The Mysterious Parcel
I thought it'd be nice to check my mailbox for unexpected (and expected) birthday mail today, if any that is. And tada, to my sheer delight I received an exciting parcel!
The sender was named "Your Loves!", and for a moment it got me wondering. But "Choa Chu Kang" on the sender's address somehow gave it away, and I kinda thought it'd be my teammates, heh.
And it was indeed! They'd sent the HC tee gotten at MAF, which was really very sweet of them. The postcards they chose also depicted festivals in Singapore, just so to send me snippets of home and make me feel warm and loved. :)
It's such a coincidence too that I was thinking about them just this morning, when I did up the previous post with our team pictures atop. It just feels so heartwarming to know you're remembered, and to discover something exciting in an almost-always-empty mailbox. Thank you my dearest teammates! 我爱你们!
Birthday Surprise at AVM
Coupled with the above, this surprise birthday party has made today so superbly unexpected, eventful and most heartfelt. I never expected Chantale (AIMS buddy coordinator) and Js to plan a mini secret party, not at least sometime so early nor something planned specially for me alone (from what I know previously, we only had a joint celebration for all September babies during the Clear Lake weekend; I'd thought mine'd be at the next upcoming event in end-October)! Nevertheless, it started like this:
I returned home late this evening and Js was noisier than usual, prancing around the house, which I passed off as his probably feeling stressed over midterms. Suddenly, though, he disappeared from home without warning, a behaviour very atypical of him. (But yea, it turned out that he had difficulty containing his excitement, that's why he became kinda hyperactive, hahaha.)
Well, he actually went to the AVM lounge to help with the decor, before reappearing suddenly to "lure" me downstairs. It really sounded fishy though, cos he claimed to be "baking a cake for me in the kitchen downstairs but needed some help" (?!?) Haha.. and I kept thinking if I should change out before heading down, but I didn't want to appear as if I'm overthinking as well..
So yep, upon my arrival the lights flicked on and a whole bunch of buddies and exchange students were there, both closer friends and others who just came to send their well-wishes. And I must admit even though amidst the fishiness I'd expected something to happen, I didn't think it was of such a scale and that there were so many who cared and bothered, even amidst the midterms period! Oh, they did catch me in my pyjamas (i.e. tee + track pants) though, so erm, I went back up to change and they redid the lights-flicking-surprise-shouting thingy all over again, HAHA.
A very cute Winnie the Pooh birthday cake. Presents today included 2 cards, some chapalang Pooh stationery and books amongst others, heh.
I think I look like a little kid in such photos, haha. It's nice that everyone had a go at signing the card and penning their well-wishes, which I find very meaningful and sweet :)
Chantale, the lady behind it all, bringing everything together and making this possible. This pillar was decorated by the Germans - Momo, Marcel and Christian.
From left to right: Sepi (my coffee partner, and she really never takes photos so this's a rare one), Sandy, Adriana, Thalia, Christian, Momo
Clockwise from top right: Germans, Canadians and Mexicans vying against one another for my attention to appear in their photos, haha
My current stash of balloons in the corner
Something interesting about the figurine on my cake - initially everyone was disappointed there wasn't a Winnie the Pooh; Js fiddled with it and accidentally pressed a catch which popped Pooh out from the hunny-pot! Haha. And here's a confession: I'd always had this secret desire to have one of those big big candles on my birthday cake, and here they are! Not to mention, my birthday badge flickers too!
Haha, apart from all the above, I'm just really sporting today too cos they made me do a birthday speech as well as play Truth-or-Truth; people just bombarded me with questions one after another, which I took coolly with utmost composure.
Wini really loves surprises! :D