If you love a thing, you let it go?

Time was ticking away. I had precisely 9 days left in Cape Town to make the best out of it, and I was determined to not waste any minute of it.  The past few days I've spent seeing the city ofCape Townand all it had to offer, dancing terribly to music with friends, broiling up new things in the kitchen each day, walking through endless miles of markets and just simply seizing the day. Each day seemed to linger on longer than the next, and I was simply "conteno" as they put it.

Toni and I decided to celebrate the end of Thanh's "all work and no play" week with my most favorite activity - baking, of course.  This time I decided to try something different and used Toni's recipe to make a humongous and super fattening chocolate peanut butter torte. All my dead brain cells needed all that sugar to revive themselves. Turned out, it was a great drunk food after we got back from a crazy night of partying and dancing. My best accomplishment of the night: dancing for hours on 7'' heels without breaking my neck, especially when it included dancing on a super slippery granite table (whoever thought of making dancing tables out of granite?). Although after that, Toni and I had a blast pretended to be a lesbian couple to avoid all the random attacking and grasping from guys. What ever happened to gracefully and politely asking a girl to dance with you, instead of just grabbing them? Thanksfully Wes was there to play our "man" of the night. Toni and I also got into an argument/almost-fight with a cab driver, who lied to us, attempted to cheat us, cursed at us and called us "you women with no fucking manners" and that we did not have the right to talk to him that way. Obviously, I flipped out and Toni did her part too. Thanks God Wilson did not get scared of me after witnessing my vicious act. I was in my angry drunk mode, too =.= What a night.

People really got to witness what happened when Nadia and I got bored. After making a trip to the Asian market, Nadia and I filled the kitchen and the fridge with food and dessert. I made Vietnamese spring rolls and dumplings, while Nadia made samosas with four different fillings: corn and cheese, potato, veggie curry and mince. For dessert, we made the chocolate peanut butter torte, orange cupcakes, coconut cupcakes, cinnamon biscuits, apple cinnamon and cranberry muffins, all went perfect with the ice cream that we made Wes bring over. Nadia and I came out with a genius idea to have hotpot, and to introduce Wesley to the notion of an Asian hotpot and I was attempting to sit and laugh at Wes when he tried to use chopsticks during the meal. I went overboard with the mushrooms, as always (now people discovered another obsession of mine). The hotpot was such a hit, and we had so much left over,  that we had another one on Saturday so that Chester, Nadia's boyfriend, could try it to. Spending time with Nadia, Chester and Wesley has always been my favorite. It was relaxing, entertaining and they always made me feel like I was the baby of the group and got super spoiled. Anyways, point of the story: when Thanh and Nadia are bored, we made food, lots of them.

Friday 11/11/11 was celebrated by another one of my crazy idea: finishing 11 drinks and only Nadia would do something as crazy with me. So we did finish 11 drinks to celebrate the day, went home, made samosas and home-made pizza, and passed out. Lol.

                                     

 Monday was Toni's big birthday party. After spending a morning shopping at Canal Walk, Nadia and I headed back to attempt to make Toni as drunk as possible and to play our part of being "the Underworld" in the Beer Pong Olympic. True to self, I sucked at beer pong, and being in the same team with Nadia, who had never played before, meant that we guaranteed our … ultimate loss. We started drinking at 2pm and did not finish until around midnight. In total, among 15 of us, we finished a fridge full of beers, a bottle of Patron, several bottles of Smirnoff and unlimited amount of shots at Pancho's. Even for me, I had ways too many drinks that I had to call it a night around 10pm.

 

Besides spending tons of time with Nadia and Toni at night eating and watching movies, these last few days, I also gave myself some along time exploring Cape Town, whether it was shopping at flea markets, lying on the grass in the park staring at clouds and listening to a local band, or enjoying the hot sun and summer breeze on various beaches. I also took time to go to various studios around town to collect things that I had people specially made for me. Everywhere I went, I got lost. I got lost downtown, I got lost finding my way to the train, got on the wrong train, got on the wrong bus, and so on. Wouldn't be my stories if there was no confusion of direction involved. Sometimes it got quite sketchy and scary, but I was grateful because there had always been people who offered me help. As long as I tried to spend as much time with everyone as possible, I felt that I needed all these moments by myself: to do my own things. There were various things occurred the I could not help but keeping going over in my mind, and I needed time to just relax and think. The feeling of sitting on a crowded train or on a beach, surrounded by strangers, where no one knew your name or who you were has, for some reason, always brought me a peace of mind.  It felt like I was no one in the world, just another ordinary person, and I had no responsibility to fulfill nor expectations to live up to. I could be depressed all I wanted, I could be quiet, I could cry, I could laugh, and no one would ask me any questions, at all. It was my attempt to cope with emotional problems while trying to not let them interfering and spoiling my last few days in Cape Town. 

We were all aware of the little time that we had left, and the fact that the chances of us seeing each other again was slim. "Bittersweet" - that was the word that everyone used. We cherished every moment we had together. I had to juggle spending nights in Nadia's room watching TV shows with her, shopping and exploring with Toni, chatting and eating with Wes, AND finishing making their goodbye gifts without them finding out about it. Yeah, it was a struggle trying to hide the fact that I was making a trillion treats in my kitchen. But mission accomplished, looking at Wes and Nadia's expressions when they received their photo collages and the jar full of sweets was the best feeling in the world. At least I always know that when they see these things, they will think of me.

All of these people had made my last day and night in Cape Town an unforgettable one. Toni and Susan took me on a hike up to Lion's Head and Signal Hill to watch my "last sunset". Four months in Cape Town, and this town could still amaze me with its beauty. Looking at the vast sea, glowing with fire from the setting sun, Table Mountain covered in soft and foaming white clouds, and the city itself twinkling with night lights, made my heart ache. As I took in the scene and breath in the air, all the great moments that I had shared with friends under this blue sky went through my mind - all the laughters, all the joys, all the excitement.

It never hit me how real it was until late that night after the final dinner with Nadia, when I got back to my empty flat that suddenly felt unbearably quiet. It was not the first time I came back to the flat without Megan being there, but somehow it felt different. Wes laughed at me when I said that, but nevertheless, he came over and kept me company for the entire night to make sure that I wasn't being by myself on the last night. I always keep the habit of not sleeping the night before I leave some place, because as people say, "the night feels longer when you have to stay up", I just want to make it last longer.

Regardless of the actual time, it has felt like years. I've gotten to know the place and the people so quickly, and can hardly imagine leaving. It felt unreal. I felt like I was just doing another one of my "adventures" and tomorrow, I would be once again baking with Nadia, shopping with Toni, studying with Spencer, eating with Monica, going to beaches with Susan, and chilling with Wes. Faces, stories, memories are made everyday when you travel. I have done this many times, and I thought I would be used to the feeling, but I am not. Every time I move to a new destination, I am forced to say goodbye and move on forward. As hard as you try to detach myself, you simply cannot help it.

I secretly wished I never had to leave the place nor to forget about it. I've grown attached to and comfortable with the people, and the place. I felt like a part of me has been left behind. Hopefully, the people there will always remember that parts of me, like I will always think of them. For four months, Cape Town has been home, and the people there have been family for me.

Someday, I will be under that blue sky again. Until then, it will always hold a little piece of my heart.

 [az]