evacuated on foot. I've done this attraction probably 20 times, but this time was the first time I finished on foot.
"It's a small world" was not working when we arrived there at 10:40 and we were told to come back later which was not possible as it turned out that Fantasyland was closing at 10:45 due to the show. Sadly we were given the wrong info which didn't make us happy. Even more because Disneyland without It's a small world is not Disneyland.
"Buzz Lightyear" stopped at some point as well. But that was ok because we could keep on shooting and I scored my best ever. I asked Wolfram to take a picture because no one would believe I scored 78500 points at Buzz.

Despite all of this, the show was worth the trip. It's simply incredible how they managed to create whole show projected on the castle or water wall. It looks like some parts are moving. Here is a video of the show from YouTube. It gives an idea but it's even more powerful when live.

And we beautifully planned a kiss at the photo point of the Pirates of the Caribbean!

A walk into the wild

After the zoo, it was time for something a bit more wild... Wildparadies, an animal park where the animals are in the "wild". Read that they are in the forest in semi-freedom/captivity. They have more space than in a zoo. The environment is more natural as they are in the woods. However, and for the benefit of all, they are still behind fences or in cages. It's just that the space they have is larger than in a zoo.

I was not really convinced by the place for multiple reasons:
- Feeding deers or goats does not really passionate me anymore. But it seems the kids enjoyed it. 

Even though the animals are becoming picky when it comes to the food they are being offered. Some even are a bit aggressive to my taste. They see humans and know they will have food. Therefore they reached over the fence mouth wide open. "Feed me!!!!!"

- In the afternoon, most animals are sleeping. Who could blame them to prefer a nap to entertaining the human visitors. We should have known better since our trip to Camargue.

Impressions of the "wild":

Wilhelma

Today I finally visited the zoo of Stuttgart: Wilhelma. I heard about it for many years now but never had the chance to go there given our visits to Germany were always very court and very busy.
The zoo was originally a private garden for the king Wilhelm (thus the name) and was built in the middle of the 19th century following the popular architecture style of back then. Some of the buildings reminded me a lot of the Queen's gardens in Laeken (Belgium) with very similar green houses.

We spent five hours in the park and covered nearly everything. Well at least the areas that were open or where the animals were there. In winter some animals are cold and prefer to stay inside where it's warm.
Here is a selection of pictures I took today, covering a wide range of creatures.

My favourite: the chameleon that gave us the attitude look (top left)

And a very bored polar bear... maybe even depressed, which can be understood given he was all alone.



Merry Christmas everybody

Joyeux Noël!
Merry Christmas!
Frohe Weihnachten!
...this year from Germany. Now that we are married it was about time we start celebrating Christmas together ;)

To all my family and friends, I think of you today and wish you a jolly Christmas! Enjoy the day!

THANK YOU

THANK YOU everybody for joining us on our wedding day.

THANK YOU even more to those who travelled from far to be there. It's becoming harder and harder to get all of us together, especially family as we master the art of being scattered around the planet. So those rare occasions when we are together are moments I cherish (no, Joy, I'm not crying as I write those words).

THANK YOU to all of you who helped preparing the wedding, who helped during the day itself and/or simply by supporting us. It took quite some time and effort to prepare this day and it would not have been possible without many of you.

Balloons

A surprise was waiting for us as we reached our room for the night: balloons and red hearts everywhere in the room.
Another surprise was waiting for us as we got back to the apartment: a huge "Just married" balloon in our room.

Thanks to the conspirators who went the extra mile to make this day and the following special.

PS: of course we couldn't leave the balloon behind so we took it with us to Germany in the train :)

First wedding gift

Received just after the church.
Thank you Lisa and Nora!

Wedding race

From the moment I entered the church until the opening dance it was a race.
The ceremony passed super fast. The music especially the soprano were really good. We are still not quite sure of what was played but it sounded nice. The readings were beautiful especially because it was family reading. I was frozen for half the time of the ceremony but happy.
Due to the rain we couldn't go outside for the group pictures which we did inside. There was some confusion at the end of the ceremony as we should have walked outside but again, because of the rain we couldn't. People, including us were not sure what to do.
We were congratulated by the people who attended the service and then had some pictures of just the two of us in the church once everybody has left.

We then had a scary ride in the Bentley which was not heated therefore we were cold but the worst was that there was a lot of condensation on the windows. In other words the driver couldn't see much and we felt seriously not safe. Again, I deviated us from the path suggested by the GPS to take a route that would not be blocked with traffic. Once we got to the highway it was better. Still we arrived 25min late for the reception.
The reception passed by super fast. It was a challenge to manage to speak to everyone and get all the family and group pictures done. The catering team was making sure we would always have something to drink and eat. I guess that's because they knew we would barely eat over the dinner.

Suddenly it was dinner time. Prior to our entrance, Alice helped me with removing my vest and veil. In the meantime Joy was making sure people were finding their table.
Again, everything went super fast as we tried to eat and talk to people at all tables and listen the speeches and do the game and maybe enjoy ourselves.

The other stressful moment after the church was the opening dance. That's simply because the two of us are poor dancers, even more when together. Aurelie had given us the advice to change sense of rotation every now and then not to get too dizzy. Given our slow speed, that was unlikely to happen.
Once the opening dance was over, we relaxed and really enjoyed the rest of the party. I was very positively surprised to see so many people dancing. One of our fears was that people would not dance and go to bed at midnight. The DJ did pretty well given the challenge of having to entertain a crowd made of Germans, French, International and three generations.

PS: we received the pictures on Saturday morning. Wolfram is busy with them but these are some from the selection of our photographers. Maybe not perfect but they give a feel of what happened.

Where is the car?

1:30pm, we were ready to go and the car was not there.
My Dad was downstairs checking the street. The rest of us was upstairs stressing.

1:40pm, the driver called. He was stuck in traffic. Hopefully he would be there in 10min... We will be late for the church. The good thing was that they cannot start without us.
We grabbed everything including the bouquet that we nearly forgot and moved to the apartment downstairs so we would be ready to go any time. We also tried to call the people in the church to let them know but no one had their phone on. In theory that's good, but when you need to reach someone to tell the groom not to panic because the bride is late, it's annoying.

1:55pm, the car was there. We, the four girls went down. With the rain we decided to go to the level -1 of the garage so we could climb back up to level 0 and get in the car without being wet. In case you wonder, that parking garage had an elevator on every other level, and all the cars were at level 0, with no elevators.

2pm, four girls are running up the slope of the garage to level 0, in dresses and high heels. That's the one picture of the wedding that no one took because there was no photographers with us at that point. I'm sure it would have been a great one.

2:05pm, I was in the car with my Dad. Getting in the car was a complex exercise as we had to dry the side of the car that was wet. The door of the Bentley was not very wide and I didn't want to make my dress dirty getting in. Both of us were frozen because there was no heating but there was also no time to care about that. Priority was to get to the church.
I had to give directions to the driver as he didn't know the way and the GPS was not the smartest.
No time either to get emotional. We were both very happy and very anxious to get there.

2:15pm, we arrived! The ceremony could start. Well, once some of our colleagues who were late would be inside. Always the same people being late. .

2:20pm, show time. My brother cleared the way. The girls from the procession were in place. I made my entrance with my Dad and we nearly went blind with all the flashes. All I can remember of the first steps was a sea of cameras shooting at us. I could not even see Wolfram which I regret because I really wanted to see his face as I enter. My objective was to make him cry with the dress and I hoped I succeeded.

Getting the girls ready

After a short night of sleep and a solid breakfast, Joy, my Mum and I left the apartment to go to the hairdresser.
In case you wonder, yes, Wolfram saw me that morning. It was just too complex to reshuffle all the people sleeping in the two apartments. This said, as of the moment I left for the hairdresser he would not see me anymore until the church.
We arrived a bit before 9am at the hairdresser where we found Alice almost ready with her hairdo "wild and romantique". It looked really nice on her.
I was up next and it took as many hair pins as on the picture to create my hairdo and attach the veil to it.

Once my hair was done and the veil attached, I went for make-up. I have to say it is really mice to have a professional make-up artist taking care of me. All I had to do was sit and relax, chatting with Joy and Alice, while he was doing his magic.
Around 10:30am, we were done, the three of us looking beautiful... like we never do in our everyday life because it takes too much effort/time/money.
PS: I don't have the pictures yet, but I will share once I have them.

Of course it was raining cats and dogs (or to be more accurate, comme vache qui pisse) on that day. And the weather forecast was not predicting any improvement. I made peace with the bad weather a some point in the car but the hairdresser was very clear. Not a single drop of water should touch my hair.
Alice borrowed the umbrella from the hairdresser to get to her car. From there it was a race under umbrellas to get me and them in the car without the rain getting to our hair or face.

Back at the apartments, I was quarantined upstairs so Wolfram could not see me. My Mum brought us food which we ate in tiny small bites not to damage the make-up. We drank with straws as well.
Soon enough, Jessica and Matthieu, our two photographers were there and they started to immortalize the moments before the church. It did feel weird to "act normally" with two photographers in the room shooting tons of pictures. After a while we got used to them, at least a bit. Obviously talking about shoes and jewelry helped relax the atmosphere in the room.

Around 11:30am Jean-Habib and Roseline were back from the church with the different things from the florist, including my bouquet.
I dispatched the different elements between those for the girls and those for the boys.

With everything ready, all that was left was getting dressed. On that day I had to live the life of someone who cannot get dressed alone. I could make it to the bathroom alone but that was complex exercise. Somehow I couldn't get my head around having someone lifting my skirt so I can use the bathroom. I just could not.
Around 12:30, we started to get me dressed which is quite some sport (ask Alice she will confirm). It starts with the "jupon", followed by a deep dive of the bride in the dress while somehow getting the veil out. Then is buttoning and there were 20+ buttons.

After a series of ackward pictures with me "moving naturally" in the dress, it was time for jewelry. The chain of my pendant was too long and we tried to make nods. Luckily for me, Laura had a shorter one which I could borrow. And there was my something borrowed.
I also had my something new, my something blue and my something old. I was ready.

A bit more effort to add the jacket, also with buttons, and I was ready.
Somehow it was 1:15 and the car would be there shortly. I can't believe it took almost one hour to get me dressed.
But there I was, looking like a bride.

This is it

Almost one year of preparathion for this day.
Everybody has arrived or is on its way.
The dress is hanging in the apartment.
I'm getting my hair done followed by make-up.
This is it.
It's happening.
We are getting married ... And it rains. But like they say in French, mariage pluvieux, mariage heureux.

Rehearsal

The night before the big day, we gathered the people playing an active role at the church and met with Yuko, the organist for a rehearsal of the entrance procession.
If you recall, the aisle of the church is quite short, the music however is quite long, so we needed the right pace.
Franziska and Tatjana were first.
Followed by Joy and Alice
Followed by my Dad and me.
It took three (or maybe four I can't recall exactly) attempts until we had the right pace for each of us.
Once we were done by the procession. the readers also practiced a few line to adjust the level of their voice. While everyone had to speak louder, Jean-Habib on the other hand needed to tune down :)

After the rehearsal we had dinner with almost all the out of town guests and then sleep, for everyone.

Royal hairdresser

For the wedding I decided to go to one of the best hairdressers in Brussels: Maison Roger. It also happens to be the royal hairdresser.

Today as I went there with Alice for the preparation of the hair before the big day, someone with a face I had seen before sat next to her. The hairdresser abandoned Alice to go take care of this person to finalize her brushing.

Guess who it was?

The Princess Claire of Belgium!

Unbelievable. I’ve never sat so close to any royalty.

I can’t believe my hairdo for the wedding will be done by the hairdresser of a princess. Hopefully this means I will look like one tomorrow. Let’s see…

Final steps to the wedding preparation

My family arrived to Belgium and with them the wedding favours. We ordered M&M's with customized text on it. Daad, my aunt, was kind enough to wrap them in the small organza sachets I ordered in advance so we don't have to do it just before the wedding. She did an amazing job and even packed them in Ziploc bag of 20 sachets so it's easier to handle.
Now that I see them in real (vs. via Skype) they look even better than I thought. They also smell very good which is very tempting.

Wolfram picked up all the materials from the printer. And the whole family started putting the table names, name tags and church programs together. Roseline, my godmother, came up with the idea of making a heart with the wire of the programs. That turned out beautiful.

Here we go, 120 programs ready for the church, nicely stored in a basket and in a box, which will be replaced by a basket as soon as the shops are open tomorrow.

Last but not least, Wolfram prepared the sign with the location of each table.

And we are ready, or almost, We piled up everything in a trolley to load the car tomorrow as we go to the castle to bring menus, table names, names tags and other decoration.

4 days to go

4 days to go until the big day.
My parents arrived yesterday. The rest if traveling family and friend will come in in the next three days. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody.
Still a few things to take care of but overall we are nearly ready. Well I hope :)

A fantastic day

Today I escaped from the wedding preparation for a day of spa with Alice, Aurelie and Hilal.
I was treated with a day at Chateau de Limelette, for relaxation. After so many months running around preparing the move and the wedding, taking a day off was really nice. And catching up with the girls even better.
Once we were fully relaxed and refreshed, we went for cocktails and dinner in Brussels. We were joined by Ingrid and Susan for more girls talk.
This was my bachelorette party. No crazy costumes or activities, simply spa and dinner with the girls. I had a great time and at the same time it reminded me very much if what I'm missing the most in Singapore: friends and family.

Thank you Alice for organizing!

7 days to go

7 days to go before the big day.
I'm glad we came back earlier to Belgium because despite all the preparation ahead there a many small things that can only be done on the ground and turn out to be time consuming.
We've been back in Belgium for 4 days and we haven't stopped.
It could also be because we're having
in one week the social life we've missed in the past quarter while being in Singapore. It's good to see all our friends.

Suitcase exchange

My two suitcases got damaged during the trip. I guess the storage conditions were not as comfortable for them than it was for us in the cabin.
A part of the zipper is broken on the biggest one. Given it can still be operated, Air France said that they wouldn't do anything. It happens...
One of the wheels of the medium size was nearly falling down. That on the other hand was deemed to be bad enough to justify compensation.
There were two options:
- get one of the suitcases they have available as replacement
- buy myself a new one and get reimbursed
 I was strongly considering the latter especially when all the luggage available were rigid until they figured out  that for that medium size they did have one non rigid.
It's a bit bigger than the one I had.
It's plain black and probably similar to millions of others. In other words boring.
But it meant walking out of the office with a new suitcase.
I went for simplicity and transferred everything from my suitcase to the new one.
Sometimes it can actually be that simple. Thanks Air France.

When a miracle happens

I get to meet Monika for 15min in the Changi airport. She is on her way back to Belgium from New Zealand.
Life is great when it makes moments like that possible.

Unbelievable 2

We are flying an A380. Look at us!
Sitting in it is already an experience. Let's see how it flies.

Unbelievable

I'm finally flying on an A380!!!
Can't wait to be inside.

Amazing Thai food for only 19.50S$

One last time Thai food before we leave. Actually last time this year.
So cheap it's hard to resist.

Preparation

As I start to pack for the trip to Belgium, I also start mental preparation to a world with 30C less.
I opened section of the wardrobe that have been untouched since the move to grab wool sweaters, coats, gloves and other boots.

It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.
It is not as cold as it looks.

Maybe persuasion will work.

Surprise in the office

Today was my last day in the office for this year. Tomorrow we are flying back to Belgium (and the North Pole that has become Europe).
My whole section went for lunch together after our section meeting. They all nicely accepted to sit on a terrace when I asked because soon enough I will be freezing.
When we came back to the office, Vinay told me he wanted to talk to me and proposed to go to the pantry. As I saw the others converging there I knew they were up to something.
And indeed.

They had prepared a small celebration for our wedding with a pyramid of macarons and a very thoughtful card. I was very touched. I've been part of the Asia team for only three months and they made me feel like I've been there since forever.
We spent some time talking about the different wedding traditions between Europe and Asia and promised to organize a wedding pictures session when I'm back with pictures from India, Japan and Belgium.

I was even more moved when I discovered a voucher for Courts of a quite significant amount (which explains why Samantha asked me three times this week where we are planning to buy our new sofa).
I was really not expecting this from them. I am very lucky you be part of such a caring team.

THANK YOU GUYS!!!!

2 weeks to go

2 weeks
14 days
336 hours
until the big day.

We are almost ready...

Joyeuse Saint-Nicolas

Saint-Nicolas found his way to Singapore !!!!

Merii Kurisumasu

There is no Japanese word to say Merry Christmas. Therefore people simply use the English spelled "Merii Kurisumasu".
If you follow the link and listen to the pronunciation, you will hear "Merry Christmas", slightly twisted with the Japanese accent.
If you pay attention you really hear Merry Christmas. If you don't, you'll feel like me very often at work with some of my new colleagues. I know they speak English, but I am not yet fully familiarized with the accent and my brain interprets it differently.

And while we are on the topic, listen to all the classics in Japanese :)

Christmas decoration on Orchard road

It might not feel like Christmas to me because it's still 25-30C but Christmas has landed in Singapore. It is really weird because despite it's now December and the decoration and music are up everywhere, without the cold it doesn't really feel like Christmas.
Yet.
Next week, when we are back in Belgium, it will hit us, for sure. Assuming we don't freeze to death as we step out of the plane.

Orchard road is worth a visit with every mall trying to beat the other one. The whole street is lighting up at sunset.

Pâté Hénaff in Singapore

During grocery shopping this morning I spotted something familiar in the aisle: tin cans of pâté Hénaff.
I guess they imported some for the Holidays.
Made me smile to see those colorful tin cans.

Virtual Advent calendar

Making up for the distances and probably the challenge of shipping chocolate and candies across the planet, my mum came up with a creative solution this year for the Advent calendar.
My very own virtual Advent calendar that reveals a surprise every day!

Thanks Mom!!!!