I had to take a break from packing. I should not be taking
this break, but, ya know, reflection time is important too. I leave tomorrow
for my safari. My last few days in Cape Town have been so full of highs, lows,
emotions, stress, excitement, victory. I finished my last assignment for school
on Thursday, so I am DONE and will officially be an MS(S)W (thanks for the
extra ‘S’ UT, I always hated it) on 18 May! But Thursday was also my last day
at Southern Hemisphere, and that was sad. It was rainy and gloomy. After having
a couple of weeks of summer-like weather, winter returned. It matched my mood
perfectly. I’ll miss that place. Luckily, the people I work with have let me
borrow several things like a sleeping bag, books, pillows, etc. for my trip, so
I’ll have to go by the office and return them before I go!
Friday was a very fun day for me though. I have been getting
a weirdly large amount of sleep lately, accompanied by a lot of bad dreams
associated with leaving, oddly enough. But anyway, I wake up early Friday with
a full day ahead of me – lots of errands to run. First stop, drop my laundry
off. I’m going to miss the laundry lady and the extreme convenience she affords
me for a very low cost. Then, instead of heading straight to my next stop, I go
to my favorite coffee house just up the road, Truth. I get a flat white and
decide I may as well get one of those pastries sitting out on the counter,
calling my name and asking nicely for me to eat them. I pick a buttery, almond
croissant and nearly die from fat and happiness as I read the paper and enjoy
my goodies. Then its off to the pharmacy to get malaria meds which cost TOO
much money! I was going to shrug off getting them at all, but my coworkers
bothered me enough about it and everyone seemed to know someone who’s caught
malaria (self included) so I decided to go for it. That sets me back about an
hour waiting and $100. Whatever, just put it on the credit card and deal with
it later.
Next up, Woolworths to spend the R 250 gift card Southern
Hemisphere gave me. YAY! I walk downtown to the big Woolies and have a blast
picking through the racks. I collect quite a stack of things before going back
to the fitting room to take an inordinate amount of time figuring out what to
buy. It comes down to these amaaazing jegging capri things that cinch at the
bottom of the leg and a nice ecru peasant-style blouse that I can wear just
about anywhere. After much ado, I decide I must have both of them because when
the heck will I ever shop at Woolies again?? So that comes out to R 625 (oops),
but the gift card brings it down to R 375 and I end up spending about $20 per
piece. Not bad! I leave the store very pleased.
As I’m walking to the post office, I think about how fun
life would be if I didn’t have to work and I could just run errands around Cape
Town all day. Its even beautiful and fun in crappy weather. I will miss very
much walking around this city.
After posting some mail, I go back to St. George’s
pedestrian mall looking for this beauty salon Alison raves about. She went
there to get her eyelashes tinted and it was only R 40, so I decided I would
see what this was all about. Mostly because I will be on safari for a month and
not wearing make up and maybe this would make me look like I have on mascara in
my photos. Also because I’m just curious as to how they dye your eyelashes. I
go in and lay on a table in the spa while she puts these big cotton pads under
my eyes and then smear stuff on my lashes. Wait 15 minutes. Then she comes and
smears the stuff off. It burns. She gives me eye drops. Tah-dah, now I have
blacker eyelashes! It drove me nuts laying there while it set, my eyes didn’t
know what to do. You can’t even see it well on me because my lashes are pretty
dark anyway. Oh well, it was an interesting and cheap experiment (would’ve cost
a lot more at home).
My last stop of the afternoon (besides picking up the
laundry) is to Charly’s Bakery to buy something for my roommate, Biva’s 21st
birthday. Its this famous bakery in my neighborhood that everyone loves to go
to and take pictures of things they make because everything is ridiculously
cute. The building is pink and looks like a unicorn threw up on it because
there are rainbows and flowers and hearts and stuff everywhere. And no kidding
their tagline is “Mucking Afazing Cakes.” Bunch of hippies. I can’t find any
cute birthday-specific cupcakes so I settle on buying this cute cookie shaped
and iced to look like a cupcake. That’ll do. Then I get the heck out of rainbow
unicorn barf land. As I’m walking home, I realize I live in such a cool
neighborhood. Not obviously cool to the passerby, but hidden cool. I wish I
would’ve explored it more.
The rest of my day, I clean, pack, cook, etc. Then Biva
comes home and we get ready to go out. We have planned a BIG celebration for
her birthday and my last night out in Cape Town. We’ve been meaning to go to
this club called Tiger Tiger because everyone says it’s the greatest, but its
all the way out in a suburb called Claremont. Why you ask? Well because that’s
where UCT is and so all the hip young folk have easy access to Tiger. So we
never felt like making the trek out there, but tonight is a special occasion!
We both wear black and gold. She wears these crazy shiny gold shorts and I wear
this ridiculous gold sequins cape thing I bought for New Years last year. Oh
yea, we look good. We drink pink champagne and eat the cupcake thing and then
hit the club.
Oh my gosh, it is a wonderland! WHY have I never gone out in
Claremont before? Good music, cool space, and gorgeous boys everywhere!! I won’t
bore you with the details, but I did meet one who was in the X Games once.
Hahaha, the best. Unfortunately, Tiger closes at 2, at which point I expect we
will go home. But the birthday girl is feeling way too good, as she should, and
wants to go to Stones across the street. She walks up to the front of the line
and somehow talks the bouncer into letting all seven of us in our group into
Stones without paying cover. Winning. Then we stay there until I get hungry and
want to go eat, so me and X Games boy and his friends go to this magical gas
station down the road that has a late night bakery and a Steers (nasty fast food,
not worth mentioning really). WHY is Claremont endlessly amazing??! So we stuff
our faces with mini pizzas, spinach and feta focaccia, chicken and herb roll
things, and jelly tots until its 4:30 in the morning and we all just clearly
need to go home. Thus ending a beautiful
night.
I wake up this morning to the sound of cheers outside, who
knows what that’s about, then look at my phone and see its 11am already! AHHH
Home Affairs closes at noon and I HAVE to go there to get my visa today. Last
chance! I shoot out of bed and clobber a bowl of Frosties while getting “dressed”
(if you can count putting on sweatpants) then race to the office. Luckily,
Saturdays is collection day only so its like Home Affairs light and I only have
to wait about half an hour. When I get up to the counter, I am shocked, amazed,
and thrilled that the guy actually has my visa and sticks it into my passport.
Hooray! I’m not an illegal alien anymore!
Then I go to the blend and have a delicious omelette by
myself and reflect on Cape Town and leaving and just think a lot until I’ve
cleaned my plate. Afterward I go home and apply for my first real, full-time
job. Wish me luck there folks! And I promise myself I won’t stress about it
while I’m in the middle of Africa enjoying life and creation and stuff. Now I’m
here. Getting closer and closer to go time. Not packing, but desperately
needing to. So I better get up and go ya’ll. This will be my last post. Ew I
didn’t want to say that. Maybe I’ll do a bonus post of some safari adventures
or my real last weekend in Cape Town in June. Eee!
Signing off for now, much love!
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