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Monday, August 07, 2006

A cultural experience


Jude with Josh and Christine
Originally uploaded by jyew.
Bridal showers really are a curious phenomenon- they're not conventional in Singapore and nobody I know at home had one. So I went to my first shower yesterday for Christine hosted by her mum & sis, and Josh's mum. It was fun, but I was a little nervous during the days leading up to the party- how does the whole gift registry thing work? Do I get it delivered or do I bring it with me? If I give them a present at the shower, do we still get them another for the wedding? What's the appropriate greeting on a bridal shower card? "Happy Shower!", "Congratulations!", "Good Luck!", "Now You're Clean!"??...

In the end, I got something from their registry delievered to her place- it's a Chrysanthemum Bundt Cake Pan (because everyone who knows Christine knows she is THE domestic baking goddess...) and wrote a message on the card that didn't involve having to decide what the greeting should be. The shower was both really enjoyable, and a rather enlightening cultural experience. I discovered that 1) it's traditional to record down the present that each person has gifted (I think this will be thought of as a little too forward at home- you usually don't want to make these things too obvious); 2) you pass the presents around so everyone can ooh and ahh over how soft a set of towels are, how sparking the new punch bowl is, and marvel at the technical design of that electric fondue set; 3) the bride-to-be isn't supposed to break any of the bows on her gifts. She has to bundle them all together and that's what she'll hold as her bouquet at the wedding rehearsal. If she breaks any bows, that's the number of kids the couple will have. Christine broke two :)

Oh, and we played a game where we all had to guess the answers to a bunch of trivia questions about Josh and Christine, like who had a higher undergrad GPA (Christine), what their Chinese zodiac signs are (Josh- Rabbit; Christine- Horse), and where exactly they first met (Rm 411, School of Information, University of Michigan). Guess who won??? Heehee... Yup, I was rather pleased with myself :) My prize was a jar of jelly beans, which Jude & I have been happily munching on all since yesterday. The dark green ones are gooood...

So all in all, I had fun, and gained new insight into another facet of American culture. More importantly though, it was wonderful to see how blissfully happy Josh and Christine are. We're definitely looking forward to the wedding in October!

4 comments:

A said...

"You're Clean"? I don't get it....

A said...

Did they tell you how they credit Karen Drabenstott for bringing them together?? Mind boggling.

Actually, the writing down who-gave-what stuff is all for the Thank You notes that, knowing Christine, will be fabulous! (Hopefully yours will be made out of brown sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and chocolate chips!)

Anonymous said...

As a participant, I can tell you that it's as awkward for the receivers as for the givers. :) And yeah, you do write it down for the thank you notes, so we can write 40 "thanks for the towels" notes instead of writing "thank you for your gift" notes. Or so I'm told.

You came through with flying colors, anyway, and my stomach and I would like to personally thank you for getting the cake pan, as well as providing Christine and I with a picture of what we might have in a few years, if we're lucky!

Anonymous said...

I've never personally been invited to a wedding shower yet, but it does sound like great fun!