I’ve always liked mekap. Colours fascinates me. To me, make up is like art where the canvas was the skin.
But I have never really been that great at putting on cosmetics. Moreoever, growing up, rarely I felt pretty. I admired my good friend Juli, who was naturally talented in mekap. We were supposed to set up a make over venture together. But now that I’ve migrated to Italy …
Nevertheless, thanks to mekap gurus on youtube totally making me jonesing for mekap, I bought enough mekap to last me for 10 years. It’s just too bad that cosmetics expires in way less than half that.
Interestingly enough, I met with make up artist, Andy Lee, during a Revlon event last year. I told him that I wasn’t good with eye make up. But he was really nice and advised me not to give up and just practise more. That gave me a little bit more confidence to experiment with colours.
While back in Singapore, I’d just slap on my mekap and scoot out of the house. Now I’ve got quite a bit of free time to practise.
Of course the first few times, it doesn’t look all that great. I’m not a patient person and I almost smashed the freaking liquid eyeliner.
But little by little, I think I’m getting better. Nowadays, I really enjoy playing with my colours and I feel very proud of myself when I see that I am starting to get a hang of it.
I did a rainbow eyeshadow look last year, after following this tutorial on youtube. It looked so pretty on her. But it just didn’t look quite right on me. I never knew how to blend properly and for a newbie to try to put on 6 different eyeshadow on an eyelid was surely asking for a disaster.
But just for fun, I tried out another tutorial. And this is how it turned out. Woohoo!
Andy Lee said that I should not put colours under my eyes but heck I’m really loving this! I’d go out with this even. Granted that its not perfect and I still have lots to learn and practise, it does look quite cherful.
This gives me the drive to want to take up a course on cosmetics. Would be a bit tough for someone who is not fluent in Italian though.
But after about a month, cobwebs started to form on the flowers. The flowers itself started to shrivel.
I thought it was best to chop the flowers off. The plant seems to be doing ok, but it looks so sad now!
And some while back, I bought for myself a nice pot of Begonias
It was so pretty. I loved looking at the yellows and greens. They were so cheerful looking.
But for some reason, its not doing too well either. Its starting to be brown and its wilting!
What am I doing wrong?!?!
Did I water too much? Did I water too little? Did I give it too much sun? Did I not give it enough sun? Its seems more complicated than taking care of kittens!
So far in Italy, there are a couple of Asian foodstuff that I could get, such as Thai rice, star anise, coconut milk and others. These are sold in kiosks. There will always be one or two in each market.
Lemongrass and Pandan leaves are among the basic ingredients for Malay food. To me, Nasi Lemak and Ayam Masak Merah doesn’t taste complete without them. And as of now, I have yet to find them here in Rome.
Through friends, Cart found out that there could be a possibility of getting the stuff that we need from a place called Mercato Esquillino.
As Cart and I were a little concerned about searching for parking for the car, we decided to take the subway instead.
A couple of the subways here are interesting. They were painted with so much graffiti that it even looks like an artwork! We dropped down to the Termini station and had a walk.
Going down the street, it is an interesting looking, but rather rough looking area here. A couple of the buildings look dilapilated and just sad. It made me wonder why anyone would live there.
We also passed by quite a number of chinese owned shops selling bags, shoes and clothes.
At length we reached Mercato Esquillino. It was a large place. that was divided into two areas. One for foodstuff and the other was for apparels.
When we entered, I was really surprised at what was in front of me.
I didn’t feel like I was in Rome as I found so many different kiosks with owners of different nationalities selling various types of foodstuff – Items from Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, Africa and others.
I found an Indian man selling Indian spices. I could detect him talking in Tamil to his customers. There were a Chinese lady speaking Italian-accented Mandarin. This was a very interesting place indeed and it was almost ironic that there were only a handful of Caucasian sellers.
After going a few rounds the market, asking for Pandan Leaves and Lemongrass, we were faced with the unfortunate news that there were none. We were advised to try our luck the next time by going there again very early.
We then headed to the other part of the mercato where there were bales of bling cloths, waiting to be made. This reminded me of Geylang and Sultan Mosque Street. Back in Singapore, my seamstress Mum and I would be there every now and then to buy cloth to be made into Baju Kurong.
I felt sad as this will be the first year that I’d be celebrating Hari Raya without the family.
After exploring the market, walking out, one of the first thing that I spotted was this :
As I love Indian food, I nudged Cart to enter. We were both very hungry from our recce. We ordered a plate of rice each with gravy and a couple of fried snacks.
Granted that it was not really what you’d get in Little India in Singapore, it was still decent. It eased the feeling of homesickness a little bit.
Esquilino is an interesting place. Its a bit far for Cart and I to be doing our weekly grocery shopping, but I think that we’ll visit again.
For our quest in search of Lemongrass and Pandan Leaves.
While in Singapore, there is the Great Singapore Sale, in Italy, there is the summer sale. Typically, there will be a 30 – 50% discounts all around.
I was just surfing through Promod one fine day and seriously contemplating to buy some. The only thing that I feared was the infamous Italian Postal delivery being late and asking for more service charge on top of the taxes. My computer took more than 4 months to be delivered.
Imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw that there was a branch at a mall near us. And even more surprising is that Cart wanted us to go out for shopping! I found a pair of Enrico Coveri shoes that I liked and I rummaged through the Promod store for a couple of threads.
For the first couple of months that I was in Rome, it felt as if I stepped back into time in Singapore. This was because of how old the houses here looked like. Cart tells me that, unlike in Singapore, very few houses, if any at all are demolished after 20 years.
Below is a picture of Viale Ignazio Silone, which is about 10 minutes drive from our home. The first time I was here, I was struck at how similar it reminded me of the places where I used to roam. To me, it really looked like Bukit Timah during the early 80’s.
Cart and I live in an apartment just off the fringes of the ring. It’s a typical neighbourhood. And just like my childhood house, it’s rare to see houses beyond 10 stories in Rome. Vehicles park right in front of the houses.
It’s an interesting neighbourhood. Beside our apartment is a church where every weekend, there will be bells ringing and a congregation will be during its mass. And a few minutes of walking, you’ll find yourself in a little park and a pond where ducks will be swimming. It’s relaxing to see them as well as families picnic-ing here.
One of the thing which I notice immediately is that unlike a Singaporean HDB flat, strangers would not be able to enter freely into the housing corridor. This is because of the gate below. Visitors need to press the buzzer to talk to the owner and the owner decides to let them in or not.
My name is Marina. I enjoy the arts, music and a whole multitude of things. I also enjoy exploring new places. As a kid, I had an extremely inquisitive mind and sometimes get myself into trouble by exploring and wandering on my own by getting lost.
Online, I am known as rinaz. Its nothing extraordinary actually, its just a short form for marina’s. Even the cartoon representation of me came out as a fluke, drawing on Macromedia (or is it Adobe now?) Flash on a bored weekend.
Anyway, I am a Singaporean and have been living there most of my life. And life was pretty much ordinary and idyllic. During the weekdays I would go to work and after that meet my good friends, Juli, Hema and Geri every now and then.
It was only till a few years ago when things started to be a little more exciting. After my exhillarating trip to Thailand, I decided to take up my riding license. I started to blog and I explored various 3D communities.
It just opened up my world.
I passed my riding test and acquired a scooter after that. I fell in love with riding my scooter. I experienced places in Singapore that I wouldn’t normally go to – even those which I never realised existed! Whoever knew that there was a goat farm in urban Singapore?
With the blogging and the online community as well as the motoring community, I met people that I enjoyed being with both online and in real life. It was a great feeling, to be a part of something.
Life is pretty good.
I met Cartcart on Secondlife. We fell in love and after a whirlwind long distance romance, exactly four years after we tied the knot online, we got married for real.
A week after that, I migrated to Italy, to live with Cart.
The first few weeks was probably the hardest. It was winter and cold and deary. A huge shock for me, living on the equator for most my life. I didnt speak the language. Save for Cart’s family and friends, I didn’t know anyone here. I felt extremely lonely.
I could not even do the things I used to enjoy doing anymore. Like scootering. And I feel like I’m missing out on a lot back in Singapore. To be completely honest, every now and then, I get depressed.
Its leaving a whole life behind. Something that you’re familiar with, that you’ve nurtured for years. Its an entire culture shock when I arrived in Italy. And the awareness made me feel very very small. I feel like a nobody here.
But I’m trying to be more positive. And I’ve been trying my best to assimilate to the culture and people here. The first 5 months, I undertook the Italian language course. I still suck at speaking Italian, but its a first step.
Me and my multinational classmates in Italian language class
And thanks to facebook, I found a few interesting events that I could go to and meet some people. I even found some Singaporeans here in Rome. Can you believe that?
After all, its a choice that I made, right? Rome isn’t made in a day, and as such, I shouldnt expect to rebuild my life in a snap. It takes time. And effort. Its not easy. But I just have to have faith.
To start off this post, I shall put up a picture of me looking coy and demure 😛
Saturday, 20th December 2008
The day started with a buzz. Even though I spent most my time in my room, I could hear all the excitement going on. With the people helping out with the cooking and the setting up of the décor, I was fretting over everything – will everything be al right?
And not before too long, it was my turn to be busy with the arrival of Kak Lili, my new Mak Andam who was replacing the original make up artist.
Her arrival was exactly like how a royalty’s helper would arrive. She came in with her little assistant and was gentle, calm, friendly and she immediately put me at ease. Suddenly I felt like a permaisuri aided with my dayang. For some reason, I felt as if I was on television because it was so unreal to me.
And we started with my makeover. The style of make-up is thick and a tad dramatic but apparently, good for photography.
And all throughout, Kak Lili was generous with her beauty tips, such as dabbing iced water on your face prior to make up, reduces oil and shine.
We needed to start doing the makeover to fulfil the quota of 10 outfits over the two days. Its an overkill, I know, but it made mum happy.
By this time, DK came over to help set up wireless connection.
I wanted to share the wedding with my friends all over and I was keen to do a livestreaming of the wedding. So time ago, while I was at a Tech65 recording, I casually asked if it were possible to do a wireless connection on the void deck. We had an interesting discussion over it but little did I know that DK would actually come and help out. I was really really touched.
Can you see the cable?
DK took the initiative and bought a very long network cable and from my room on the 9th floor, he plugged one end in my cable and like Rapunzel’s hair, threw the other end to the ground floor.
The handsome and macho DK
And it actually worked! It was amazing. We had wifi! Thank you so much DK! You rock!
By late afternoon, I had a short break from all the makeover. Kak Lili took off all my make up and I headed downstairs for a meal and also to see how things were going on.
I really feel touched to see so many relatives and friends gotong-royong and helping out. A wedding is a lot of work and our family prefers to do most of the preparations ourselves, like the cooking. The groom himself was busy setting up the tables and chairs.
The entire void deck looked transformed – before it looked like this :
And this was after :
The place was not completely ready but it was a big transformation for me nevertheless.
I saw Izah arranging the Cart and Rinaz cupcakes! Cute! Initially, I was supposed to be Izah’s photographer for her blog. Geri kept telling me of how tasty her cakes were and I was intrigued
But the cupcakes was such a last minute idea but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it and I thought that Izah would be perfect. I was lucky that she agreed to the project
Too bad that I did not have a chance to chat a while longer with Izah, but it was time for me to get ready for the dinner reception. Kak Lili was already ready upstairs with two pairs of white dresses.
Kak Lili : This one or that one?
Me : That one! And I want to wear a tiara! The bigger the better! And I will carry that bouquet!
Kak Lili : Ok, ok. Anything to make the queen happy 😛
And then it was time for Cart and I to get down for our dinner reception. By then Cart was already dressed up and looking really smart in his outfit. Kak Lili just did a final touch and slipped a matching flower on his jacket pocket.
When we arrived, there were so many people downstairs already. I saw so many faces of friends, family and relatives. It was so happy-fying to see all of them together, you cant imagine.
There were so many things going on like loads of people wanting to wish their congratulations. There was even a queue for it! It made me extremely amused.
Here Nicole was holding on to the laptop that was used for the livestreaming.
And then it was time to change into another outfit. My Bollywood Princess outfit. I love it! It was just too bad that I did not get a chance to wear this outfit a little longer. I thought that it was beautiful.
All of a sudden, someone took out a light sabre and asked Cart to hold it.
The evening ended with my close friends and relatives doing a blessing ceremony for Cart and me.
Such a beautiful and exciting night. Of course, I did what every bride did at the end of a reception. Which was to pass out on the bed in exhaustion 😛
And I will end this post with a short video of one of the Dikir Barat performance during the wedding. See if you can spot any bloggers that you know in there.
Woke up groggy after sleeping on the floor the entire night as to preserve the henna and the mad rush from the day before – retrieving the rings and having them engraved, last minute buying of gifts for our gift exchange, the dinner with Cart’s family as well as finally getting and preparing my outfit for my solemnization.
That was something that I was extremely angry about. For weeks my mum and I had been trying to contact the Mak Andam for updates on my upcoming solemnization. We’ve booked her months in advance. But as the days grow closer, she did not make any initiative to call us, and when we called her back, there was no reply from her handphone nor her house number.
I was already getting worried. I wanted to know what the deal was and finalize the type of photoshoot that I wanted.
It was only a day before my solemnization was that mum and I were able to get a hold of her. When I arrived at her place, she started to mention that she has been sick and that her house phone was disconnected and that her handphone was spoiled. Which actually was an extremely lame excuse. If she had the initiative, she could have used dozens of other methods to contact my mum or me.
But at the point of time, I was just relieved to have gotten my dress, even failing to notice that she did not adjust the dress to fit me, or even bothered to iron it. But I should have seen the red flags to come.
Regardless, it was Cart and my big day. It was exactly 4 years since we first tied the knot in secondlife and we were to do it for real.
I was feeling very excited. Already there were a bustling of activity outside my room, with the cooking and my family and relatives going about. I kept myself busy with making the room more “bride-like”.
This was my room with the gift exchange. My mum sewed the bedspread and the curtains!
In the afternoon, my good friend Juli arrived to do my make up. It was a pact that we did, back in school for her to do my make-up, I saw so much talent in her when she was doing her make up so I booked her, way before I even met my husband!
Hema was there too, to give moral support on my big day. I’m so happy that my two best friends where there and we had loads of girly fun with the make up and gossiping over things.
And then I was done!
Take a look at the before – totally stoned
And the after – fresh, radiant bride.
But we were hurrying for time and and not too long after, it was already time for my solemnization ceremony. While typically, a Malay solemnization would be held at home, I thought that it would be something special to have it at Assyakirin Mosque.
There were already a number of people there when I arrived. I saw my family and relatives, as well as Mum’s friends who acted as Cart’s side of the family. Cart was already there, sitting at the table across me with my dad, the kadi and the two witnesses.
I was ushered to sit down. Juli and Hema were asked to sit next to me and they were flabbergasted because they did not expect to be my best women and were not dressed up. I didn’t realise that I needed one even)
The kadi started a prayer and then approached me, asking if I agreed to the marriage – which is a final question to ensure that I wasn’t forced into it.
And then it was Cart’s turn.
The Kadi told Cart of his responsibilities as a husband. Then my dad grasped Cart’s hand and gave me away and Cart had to recite the akad nikah and end it with a firm hand shake.
Cart’s beard was very ticklish
And so it was official! Cart and I were officially married! There were a flurry of congratulations, picture taking, video taking … there were so much flash that we were like celebrities with the amount of people asking to take a picture with us.
Here is a short video of our solemnization.
When we reached back home, we had a marhaban singing for us. And after enjoying the music, the first thing that I did as a wife, was to pass out on the bed
The next day, Cart and I headed to Apkim for our Marriage Guidance Course.
In Singapore, it was compulsory for a Muslim couple to undertake the marriage guidance course before marriage, so as to prepare the couple of life after matrimony. Although I’ve already attended in April, Cart hasn’t.
Might as well go again, together this time, for the extra knowledge.
It was a full day course. We were ushered in an office and found that we were the only couple there. I presumed that we would be in a group. There was no where to hide. And I started to feel nervous again.
We were introduced to the marriage councillor and soon after we started our session.
It was a lot different compared to the Marriage Guidance Course at the Assyakirin Mosque. At the mosque, the lessons followed its various modules, while at Apkim, it was more personalized.
Most of the morning was discussed about Cart’s personality and mine. With that, we were adviced on how we would be able to get along with each other in time of conflict.
And later after lunch, we were asked about some basic questions about each other that made me more aware of each other. As well as advices on finance which was a big reason as to why divorces happen as well as the journey that was ahead of us.
At the end of the day, Cart wrote a sort of love letter to me, about how he was looking forward to our life together.
