I was scheduled to make another visit to the red dot island the following week. Having completed my first interviews with both companies I had returned home on Wednesday, 22nd June. The following week, I would make another trip on 30th June, this time in preparation for ROM. Ms. Somewhat had informed me that I needed to be there a day earlier (friday) for the pre-ROM briefing and preparation. And so I was once again prepared to jet set to Singapore. But I will always remember June 29th, just the day before I was to jet-set to Singapore. As I was going about studying my Finance MBA course, as I had been doing all throughout the days, I had gotten a miss call from a Singapore number. I still remember my phone being on silent as I was studying in my room at home. Looking at my blackberry flash, I wondered who from Singapore could have called. This was followed by a text message indicating that I had voice mail. Upon checking my voice mail, I was excited to hear that my former company had gotten back to me and the HR rep had dropped a voice message to call her back.
30 days to Go Part III
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I immediately dialed back and that moment when I got in contact with the HR rep from my former company was the most exciting time. For that was the moment I felt all my worries, my days of being anxious were finally over. I could breathe. It was coming to an end. The news was positive all the way and I was told my HR rep would get back to me on the details of my package. It was a real pure joy to know that I would be reinstated to my former career level, therefore ensuring I would continue where I left off in a sense. I remember just minutes after my call with HR concluded, I wanted to surprise my future wife, Ms Somewhat with the news. Rarely did I call her at work, but I knew this time I just had to tell her over the phone. And I did break the news to a relief and happy sounding future wife. She was just as thrilled as I was and we both were in very high spirits.
The next day, I flew over to Singapore and checked into my hotel. I met up with Ms. Somewhat later and we continued to share the excitement of the news of the day. The next day, we dutifully went to the ROM office at Fort Canning. I remember that morning having Indian breakfast, still feeling excited and anxious at the same time. All these feelings were new to me, I had never experienced them before and going through this period was nothing sure of exhilarating. We finished our ROM preparation and pre-briefing after which I accompanied my future wife as we went over to Raffles City Tower to buy breakfast for her colleagues. Soon after we parted our separate ways and I ended up spending the morning studying at Bugis Junction until it was time to go for mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in the afternoon. I was really surprise to see many turn up for the friday lunch-time mass and it was really encouraging for me to see that. I felt at peace being in the cool air conditioned church in the midst of the blazing afternoon soon.
It was also during this whole day that I waited patiently for the call. Okay maybe I was not very patient as I was really hoping the HR rep would call me back as promised a few days back. Soon after mass I stopped by Fairprice at City Square mall to pick up some makan to take back to the Hotel. I had planned to rest for a while before continuing with my studies. Ms. Somewhat would be busy that day working till late night for her Engineers’ award night.
As it came to the evening and then night, there was still no call and I felt slightly dejected, but decided to try and keep my spirits up. Afterall, we had come so far already in this journey and I just needed some optimism to keep going. Anyway the night ended and the next day Ms. Somewhat had to work in the morning and we met up soon after for lunch. That afternoon, we visited B, one of Ms. Somewhat’s friends who had just delivered and they were celebrating the child’s full moon.
On Sunday, the eve of our registration of marriage, we had gone to the airport to pick up my brother, who would be the witness for our ROM. It was great meeting him at the airport and seeing him after quite sometime. A familiar face. We soon checked into our room and later that evening headed to Astons for steak. It was nice for all 3 of us to share a meal and later that night a relative of ours based in Singapore met us up for supper. We ended up in Newton Circus having nice ice kacang amidst a sultry night.
The next day was the big the day. Our ROM. Although to some it may just be a “registration service”, to me personally it felt a great big deal. Here I was taking the first step towards married life by registering my marriage in a foreign land. Everything that I had hoped, dreamed and worked hard for was going to turn into reality with this first step. In the midst of all the chaotic running around and seeing to my job I had to also mentally prepare myself for this. The ROM event itself was nothing short but successful and eventful. We arrived ahead of time and her parents arrived just soon after us. Adorned with my black suit and a lovely Kate-Middletonesque dress that Ms. Somewhat had picked up, we patiently waited for our appointed time to visit the Registrar officer to solemnize our marriage. Following that, we proceeded to go to Takashimaya for a dim sum post-lunch celebration.
