It’s My Birthday, I’ll Get High If I Want To! (Figure of Speech, Mom.) June 1st, 2013.

So training’s over but there’s still a load of us stuck on base for the weekend, and it’s not just any weekend. Oh no.

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY YO’ (Saturday June 1st). Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me…

We’re off work for the weekend, so yesterday (June 1st) we took control of the thuli (our minibus) and drove to the mall, and it was an unexpected luxury to spend my birthday in the midst of civilisation. Our Area Manager Shelagh even bought a cake so that everyone could sing to me on base in the morning! (And throw water over me… tradition, apparently, which I’m not one to disrespect so soaking wet to the mall I went.)
The guys sang Happy Birthday to me in the middle of KFC (and showered me with Coke, again…) and I dragged them to see the new Fast + Furious movie. Birthday girl’s choice, obviously. (Jason Statham anyone?! Mind. Blown.) I had a nice birthday phone call from home, too. Thanks rents!

I had a top day and wouldn’t have spent it any other way, especially since it was the last day I’ll be spending with some of my favourite people in South Africa as no less than TEN of our instructors are going overseas to work for Outward Bound Hong Kong on short-term contracts, leaving this week. So it was a brilliant day tinged with sadness as Hong Kong is stealing away some of my best friends in the company, but it’s ok. Outward Bound HK looks amazing and it’s an incredible travel and job opportunity, so it’s not like I have a leg to stand on in my argument for persuading the guys to stay. I’ve got ‘Hey guys, why don’t you just not go to Hong Kong? Simples, see?’
… It didn’t work.

I left base this morning (June 2nd) after innumerable hugs, high fives and complex perfected handshakes with some of my favourite Outward Bound animals and eventually succumbed to tears because I’m an emotional piece of crap without an ounce of self control. I’m going on leave for some adventures of my own over the next couple of weeks, so when I get back to Outward Bound I’ll have to adjust to the absence of so many familiar faces. But it’s not like I’m never going to come back to SA, so for now I’ve got to put on my big girl pants (as my boss is fond of saying) and suck it up.

Besides, I’m finally free from the shackles of being eighteen. Huzzah!