My What? Oh, My Wife!

Ok, a few things have happened over the last few weeks and I have been at times frantic, excited, in bliss and shocked by the events around me. I have tried numerous times to write, but was busy handling things or just too preoccupied with other things.....(as you will see)...There is a lot going on and these next few posts will be a little out of linear order, so please bear with me.

There is one event that I have been VERY eager to tell everyone for weeks now: I got a haircut and it looks really good...

Ok, ok......actually, that is not entirely true...

In fact, as many of you know, I am now OFFICIALLY MARRIED with the love of my life - Jo, which after some speculation, discussion and creative thinking, is now officially Josephine Chih Super Cool Angelovich. Wow, I am so happy!

REALLY.....

It happened on Wednesday, Oct. 11th, 2006 at 11:00 am. Oct 11th was already an important day in Jo's life since that is when she arrived in England two years ago to study for a year in Canterbury, so we thought it would be cool to have another life-changing event happen on the same day, and so it was.

We have been married for almost a week now and - yeah yeah - ok, it is still the "bliss time" but actually, the only main differences now are we are making more jokes and teasing each other more....Hmmmm.....

Anyway, we got married at the court house in Taichung. It was an interesting experience since it was relatively easy and low key. There were 4 other couples that were married in tandem with us, so it was a group ceremony in a way. We had to have two witnessess and we both chose people whom are important to us: I chose one of my best friends here and a classmate whom I went to Chinese classes with when I was at Tung Hai University 15 years ago (Todd Wertz - hopefully you may meet him), and Jo chose the woman whom unwittingly introduced us in January over a business coffee (Fiona Li).

Basically, I will let you see some pics, and you can get a sense of the time....

Here we are arriving at the courthouse after a frantic attempt to find parking. We were a bit late but so was everyone else.....Nervous? No, no.....haha


Getting the last bit of paperwork done. Not very romantic at this stage, but it gets better....haha.


Well, here we are before the final plunge! The look on Jo's face is priceless.....(Holy ****! What am I doing!)


Here we are before the ceremony alter and in front of the "Double Happiness" Chinese character used especially for weddings (pronounced "Shuang Xi"). And seeing how we are in a modern era, the neon really does add that touch of class, no? Especially with the dragons....


But we were not caring about that at all.....as you can see....


Well, the cliff is approaching! Here we are gathered up at our places with the 4 other couples (some of whom thought they were going out for a quick meal, perhaps - I mean, come on - jeans?!? Anyway, we look damn good, but that is another matter...). The woman in the corner towards the back wearing the red and black outfit, is the judge. We met her before the ceremony to 'confirm' that we wanted to get married and that I would be a good husband and all that.....At the beginning she asked - "Do you know why you are here?" And before I could answer, my friend Todd blurted out - "What, this is not the place you buy a car?" We all laughed and she must have thought "these crazy foreigners....." Anyway, we are excited!


And it is starting......It was all in Chinese and I understood most of it but I must say that it felt like I just kinda signed on the dotted line without reading the fine details....since they used specialized words - but come on, I 'kinda' know what I am getting into.....sigh! haha.....


Before the judge asked each couple their vows and agreement (to buy a car....), she asked us to look at each other and bow to each other.


Ok, by this time, I was officially married! She went around saying "________, do you ..." well you know....in Chinese to each couple. The correct answer was not "I do" as in English, but "Yuen Yin!" (which means "I agree"). This one guy when asked, must have been nervous since he blurted out "Hei! Shi!.......uh,....Yuan Yin!" (which was part Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese.....). When it came to me, I was a little surprised since she asked me in perfect English to which I said "I Do.....Yuan Yin!". And, yes, Jo said the same......Yeah, I guess I am a little happy....

This was the part that we could give each other rings, but we chose to wait and do the proper ring ceremony in the States on Feb 10th. More details coming.....


Well, we passed the first test and were presented with our official paperwork.


Here is a picture of all of us - Todd, The Angelovich's and Fiona... What a great group!


Now.....I present you......Mrs. Jo Angelovich! Or in Chinese, you can call her "An Tai Tai!"
You can tell the smile is a wee bit bigger, right? haha

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Well, I apologize for the delay, but I have been having fun with my new car....I mean wife!...and have been utterly devoted.....to being a great husband (if you want more details, you will have to confirm with Jo yourself....).

Anyway, I look forward to seeing some of you for our Feb 3rd reception here in Taiwan (lots of fun and food) and/or on Feb 10th in New England (at a place yet to be determined).

Holy Cow! We are hitched!

So Cool....!

Jeff & Jo!