High on love and puberty By: Mzilikazi Mabaso Part one: Who’s that girl? 15 December 2012. I am standing in front of 140 people. I am singing a German love song that took me two months to master. I am wearing a grey jacket with one sleeve rolled up, brown ¾ pants, black belt, a black t-shirt and brown shoes that were blue on the first day. Who would be dumb enough to do that? Who could this idiot be? Who would be dumb enough to do such madness? Who would want to hear of such madness? My apologies if it is you dear reader but I am talking about some dude I know. I know him very well. The way I know this dude is so alarming, I decided to write about him and say I was him. In fact, cutting a long story short, I am that dude. Are you reading my life story? You wish! This book is a little too thin to be so. Are you reading an inspirational story about living your dreams? No, but if you like such stories, I recommend you go and hire a DVD and look for a title with the name Disney. Not that I’ve seen any of those in my life, yeah right. So you know by now that I am that dude, yet you do not know my name. Personally, I don’t like strangers so I always introduce myself to people I do not know. If the name at the cover of this book is too hard for you to remember, you can call me Mzi, everybody does. This is my love story. Now the trouble for me is to start the story because there are several points I could say are its beginning. Then again, I do not want any time wasted on an unnecessarily long beginning, so we will start with the year 2011. It’s November 2011. Courtney, a friend of mine from my church, invited Nomvelo, my younger sister and I to this summer camp called Rustwoche at Elandsheim in Elandskraal. The camp would take place on the 7th to the 14th of December 2011. From what I gather, it is run by a German. It has some stuff in German going on. So there’ll be Germans, lots of Germans, I think. New language, new friends, a new beginning. Well, maybe not everything is new. To begin with, my church, Durban Evangelical Lutheran Parish (DELP), is a German-based church. So the language won’t be new. A new beginning is just overstating things as for new friends? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? But one thing was certain; these December holidays were going to have a different start. It would be a week where Nomvelo and I were going to get to know our friends, Courtney, Bonga, Luc, Bho, Andile and Lauren. You see, most of them were going to get confirmed and this whole camp was a part of confirmation. Nomvelo and I were already confirmed and this was just going to be a week of discovery in many aspects. In fact the week of discovery begins with a four hour bus trip. We find ourselves with a lot of strangers. Some come from New Germany and were there from its initial point in Pinetown. Others were from Pietermaritzburg and even fewer were from Greytown. Long trip it was indeed but it was one where we acquainted ourselves with those around us on the bus. We arrive to Elandsheim at long last. Now to jump off and see what I have signed up for. We jump off the bus, get our luggage and line up for registration. We then meet up with Mpho, another friend from church and Bonga. They were going to be in the leadership team at this Rustwoche thing. We are then given a welcome by the MC of this camp. You’d think just because it’s a church camp, you get some old man to be the MC. However, it’s a church youth camp so we get a cool dude who has a Justin Bieber hairdo. His words, not mine. His name? Adrian Bunge. He gives a welcome and some interesting icebreakers that bring the whole camp alight. The first one is you have to put one of your shoes in a pile and take a shoe that is not yours and look for its owner. Once that is done you look for your shoe or something like that. After that we got split into groups and had to build a tower out of press tick and raw spaghetti that would have had a better time in my stomach. As we are split into our groups, we find out we must do it in two minutes. In my group, there were a bunch of people who seemed to know what they’re doing so no input was going to come from me and another bunch of us. So I decide to make myself time-keeper and hum one of my songs. The song lasted one minute. As I hum, a girl in a funky hoodie says, “That’s very musical.” I nod and carry on the tune to the end and announce, “One minute left guys!” This puts the team is hassle and I on the other hand look at the name tag of the girl in the funky hoodie. Her name was Nicole. “Whatever.” I think. Why there are so many people named Nicole? Anyways, after a series of icebreakers, I call home, tell my mom and older sister, Nstiki we have arrived and stuff like that. That evening we are welcomed to Rustwoche again by Adrian and told of the rules of the camp. Next thing you know we are given booklets that partake in our cabins every morning. My apologies, I forgot to tell you the setting. Well Elandsheim is a resort with old-school themed buildings and a big bell on the side. It also has beautiful views of mountains and there’s even a church a short distance away. Nice place for a holiday? You bet! They do weddings ad team-building obstacles as well. At this resort that does it all the night had come to us. Monday, we are welcomed to Rustwoche again and the basic programme for the day would be issued. The golden rule was always to listen to the bell at all cost. The Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday schedule was to wake up, Quiet time with hut room leaders (in my case Bonga), breakfast, brass band practice if you were in the brass band, praise and worship, Bible studies, break, Bible studies, lunch, workshops, supper, praise and worship, lights out. Monday went with the schedule mentioned above. The talk on levels of Spiritual faith with Pastor Gilbert was an insightful topic. As for the workshops, well you had a list of things to do and choose from you just had to find your thing. The lists available were Drama, Art, Music, Children’s ministry, Baking and Building. There was also a choir list and I headed for that list immediately. I wanted to do music but they sounded like they needed a instrumentalists, not vocalists. Next thing you know, I am told that choir is not a workshop and I end up in building! This workshop was all about doing physical work and felt like gym for two hours! I should’ve done drama! Oh well! That’s one mistake to learn from. Tuesday, 11, December, 2011. Bonga suggests that Courtney, Nomvelo and I go to Gateway. It was a spaza shop that was just a walk away. We went after lunch and by the time we got there it was 13h30. Since we had nothing better to do, we decide to wait for the shop re-open at 14h00. Bonga and Courtney take pictures of the shop, people and all that Elandskraal had to offer. Amidst the long wait, Bonga spotted someone he recognised. She was a short, brunette and had a good tan. The two started to chat and we learn that they went to dance together, something like that. The girl came with a friend. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big head and was tall. She was striking, really striking and very beautiful. Not only in my eyes, let me tell you dear reader and as we are chatting away, I remember Nomvelo talking about true bearing, Geography and school on a holiday. What do I know of this girl? She is 16 and in grade 10 going on 11 next year. Next thing you know, the shop opens and I’m not bothered by what we buy and we return to Elandsheim. After our return, Luc, Bonga, Courtney, Nomvelo and I sit down and chat. “There are no hot girls in this camp.” I said. “Hawu!” reply my friends. “Look all girls are beautiful, but there are no hot girls, you get what I mean?” “Yes I do.” Replies Nomvelo. She just totally gets me. “But there is one girl who is hot.” I said “That blonde in the yellow top and denim shorts.” I couldn’t help but get a sense of pleasure from my friends as I start to smile. “I’ve never had a girlfriend.” I confess, “But having one wouldn’t be that bad?” The next five minutes are a complete joke. Picture me and my friends all coaching me on how to talk to a girl. This includes a very uncomfortable moment where Nomvelo and I pretend that she is the girl I fancy. We all spot her in the kitchen. Next thing you know, it is show-time. Time to use what I have learned in the last five minutes. “Hurry, she’s in the kitchen.” Said Luc. “Alright, champ let’s do this girl talking thing like a girl talking thing.” Says the voice in my head. “You don’t have to do it, you know?” Said Nomvelo. I ignore what Nomvelo says and go into the kitchen. There was a kitchen duty roster at this camp and clearly the striking blonde was on duty, I knew I would be eating my dinner tonight but I just ignore everyone else in the kitchen and look towards the direction of the striking blonde. I look directly into her eyes and say: “Hello, what is your name?” “I’m Nicole and you?” She replied. “I’m Mzi. I think you have a pretty face.” “Aww, thank you.” She replies.. “I’ve gotta go. My friends are waiting.” “Alright.” Nicole replies. I turn to see if she was out of sight and return to my friends with a look that would have got someone to think I won a boxing match or the world cup of some sort. There is general excitement as Bonga and Luc go to the room for some reason and return with the news that Nicole would like to get to know me. Who knows? Maybe she might give a normal a chance. That’d be great wouldn’t it? Well after dinner, we had praise and worship and I sat behind Nicole. There was a window giving everyone cold air and I helped her close it. The praise and worship goes on and it finishes and I get another chance to talk to her. I approached her, got my girl-talking Batman voice on and said, “Good night.” “Good night.” She replied. I do not remember much of what happened next, but I remember sleeping with a smile on my face.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 12:06:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015