(From April 24)
And just like that—your favorite blogger is twenty years
old!! I’ve entered what could be one of the craziest, most exciting, most
transformative decades of my life, but I’ll tell ya, it’s got a lot to live up
to!
This weekend was hilarious and fun and exactly what I
wanted. Yesterday was the day of my birthday celebration, and five friends and
I ventured inland to Franschhoek (or French Corner in Afrikaans) wine country.
Sally, Jenn, Caitlin, Dorothy, Izzy, and I booked tickets for a hop-on, hop-off
wine tram through multiple vineyards tucked away in the mountains. We hopped in
an Uber around 9:30 AM, donned with birthday hats and blowy-whistle things,
courtesy of SalGal. Our tram left the station at 10:45 AM, and we arrived just
a few minutes too late—we watched it pull away with our six empty seats. We
rushed to the ticket stand, waiting for a worker to aid us, but they were
honesty giving a ton of sass for
being less than five minutes late for departure. In my personal opinion, they
were way too uptight, considering
their business depends on people who are willing to start drinking at 11 in the
morning, but whatever. It ended up working out, and we hopped on an “overflow”
tram to our first vineyard, Rickety Bridge. We enjoyed four wine tastings for
only ten rand a person—that comes out to about sixty cents in US currency. Yes—sixty
cents. We were off to a fabulous start.
We then hopped back on the tram with some extremely
obnoxious, very offensive Cape Townians, but we ignored them as we enjoyed the
flawless weather and sunshiney day. Remember, it’s the middle of fall here, so
there’s a slight chill in the air as winter begins to creep up on the country.
Since autumn is actually my favorite season, it was really nice to have my
birthday be a fall birthday for once!
Our next stop was Chamonix, a stunning vineyard with a
roaring fireplace and trees growing through the building. We enjoyed a
delectable, five-star lunch with three bottles of wine between us and some
complementary dessert for the birthday girl.
From there… things start to get a bit fuzzy. We engaged
in another wine tasting, accompanied by a group of Cape Townians that included
another 4/24 birthday person. We celebrated together, and they bought me a
shot, and it was fine and dandy until drama began. I, of course, acquire
rose-colored glasses after a few glasses of rosè, if you get what I mean, so I
was completely unaware of the brewing disaster.
We stumbled back to the wine tram and boarded for our
next vineyard, Dieu Donnes (or something). My group of six began to lose our
composure, as one girl developed an allergic reaction and began sneezing on
other individuals, another attempted to begin a conversation on touchy subjects
with a man at our table, and two others raced down the vineyard rows with one
toppling over after only a few steps. We were beginning our descent into
madness.
We braved the scorn and stares and anger and began our
trip to the final vineyard. Unbeknownst to me, one of the members of our group
had a little incident upon which I shall not elaborate but which did lead to
some yelling and the threat of being kicked off. Meanwhile, I snapchat videoed
myself and Jenn dancing to music, completely unaware of any issues. By the time
we arrived at Maison vineyard, our group had decisively been kicked off of the
wine tour… But I still did not realize there was an issue, and I waltzed into
the vineyard for my complimentary glass of wine. It wasn’t until 15 minutes
later, when Dorothy came to retrieve me that the issue of expulsion dawned on
me. I quickly chugged my final glass and skipped out to meet my friends.
Anyway, suffice it to say, we all got home safely and
soundly, with scarcely a stain that a quick wash won’t take care of. I woke up
this morning to some hilarious videos
and photos that sent our group into peals of laughter.
I celebrated today (my real birthday!) with brunch,
accompanied by four of yesterday’s companions. We experienced profoundly awful
service and decisively adequate food, but the company was superb. Dorothy and I
then rushed home to pick up our host sister, Liyema, to take her to the
aquarium. Though she’d seemed excited the entire week, she lost all enthusiasm
as soon as she entered the Uber. She spoke maybe five words over the next three
hours, and Dorothy and I were pretty bummed that she didn’t show any enthusiasm
at all whatsoever. So, that wasn’t too great, but hey—I still loved the
aquarium, even though I’m 20 now!
Upon arriving back home, Dorothy and I both passed out completely
and enjoyed a nap that was hours long. I also got to speak with my mom and dad
on the phone, which was absolutely lovely and the best birthday present I
received! Our entire program then attended a ceremony dinner to celebrate our
homestay families from both Bo’kaap and Langa. It was slightly awkward,
considering I’m 95% convinced my Bo’kaap homestay mother does not like me (she
insulted/teased me, then didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night), but I
love my Bo’kaap Papa and it was nice to hang out with friends. I didn’t
particularly enjoy having Indian food for my birthday dinner, but I think that
Thursday’s world-class, five-course meal and yesterday’s delicious lunch are my
“real” birthday meals. I’m now home, hanging out and considering the craziness that
I’ll be home, in my own bed, in eight short days.
Wow. I feel like I’ve been gone forever, and I can’t even
begin to imagine what has changed since I’ve been home. I can’t wait to see my
family’s faces and give them giant hugs and kiss my puppies. I think I’ll check
out now, post a birthday Instagram, read my book, and think about how mature I
am now that I’m 20 years old.
Cheers,
Aubrey
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