Whoa whoa whoa!!! What's going on?!?!?! 2 years after not having updated my blog, I've decided to start it back up again ;) However, it will no longer be a blog about just me anymore, it'll be of the adventures of Alex and I around the world :)
Alright, back on topic of engagement... ;) Actually lets start with how Alex and I met and how we got to this point in our relationship :)
The story started back in February of 2010 when Alex was in town for a work trip, she's a swing dancer from Berlin and working as a flight attendant with Lufthansa. She travels the world and plugs in a little bit of swing dancing, if she can find them ;) Well, she came into town and found our group on a Saturday night at Grappa's Cellar (where there's a big band on the first Saturday of each month), latched onto one of the swing dancers and followed them to the next venue. That night I was not with the swing group, instead I was out at a friend's Birthday party when Sinclair (a dancer instructor from Singapore who was in town to teach a workshop) called me up and made sure I met up with them after I was done with the party, because he wanted to party out late that night! I met up with them at Balalaika (a Russian vodka bar/restaurant) around 12 midnight and that's when I met Alex.
Sinclair, Kalai (Sinclair's dance partner), Christina, Alex and I ended up heading to various bars throughout the night and partied until 5 or 6am the next morning. The next night ended up being the same, with the exception that Sinclair went home earlier, as the 4 of us stayed out until 7am. Nothing special actually happened these 2 nights between Alex and I, other than being out and having fun, perhaps some chemistry was brewing here?? She had a flight home the day after, we met up for some coffee and snack like civilized people, then she went on her merry way.
We exchanged a couple of messages on Facebook, wishing each other Happy Birthdays and small talk, but nothing was really developing between the 2 of us. She then contacted me in June to let me know she would be back late June for another work trip!!! We met up the first night she was in town, we went swing dancing then onto a bar to watch the World Cup, met up with some friends and partied the night away. Similar to the last time she was in town, but I made a move to hold her hands this time, we ended the night with a sweet good night kiss and went our separate ways. ;) We met up the next day and I showed her around town a little bit, first we went to Avenue of the Stars, then to Wong Tai Shin temple, followed by the movies where we watched Ip Man - The beginning. We then partied the night away again like the previous night and the rest is history :) Those 2 days were the start of our journey together, after which, she left the next day and didn't return until July :( I would like to state that she was the one who seduced me :P
Plenty of things have happened since then and we saw each other quite often as well, such as meeting her mom in July, swing dancing in Seoul in August, fireworks in HK in October, LA and meeting my parents in October, living in HK for 3 weeks in November/December, visiting Gail in Shanghai during XMas, and living here for 2 weeks in January/February. Yup, January, that's when the proposal took place ;) I had been thinking about it for a few weeks as to how to actually do it, and the idea came to mind how it would be perfect to propose to her at Disneyland HK, I mean come on it's the happiest place on earth!!!
The proposal started when I asked Jen, who works at Disneyland about proposal options, she put me in touch with their guest services department and the discussion stated. After a few email exchanges and phone calls, it was set, I wanted to do it in front of the castle and the best time to do that was in the morning, since they would have it blocked off at night for the fireworks display :)
On 30th January, Alex and I met up with Jen at 10am, we happily strolled inside and went to the City Hall to see guest relations. We went in there and asked for Stitch badges (that was the code for "hey, we're here for the proposal"), Alex was wonderfully oblivious to what was going on, she thought it normal to go in there to ask for badges :P Guest relations recognized us, told us they don't have stitch badges but gave us some stickers and sent us out the door ;) Jen then decided to take off and help check us in at the Disneyland hotel, where we'll be spending the night. Alex and I strolled down main street, took some pictures here and there, especially in front of the castle. We got one of the photographers to take some photos of us in front of the castle, once he was done, Alex turned to start walking through towards the castle, that's when I pull her to turn around, knelt on one knee and popped the question "Will you make me the happiest man in the world at the happiest place on earth?" as I mumbled a little bit... :P The surprised look on her was priceless, she quickly said yes and the photographer happily snapped away!
Jen came out of hiding afterwards and gave us both Mickey ears with our names embroiled in the back. She actually had given my camera to one of the guest relations people, who got the whole thing on video!!! YAY!!! :) We celebrated, cheered, hugged each other, swing danced on Main Street, then went on with our day of celebration in Disneyland! ;) The day was wonderful, running around Disneyland with our ears (we even had a Mickey ear fight), we acted like kids, ate what we wanted and did what we wanted, we went on the buzz lightyear ride 5 times, 5 TIMES!!! For those that are curious, I beat her 4 to 1, heehee :P Our Disneyland celebration ended with the fireworks display at 8pm. After which we proceeded to the hotel, where a bottle of champagne and some flower arrangements were waiting for us. It was all well organized with the help of Derric, Sanny and Jen, who worked on the arrangement the night before and getting it to the hotel and delivered to the room right before we get there. The flowers and champagne came as the 2nd surprise to Alex, it was truly a Magical day at Disneyland :)
