Day 52

It’s Saturday and we can stay in bed a little bit longer… around 8 am I choose what I want to wear (shorts and a white shirt) and then go for shower.

The other day I saw a funeral here in HCMC and when they walk the streets it looks like a parade with many colors and drums. The people closest to the family are the only ones allowed to dress white and have a white ribbon on their heads… guess when I woke up today and chose what to wear I was predicting nothing good…

After Xuan went to get the breakfast for Thach Thao and Phuc I went to check my Portuguese phone and received a very sad news: a friend of mine had passed away the day before and today was the funeral. It was a shock! 3 months ago I had meet him in the mall and he seemed perfectly fine… his birthday was in 6 days… he had my age…

I felt helpless and so I cried. I cried because he was my friend, I cried because he was too young, I cried because the way a received the news, I cried because it was unfair and I didn’t know what took him from us…

When Xuan comes back I go downstairs and tell her I’m no condition to go to the nail salon and practice and learn and explain her the reason why and I tart crying and she also started crying. She didn’t know my friend but she is very sensible and she saw I was in pain and so she cried for me and for him…

We still need to go for breakfast so Carlos and Xuan hop on the motorbike and call a motorbike taxi for me; this was a first one for me. We go to Phò Lé and we eat phò bó, 2 eggs each and drink iced tea. When leaving Phò Lé the three of us hop on the motorbike and ride it until the big crossroad with police and it’s where I hop off, cross the crossroad and little bit further I hop on again. They leave me at the coffee shop and go get Thach Thao and Phuc.

I seat at a table and order a cà phê sữa đá for me and just wait for them to arrive. Many thoughts run through my mind and tears come to my eyes again but I’m in public surrounded by people who doesn’t know me and that already think I’m weird enough with my long nose and my tattoos… so lets swept it away!

Carlos, Xuan and the kids arrive and we change table as where I was everyone was smoking and that’s not good for the kids. Thach Thao and Phuc make me laugh because they’re lovely kids and they don’t need much to play and be happy. At the coffee shop if you give them a couple of colored straws they’ll create all kind of funny stuff to do with it.

It’s time to get home so while they go on the motorbike, I go walking, as I need to clear my mind. I feel numb and don’t even react to anything. I arrive home and I didn’t even noticed the time go by… I go to my room and watch a couple of TV shows in order to distract my mind of today’s sad news…

Around 2 pm the kids are already asleep and so we go for lunch. Chi Lam made beef with veggies and put a secret ingredient that made the beef so sweet: sugar. Not good for the teeth but the flavor was really good.

Before lunch I also practiced a little bit of nail art painting and so after lunch I finished what I was doing with not great success…it’s just better if I go out and go to the salon. At least I’ll be trying to learn and I’ll be distracted. I walk there and arrive around 4 pm; I explain what happened and why I arrived so late today. They nod their heads and let me do my thing.

I stay there until 7.30 pm practicing and watching how to do the acrylic and gel nails and then I walk back home. I have my phones and just don’t wan to hear no one, don’t want to smile to no one, just wanna be left alone…

At home I go to my room and decide to practice a little bit more, just in case my head is clearer… after a few minutes Xuan and Carlos arrive and so we eat dinner, hotpot, very good.

We talk for a little bit and then I head once more to my room. I continue practicing the nail painting while watching more TV shows until my parents call me via Skype. We talk for a little bit but they know I’m not for big conversations and they also have to leave home so we say bye bye and end the call.

It’s already 11.30 pm and it’s time to go sleep… my last thoughts go to my friend Rui Alves. His smile, his good mood, his fashion sense, his professionalism will stay in my memory forever… and lets not forget his passion for Kylie Minogue… =) Rui, you’ll be with us forever and you’ll be missed…

Goodnight everyone!