In my matric year I announced that I was off to Varsity College PMB to do a Diploma in International Hotel Management. My dearest friends, who's family resided in Malawi at the time, told me that another friend of theirs was doing exactly the same. I thought little of this at the time and went about finishing off what had actually been a great high school career (in hindsight, of course).
On the second day of Orientation Week at VC, we headed off to Water World in Durban. Yip, I'm that old... uShaka had not even started construction yet!! The most amazing and wonderful Falan and I had some brandy, awfully sneakily hidden in some ice tea bottles and were having a grand time! While taking a break from the water slides and probably chatting up some poor guy or the other, we were just lying on the grass in the sunshine, and I overheard a girl mention that her family were from Malawi (at this stage we had not yet met any class mates). With the brandy dulling what little brain-to-mouth filter I have, I looked her square in the eye and said "You must be Charmaine!" Can you imagine? Just arrived in a new country, knowing no one and some random, tipsy girl knows who you are! If I was her, I would have moved away slowly and pretended not to know what the tactless girl was on about. But not Charmaine. Once she got over the surprise and I explained how I knew who she was, she obviously decided that although a little crazy, I wasn't any sort of psychopathic stalker, and of no real danger to her. And I am so very glad.
I once read that soul mates do not necessarily have to be lovers, and I truly believe that I found my soul mate in Charmaine, who later became known as Sparky (it's a long story). We had so many similarities, but enough differences to make life interesting. Parties were never dull, and study time was serious business, and for two years Falan and I just about lived on the floor of Charmaine's bedroom at 'The Digs.' We become regulars at local pubs and clubs an for a little while the world was ours for the taking, and we took all we could get.
Every time Sparky was set to head back home for holidays we would go out and insist the DJ play 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' as many times as we could and sing along as though we would never see each other again. (side note: sometimes she was going by car or bus, but that was besides the point). Unfortunately the time did come when our next encounter was indefinite, and our world seemed to be coming to an end. We were growing up, getting jobs, moving on. Charms was headed to Zimbabwe, where her family had moved to, as she had a job waiting for her there.
The reason, you see, for this introduction to my friend Charmaine, is that now you know how I ended up on a 24-hour ride in the giant tin can of doom on my way to Zimbabwe. The adventures we had there to be my next post.
Peace.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment