And Bas Verkerk is out... not out of the closset, in case you might wonder,and be reassured he's as straight as straight can be, but he is out of the picture for officiating our wedding on te 8th due to commitments in Brussels which he can not affoid.
Well, sorry for him and us, we now have to think of somebody else again, a person which could do the ceremony in a way that would at least for a (big?) part make our day. Suggestions are allways welcome ofcourse...and I keep you posted on who the lucky guy or lady is going to be!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
At the Airport, a misunderstanding .... and to the airport again!
Yesterdaymorning I was waking up early in the morning and I could not sleep anymore, a little bit like now, hehe... because I had to drive to the airport to collect Kik from his China Airlways flight CI65 from Bangkok to Amsterdam.
Being probably too excited about his arrival I could not get back to sleep anymore and so I was running about the house pretty early., again same like this morning :-)
I monitored the arrival of CI65 from Bangkok via the arrivalservice of Schiphol Airport and drove to Schiphol around 8.30, so I would be there if Kik arrived and be there in time in case of any hick-ups at pasport control and/or Customs. Remembring all too well what happened last August, that looked like the right way to do. I knew that if the plane would arrive at the right time, 09.10 am, it would be at least another 30/45 minutes before the first passengers would get trough to the waiting arria where all the other people waiting for arrivals were waiting to collect these 'new' arrivals.
And, I had no idear what happened, but the 12th seemed to be looking like the day everybody was out there to collect someone, so busy it was.
I bought two balloons, one with "Welcome back" on it and one in the shape of a big flower with a yellow smiley....and so my waitinggame of that morning started.... ofcourse first with a "koffie verkeerd" or as one says in English , Italian, etc "Caffe Latte" and from around 9.20 I started to keep check on both sliding doors at arrivalhall no 3... standing on my toes, then looking between all these other people and looking, looking, looking.... and passsengers comming out..... chinese looking, thai looking finally passed trough the slidingdoors, then the crew of China Airlines came out, themn more passengers, but no Kik.
I thought, O No, not again!..... Getting pretty tired, remember I had a short night after several other short nights (one can get excited about something I believe) ... also getting a little bit annoyed not knowing what was wrong, and see all thse happy reunions taking place all around me, the enthousiastic welcoming of all these loved ones by their loved ones....
And there I was, in the middle of that all, with my two balloons, still waiting.
at 10.30 I walked over to the airport informationdesk to inquire, were the guy told me that CI65 would be off the luggage in 7 minutes so give my friend another 15/20 minutes and then the last passengers should have left the area of the luggage arrivals into the arrivalzone... Okay, so I waited till 10.50, No Kik!!
Walked back to tha airport information desk, told them I was waiting for my friend and fiancee to arrive from Thailand and that something must be terribly wrong and if they could ask at pasportcontrol, customs etc, to find out if they were holding a thai nationality with the the name Chaladkid. Very understanding they made , I believe 5 phonecalls to all different stations, but at none of them they were holding a thai nationality, ergo, no Kik. Okay, I thought, up to the departurehall to check with China Airlines... nobody there, grrrrr. A, I saw aphonenumber, I dialed and asked if there had been a Chaladkid on the passsengerlist...after checking twice the answer was rather surprising: No, none!
Not knowing what happend I walked downstairs again contemplating what to do next.
Down the stairs, not far from were I had my cofffee several hours before I saw Wil sitting and just receiving her drink. Wil is one of the two people I meet allmost every saterdaymoring for coffee, tea, hot chocolate in Delft, and we often then also enjoy a small lunch together. She had told me, when I announced that the 12th I could not be present due to Kiks arrival, that she would be at the airport as well, waiitng for her daughter to arrive from South Africa.
She saw me, and quickly asked the waiter to hold and offered me coffee, which by that time I could really need, hehe.
We started chatting, thought I keep her company till she meets up with her daughter, then I say: what the heck, I call him on his mobile in Bangkok, from my mobile here straightaway.
Ring ring ring ring...and a very sleepy voice, unclear answers. "is this Kik?" I ask, a muffeled respons, again I ask "Is this KIk??!!" "Yes, this is Kik, who is this ?" (clearly he didn't look at his screen when answering) I say Rob, waiting for hours at airport for him... but also relieved to know that at least he was okay.
Ofocurse he said I was stupid, because he would arrrive on the 13th not the 12th. But I told him he had said to me he would leave on the 12th, and so I expected him to arrive on the 12th as well..... then some Thai logic: Well, in Thailand you call it the 12th still (no idear when but clearly much later in he night then we are used to here) when you leave at 2.30 am in the morning, though officially its the 13th.
I told him I would talk to him later and hang up, but also relieved that all was inded well, and nothing had happened!
Wil and I had to laugh about this . lets say misunderstanding. Then her daughter appeared in front of her and they were reunited as well...at least one thing that went pretty okay that morning!
We both left for the exit....walking back to my car with those balloons without companion..... lonely for sure but my heart was still excited about Kiks arrrival, though now I had to drive there again and who knows what would be awaiting me then......
well in a couple of hours I know, because again I am up early, unable to get back to sleep again aand in an anticipating mood.
I check my comp, indeed, it is the 13th, hehe, so today all should go perfectly okay ... lets see how okay all will turn out to be!
O, and the balloons, they will await Kiks arrival now at home in Delft. And I will bring only a simple little bunch of sunflowers with me to the airport :-)))))))))
Being probably too excited about his arrival I could not get back to sleep anymore and so I was running about the house pretty early., again same like this morning :-)
I monitored the arrival of CI65 from Bangkok via the arrivalservice of Schiphol Airport and drove to Schiphol around 8.30, so I would be there if Kik arrived and be there in time in case of any hick-ups at pasport control and/or Customs. Remembring all too well what happened last August, that looked like the right way to do. I knew that if the plane would arrive at the right time, 09.10 am, it would be at least another 30/45 minutes before the first passengers would get trough to the waiting arria where all the other people waiting for arrivals were waiting to collect these 'new' arrivals.
And, I had no idear what happened, but the 12th seemed to be looking like the day everybody was out there to collect someone, so busy it was.
I bought two balloons, one with "Welcome back" on it and one in the shape of a big flower with a yellow smiley....and so my waitinggame of that morning started.... ofcourse first with a "koffie verkeerd" or as one says in English , Italian, etc "Caffe Latte" and from around 9.20 I started to keep check on both sliding doors at arrivalhall no 3... standing on my toes, then looking between all these other people and looking, looking, looking.... and passsengers comming out..... chinese looking, thai looking finally passed trough the slidingdoors, then the crew of China Airlines came out, themn more passengers, but no Kik.
I thought, O No, not again!..... Getting pretty tired, remember I had a short night after several other short nights (one can get excited about something I believe) ... also getting a little bit annoyed not knowing what was wrong, and see all thse happy reunions taking place all around me, the enthousiastic welcoming of all these loved ones by their loved ones....
And there I was, in the middle of that all, with my two balloons, still waiting.
at 10.30 I walked over to the airport informationdesk to inquire, were the guy told me that CI65 would be off the luggage in 7 minutes so give my friend another 15/20 minutes and then the last passengers should have left the area of the luggage arrivals into the arrivalzone... Okay, so I waited till 10.50, No Kik!!
Walked back to tha airport information desk, told them I was waiting for my friend and fiancee to arrive from Thailand and that something must be terribly wrong and if they could ask at pasportcontrol, customs etc, to find out if they were holding a thai nationality with the the name Chaladkid. Very understanding they made , I believe 5 phonecalls to all different stations, but at none of them they were holding a thai nationality, ergo, no Kik. Okay, I thought, up to the departurehall to check with China Airlines... nobody there, grrrrr. A, I saw aphonenumber, I dialed and asked if there had been a Chaladkid on the passsengerlist...after checking twice the answer was rather surprising: No, none!
Not knowing what happend I walked downstairs again contemplating what to do next.
Down the stairs, not far from were I had my cofffee several hours before I saw Wil sitting and just receiving her drink. Wil is one of the two people I meet allmost every saterdaymoring for coffee, tea, hot chocolate in Delft, and we often then also enjoy a small lunch together. She had told me, when I announced that the 12th I could not be present due to Kiks arrival, that she would be at the airport as well, waiitng for her daughter to arrive from South Africa.
She saw me, and quickly asked the waiter to hold and offered me coffee, which by that time I could really need, hehe.
We started chatting, thought I keep her company till she meets up with her daughter, then I say: what the heck, I call him on his mobile in Bangkok, from my mobile here straightaway.
Ring ring ring ring...and a very sleepy voice, unclear answers. "is this Kik?" I ask, a muffeled respons, again I ask "Is this KIk??!!" "Yes, this is Kik, who is this ?" (clearly he didn't look at his screen when answering) I say Rob, waiting for hours at airport for him... but also relieved to know that at least he was okay.
Ofocurse he said I was stupid, because he would arrrive on the 13th not the 12th. But I told him he had said to me he would leave on the 12th, and so I expected him to arrive on the 12th as well..... then some Thai logic: Well, in Thailand you call it the 12th still (no idear when but clearly much later in he night then we are used to here) when you leave at 2.30 am in the morning, though officially its the 13th.
I told him I would talk to him later and hang up, but also relieved that all was inded well, and nothing had happened!
Wil and I had to laugh about this . lets say misunderstanding. Then her daughter appeared in front of her and they were reunited as well...at least one thing that went pretty okay that morning!
We both left for the exit....walking back to my car with those balloons without companion..... lonely for sure but my heart was still excited about Kiks arrrival, though now I had to drive there again and who knows what would be awaiting me then......
well in a couple of hours I know, because again I am up early, unable to get back to sleep again aand in an anticipating mood.
I check my comp, indeed, it is the 13th, hehe, so today all should go perfectly okay ... lets see how okay all will turn out to be!
O, and the balloons, they will await Kiks arrival now at home in Delft. And I will bring only a simple little bunch of sunflowers with me to the airport :-)))))))))
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Getting the Jitters... 3 months till W-day!
Picture on the right:
Will he indeed be able to officiate our wedding?
Find out latest the 8th of October ;-)
Or whatever one says in english!
Today its exactly 3 months till our weddingday, on the 8th of October and still so much to do....one wonders what I have been doing these past weeks/months, well mostly thinking about how to organise it, and only taking care of the most necessary items.
Highly necessary to do before Kik arrives in Holland, which will be saterday or roughly 36 hours from now:
- Reserving weddingdate of 8th of October at the citizens affairs desk of the city of Delft;
- Asking the Imigration and Naturalisation Service (IND in Dutch) if they will allow me to marry Kik. They will check if it is not a fake wedding, which you as reader and I ofocurse now it is not;
- Location of marriage, the old Cityhall of Delft. More and more people like to marry on a location of their desire, but this wonderfull 17th century cittyhall is too beautifull to pass over as a location to get married and its high time a Vermeer marries again in Delfts cityhall again anyway;
- We can choose max 4 witnesses, but one witness I had to ask sometime ago allready because otherwise the chance would be to big he wouldn't be able to make himself available again. Due to his high profile at this moment in time I will not reveal his name here now; The other 3 witnesses I will choose together with Kik, because 2 of them will be his, and 2 mine... so we must decide these other 3 together so we both will feel very comfortable with our choices of witnesses (by the way no obligation attached for attending the Thai marriage on the 23d of November). Sadly enough its practically impossible to have relatives and friends of Kik to come all the way from Thailand just for our wedding, hence I find it very important that the witnesses he chooses are more then 100% very pleasing choices for him ( at least his own 2 that is, haha)!;
- shortlist of places to celebrate our wedding, etc.;
- shortlist of possible guys (well ladies, no discrimination intended here) to make a possible recording and photoshoot of the event, so we can take that with us to show our thai relatives as soon as we get to Thailand again;
- a comfi gadget for our guests of the 8th as a token of appreciation as well as a momentum which actually might be usefull for them in the process;
- creating a list of guests, and who I actually allready pre-invited via mail and who I stil have to track down for that;
- a large supplpy of umbrella's in case it rains on the 8th, and thats a risk one runs in October for sure, but ofocurse we all hope for a wonderfull autumnday!!
Not much I know, but then, if all has gone well, our weddingsuits will have bene made in Thaland in a most revealing color, which, when I report about it here wil be more explained... but first I have to know if all went as planned in that area.... if not, a hunt for proper wedddingdresses will have to be added to the list of to-do things.
O, also, were in cityhall we will get married ... depending of how much people intend to atttend ofocurse and what suits the occasion best;-)
And where to cut the weddingcake and how its going to look like .....
Well, these last weeks I felt pretty awfull, being a libra its allready hard to make choices (specially in private matters, in business/volunteerwork I never had or have much trouble with that!) and so much to choose from, so mainly having been busy writing down what needs to be organised and done ;-)
Well, leave it with this little report for now, will get back to all of you soon enough I think ... first saterday I hope to collect Kik after he manages to pass past customs, hehe
take all good care!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Kik's arrival in less then 5 days and 1 - 2 hours!!!
Saterday the 12th of july Kik will land at Amsterdam Airport, also known here as Schiphol and as you can notice in the heading, more or less counting down to that moment in anticipation.
Except that most of the organising of the wedding here in Delft wil take place after he has arrived, as well as my 'moving' to Thailand, I also plan to do some very different things here, hehe
Slowly the dinner engagements are getting lined up for the two of us, also I like to spend some true quality time with Kik and therefor I for one booked tickets for the Bolshoi Ballet... and no, not in Moscow, but here in Amsterdam. They perform once a year abroad, and after New York, and London, the now have Amsterdam on their schedule for 2008, and am so happy that I managed to get tickets for it (also read my blog "mpgsadventures" or Rob's adventures) for their 25th of july performance of Spartacus!
Its the best classsical ballet theatercompany I have ever seen, and I can only hope that they haven's lost anything of their magic and quality I was allowed to wittness in 1985 in Moscow twice!
Can only hope Kik will appreciate it just as much as I expect to do, specially because his proffesion is Thai classical dancing.... and he now will have a "first class' opportunity to compare western classical ballet with Thai classical ballet/dancing.
But more is being planned.... I also hope to have the chance to drive a little circle with Kik trough western Europe. Its the chance to do so, because we are here together for 3 months so one can ask himself when do we have a chance for some serious driving around Europe again? And with all the health problems we both encountered in our lives sofar, one can better go for the opportunity when it presents itself then putting it off till a later year ;-)
Depending on the real time available and ofcourse on input by Kik as well, the route wil be Amsterdam (Gaypride), visiting friends who just moved to Drenthe at Balinge (yea, for the non dutch readers: try to locate that one on the map, haha), then via Hannover to Berlin (hopefully hooking up with some guys we met in Patong Phuket), via Leipzig and Munich, trough Austria/Tirol and via one of the Alpes routes into Italy. If possible Venice, but Verona (if lucky maybe I can finally see their second act of Aida which I allways seem to miss out on due to rain at the end of the 1st act) will for sure be visited, then past the big lakes like Lake Como, and , as we say in Dutch "het Garda meer" around Milan (Kik is not keen on too much cities anyway) to Cannes, Monaco, Nice (the coast route) and then slowly going to the north again.... OR we might continue, depending on the time available, to Zaragossa in Northern Spain where we can visit the Expo and see and learn everything about water. Which could be very instructive for us when I think about the farm in Thailand we will have to take care off one day!!. Well, all in all I want to try to arrive in the midddel of France, between Marmande and Bergerac on the 16th latest 17th to celebrate there the birthday of my oldest friend Alan with his family and some other dear old friends. After which I hope we can proceed trough France up north, via Paris and then back to Holland and Delft.
This little circle trough western Europe I hope will not take more then roughly 3 weeks.... it can be made shorter depending on the time we still need to be decently prepared here for the October events. One advantage: Kik is not that keen on exploring cities, he's far more interested in countryside and nature hence I hope to show him a lot off all that in all its variations we have here in this part of the world.
OK, thats it for now, catch you next time again!!
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