The Feelings During and After Cousin Edmund's Wedding

I attended my cousin Edmund's wedding in Kuala Belait, Brunei Darusalam yesterday. It was a happy occasion as another member of the younger generation along my maternal family line had heeded the holy matrimonial call. Cousin Edmund is a bank officer while his wife, Rachel was a civil engineer. She had just submitted her letter of resignation several days before to take up the role of a full-time housewife. If I am not wrong, they had dated each other for six years. I wish them all the best.

I was also glad to have the opportunity to meet up with my relatives including Tatiana and Cousin Andrew(a Croatian Australian of mixed parentage). Despite distinctive differences in religions(catholicism, anglicanism, Islam and Buddhism), we were able to converge for the wedding mass in church joyfully. Shame on some christian relatives who had refused to witness the Islamic matrimony ceremony of a muslim cousin two years back.

The invited three-member-Filipino singing group  was a hit! They made the atmosphere warmer with their great singing. There was an unexpected surprise for me during the ceremony. I spotted some students and ex-students of mine sitting among Rachel's relatives. I sighed and had to admit that the world was narrow indeed. Are we relatives now?! Considering all of them pretended not seeing me,  I did not deign to greet them. Many teenagers these days seem to find saying 'hi' to teachers and older relatives too humbling a gesture.

The whole ceremony was conducted in English. Cousin Suzie, the youngest sister of Edmund from England, did the first scripture reading  very well . Most Chinese who have lived in England and the United States a long time since childhood or teenagehood have a superb reading voice. The priest, however, made a lot of stumbles in both his gospel-reading and sermon, making many of my relatives grimace and exchange looks. I remember him making a gross error in a statement which goes like this: "Without God, nothing is impossible(which should have been: With God, nothing is impossible)". He had also kept pronouncing 'heaven' as 'A-ven to a point that I felt sorry for him.

From Uncle David(Edmund's father)'s expressionless profile look, I could tell that he was not pleased with the priest's error-filled presentation. Poor fellow! It might have been a job well done on his part had one chosen to overlook the weaknesses.

 The mass ended with congratulatory claps amidst clamourous cheers. Many non-christian friends were unaware that making noise is seen as inappropriate in church. Believe me, they really shouted their heads off! Nevertheless, it was a sincere way to show the newly-wed their support and blessings.After the mass and a cheery photo-taking session, we proceeded to a nearby hotel for a poolside tea-party.

 I was dining with Tatiana, cousin Andrew and Hitam(another cousin of mine) at a small table. Being curious to non-Australian cuisines, Andrew seemed to be enjoying the food and desserts more than any one else. He liked sharing any thing he knew on science fiction, controversial drugs for the depressed, gory origins of different ball games(one was on how ancient Chinese played a basketball-lookalike game with decapitated heads!), ciminal psychology(on Nevada girl) and latest technologies with child-like enthusiasm. 

Though having trouble understanding his Aussie English, I enjoyed  being a passive audience. I dared not take part in a more intellectual, analytical discussion due to my narrow scope of reading. Tatiana, being both a proficient speaker of English and an  avid reader, could easily make herself integrated into any topic he brought up . We are both teachers but he is a far more knowledgeable and charismatic one.

Mum, Tatiana and Andrew departed for Sri Begawan City for the night banquet after the tea party. I had to return to Miri with Pa and Sister Anne because we had some important things to attend to. 

I had to make myself mentally-prepared for a potential tempest by Monday. I had smacked some students on an impulse a week before and two education officials as well as a police officer will come and talk to me about it in school. The celebrative mood of the wedding had animated me the first time in my recent days of depression. On our journey back to Miri,  the negative mood welled up in me again.

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I am feeling low now, very, very low.

May God bless Cousin Edmund and his wife Rachel. Lord, help me pull through the coming ordeal .