Dinner with the Ambassador

So, yesterday was the big dinner with the Ambassador of Sweden to Brunei, Mr Pär Ahlberger - and the Swedish Business Delegation.

Us "local Swedes" met at our place first for a drink (or two) since we were living closest to the venue. Arriving to the hotel, we were met by this big PR sign for Sweden - made us a bit homesick:



Me and Maria:


Anna & Fredrik:


When we arrived down at the restaurant, we were met up by the Ambassador who seemed very happy to meet us all, and we exchanged business cards with him and got to have a little chat.



After a short speech (where he described us as "the little but vibrant Swedish community"), we tucked in to the buffet.

We had been discussing in advance, whether or not we thought there would be alcohol provided - I mean, it was a dinner with Swedes involved after all!
Someone thought that bringing our loaded eskys might not be the best idea, but since we weren't trusting that the delegation had thought about (or been allowed?) to bring in their allowance upon arriving that morning; our trusty husbands came up with a sly idea:





They filled up some innocent water bottles with gin, we then ordered some tonic water and could enjoy lovely G&Ts at our table ! (I know, very highschoolish, but, it's Brunei lah!)
There was no alcohol being served, so lucky us! :)

Me and Andrew:


As for mingling, there wasn't really any opportunities to, other than when we were lining up for the buffet - as we were all seated separately (and our little "vibrant group" were on a table of our own).
A few people did approach us and had questions about living in Brunei, most of them had never been here before even though they had been living for years in Singapore. We were a bit like the exotic addition to this dinner, since there is so few of us actually residing here.

We already got the heads up about the next formal visit from Singapore, and got booked up for that dinner in May!
Also the Ambassador came up and talked to us about a few of his ideas, and came up with a few possibilities for us - which could turn into something very interesting in the future!
So, watch this space!