See you again soon!

Recently, Da received a text message on his mobile phone from his old friend, SW, asking Da to return his call as soon as possible.

As it turned out, SW dropped the bombshell that he was (finally!) going on a one-way ticket to Perth, Australia. He will be leaving Singapore on 27 December 2008.

Da and SW have known each other since their university days in Curtin University in Perth, Australia in the late 1980s. They were housemates during their university days as well.

SW is married to YC, a lovely lady from Brunei who has Australian citizenship. I remember Da telling me that when SW was in school, SW extended his course study for one more semester so that he could spend more time with YC before he graduated and came back to Singapore. As they say, love knows no barriers and it was no surprise to the friends that SW subsequently married YC and they made their home in Singapore. SW and YC have two sons, AW and EW.

In recent years, SW has talked about moving the entire family to Perth. YC has not given up her Australian citizenship and the two boys have dual citizenship, so it is not a problem for them to "migrate" to Perth. So YC and the boys left first and they have for some time been living in Perth at YC's family home in Leeming. The two boys are also attending school near their home. At that time, SW decided to continue living in Singapore first to tie up loose ends, etc.

SW has now made the decision to join his family in Perth. YC is currently in Singapore, helping SW to pack up (they intend to ship the furniture in their home in Singapore to Perth). Upon their return to / arrival in Perth, they will start their hunt for a piece of land to build their home.

As such, a "farewell party" was held at SW's and YC's home in Sengkang this evening. With the exception of AW and EW (who are currently in Perth), the entire gang (adults and children alike) was present.

When Da and I arrived, we saw bottles of wine and hard liquor on the table. It was an indication of how the night would proceed - plenty of boozing, chatting and enjoying of each other's company.

Da and I brought along 3 bottles of soft drinks.

We also brought along a peanut butter dessert that I had made.

Da's sister (GN) and her family (DT, ST and MT) brought some cold cuts - absolutely delicious!

There was food aplenty! Kentucky Fried Chicken, roast ribs, chicken rice, fried Hokkien mee... the list goes on!

You will not believe the number of packets of snacks that were opened and shared. Ahem! Ahem! I can feel a sore throat coming on! *grin* Ah, but we all had such a wonderful time of fellowship.

Things got a little frisky when the men (WC, DT, etc) decided to play a trick on GK, the son of JK and FW, by grabbing the dear boy (who is the most amazing English educated Ah Beng in the making!) and attempting to dunk his head into the toilet bowl. MT and FK (sister of GK) gleefully accompanied and took photographs.

As you can see from the photograph below, due to the "scuffling", our little photographers (MT and FK) were not able to take a very clear photograph. Our "victim" (GK) sportingly posed for a photograph later (see photograph below) wherein he pretended to dunk his head into the toilet bowl.

SW switched on his DVD player and started playing DVD after DVD. First up - "MAMA MIA"! The children went "yeeeeeee! So old fashioned!" when the adults started singing along to the songs in the movie. SC turned towards me and remarked that only the adults were singing away! How true! haha!

We started out with French red wine. That was followed by dessert wine (that WC and SC brought). Then, SW served more dessert wine, followed by hard liquor! I took a sip of Da's whisky and made a face. Yucky!

With so much alcohol in our system, YC decided to make coffee for the guests.

MT borrowed my camera and started taking photographs of whatever she saw in SW's and YC's home. Hi, SW - is the creature in the photograph below real (ie. dead and stuffed)? It looks real and seems ready to pounce out of your aquarium.

Everyone had an enjoyable time. It has been some time since the entire gang was available to meet up.

Bon voyage, SW and YC! Have a safe flight to Perth on 27 December 2008. Please build your house soon (before springtime 2009!) because the gang intends to descend upon you in Perth. The venue for the next gathering shall be at your new home in Perth!

Take care, SW and YC - we look forward to meeting up with you again. Hugs and kisses to AW and EW!