First week in Boston!

Today marks almost the end of the 1st week in Boston. Many changes along the way and many tasks to settle, many meetings to attend and many adaptations to be made. None of these beats the saddening revelation that we have definitely become older, or at least less robust to take the long-haul flight from Singapore to US. Despite the shorter transit (layover in US colloquial terms) time in New York JFK Airport, we couldn't help but succumb to the inevitable "stoning"...

Anyway, back to our arrival in Boston or by this time in more exact geographical terms, MIT Eastgate (E55) Apt 4B. A nice cozy apartment, clean by all standards, just a little bit run-down due to its age I guess. MIT did keep her promise of not giving us any furniture and lighting and so there wasn't any surprises there. Something a bit disappointing could be the dirty glass windows, which make you feel like you are in the LRT with the transition glass windows blurred permanently, but other than that, we must say the view is not too bad for a 4th floor. The famous Charles River is in sight and the pretty Boston cityline (of course not the whole of it) as well. A good consolation is that if you ever want to take the whole city with the river in one go, the penthouse lounge is open to all residents. The first night was spent getting to know our apartment well, literally, as we scrubbed the floors and hugged them to sleep after about 30 hours of traveling.

The next day was extremely fun because since when was spending money not so? We got a mini-van, went to Target, Ikea and Star market, justifying how would we need all sorts of stuff and dumping them into our shopping carts. Little did we know that we really shopped for the entire day. 10.30am - 1pm at Target, 4 - 9pm at Ikea and 9 - 10pm at Star market. Maybe for once, even cy can be tired of shopping...

In case anyone wonders, yup, this was still orientation week. It had been difficult to leave the apartment in a mess and go out for the orientation events, but well, we did so for some of the events. Had a nice walking tour around Harvard, did both our MIT and Harvard IDs and attended the full-fledged HST orientation at the posh Sloan building (which boasts of Fullerton-style bathrooms with black marble tiles). And it's back to assembling furniture, assembling and more assembling, as much as I would like to make it more interesting, driving screws into wood is just driving screws into wood and I would rather fast forward to introduce the finished product of our new home...



And some nice, cozy, romantic pictures of our lovely home...





So that almost marks the end of the first week in Boston, only to be made better with going to Church with Dominique, having good old chinese-cooked rice in Chinatown and lots of Chinese grocery shopping at C-mart near South Station (only 3 stations from our apartment, thank God for that!)

First month!

Many months back, my hubby was inspired to set up a blog because he realized we needed an avenue to store our common memories. After a few months of negligence, I have the honor of cataloging our new beginnings!

Our first month of marriage has been nothing short of bliss and affirmation of our decision made ten months back when he proposed on the cable car (a lost memory here - we neglected to take photos of the life-changing moment, but the confidence and courage with which he asked will always remain vivid in my heart). To those who asked us about the past month with a mischievous wink in their eyes, I'll only say it's been fun being husband and wife ;) It's wonderful to wake up in the mornings next to the one you love so dearly, knowing now you're legally stuck to him (and do not have to travel an hour to meet him!). I was a pretty possessive girlfriend, so it's comforting to see him 24/7.

By the grace of God, our journey towards this marriage has been one that was blessed by many people whom gave us countless prayers, advice and help. No doubt our parents gave us confidence in love and marriage, but being one of the firsts among our peers to wed, I am really amazed that this year in Singapore we gained so many married friends (our church cell!) whom we can talk to and turn to for help. God's timing is impeccable. Not to forget old friends who are ever so excited for us and enthusiastic to help - I term them, the Corned Sardines! (corny, I know, but that's the whole point of the Corns right? ;))

So after a whole month of procrastination, I present to you, a slideshow to our special day on July 19, with a special tribute to all who have rendered us so much help in organizing it.
Also, you will find more photos of the event as well as many group photos (all of downloadable quality - max resolution!) here.

cydc will be travelling to Boston to jumpstart our married life on August 24, 2008. Until then, I'll try to clear my backlog of updating on our honeymoon to Western Aussie and our post-wedding dates!