Loving A Legend... (An Eminem Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12: Finding herself...

It’s been 2months since I was home, I feel sort of new because when I left, I left everything and everyone behind. No Mark, no Sammy and definitely no Marshall, the no Samantha part was easy, we barely ever spoke because she was too busy with her own life and I was too busy with mine, but I do miss our Sunday calls. She would call once a week and we would talk about our weeks events but that scaled down to once a month after Marshall, then it went back to a week once I hit the tabloids.  Other than missing everyone at home, my time away is going great. When I left, I was not sure for how long nor where I was going. The first place that popped into my head was Shanghai and for once in my life, I never thought about it, I just went. Leaving was impulsive but exactly what I needed, for once not every step was calculated and that made me feel normal, it was fun and made me understand why people did what popped into their head at times, even if it is impulsive.

I loved being in Shanghai, I stayed there for about 3weeks before I got annoyed; it was really annoying because there was an overload of people, I’m from New York city and it has nothing on Shanghai. I visited all the tourist destinations while I was there. I saw The Bund; it is also called the Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, The Oriental Pearl Tv Tower, Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai Museum, Jade Buddha Temple, Zhujiajiao, Shanghai Xin Tian Di and Nanjing Road. My favourite location was Nanjing Road; it starts from The Bund in the east and ends in the west at the junction of Jingan Temple and Yan’an West Street, its 3.4 miles long and it took me 2weeks to visit every store, it was phenomenal, I shopped till my feet hurt and then I went to dine at some local restaurants, I met great locals there and then I’d go back to my hotel and sleep till morning, then start all over again. It was like a Chinese New York, the streets were busy and alive, there were millions of shopping stores, from high end fashion to local cuisine it was great. I bought so many things it was crazy, I had to post everything back to NYC so I called Celeste to pick everything up; she was babysitting my loft till I got back. Shanghai is so culture enriched; it inspired me to go find my family from my dad’s side of my tree, which meant I was going to South Africa. At first I was slightly hesitant about going there because I was scared of what I might find but, as soon as I visited every tourist destination and completed Nanjing Road, I was bored and needed more, so I ventured to South Africa. I landed in Johannesburg and it was very slow paced when compared to NYC and Shanghai but yet it was nice. While there I went to see some sights in Pretoria, I also went to Gold Reef City; it was fun, but boring because I was alone. I went to Soweto which is the largest township in S.A The largest township in South Africa, just south of Johannesburg, is home to millions of South Africa's black population, the attractions that I went to there were Nelson Mandela's home, Freedom Square and the Hector Pieterson Memorial. Soweto was filled with culture and cuisine that was so different from what I was used to, but it was great to experience someone else’s culture. I went Sun City Resort, one of the world’s most renowned gambling resorts and I gambled and won some and lost some, it was fun, I watched live shows, I went swimming and surfing, parasailing and the list goes on. Since my motive was finding my family, I decided to visit The Cradle of humankind, some of the oldest, hominid fossils ever found were at that location, dating as far back as 3.5 million years ago, being at a place that had so much culture, dating so far back was extraordinary and I kept remembering I was from this enriched land, it made me feel worth something more. Next stop was Mpumalanga and I realised this country just got better, I went to Kruger National Park and saw the big 5, well it took a week to see ever animal, but it was worth it. I also went to Blyde River Canyon, Pilgrim’s Rest and private game parks, it was so beautiful, the animals and people were just perfect. My next destination was KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, while there I found out that it has the most number of Indians outside of India, more culture in an already culture populated country, it was awesome really. I visited Durban beachfront, Shakaland, Zulu Villiages, Ushaka Marine world and had Durban cuisine. Soon as I was done there, I went to a Drakensberg resort, I hiked the mountain with a very cute guy, named Tyrone, the mountain was beautiful and so was he… After another week that passed I was in Cape Town, South Africa, when I landed I thought I had seen everything, but in actual fact, I left the best for last. Seems like my dad was from the oh so beautiful mother city. Where to start I didn’t know, I had nothing but a few things my dad said to me when I was little. A family name and hope, was all I came with and I believe it will give me answers. I arranged with the hotel to pick me up when my plane landed, I stayed at the Mount Nelson Hotel and Spa. I landed at 6pm and was exhausted by the time we got to the hotel, so I had dinner and went straight to my room and slept. The next morning I had breakfast and had a spa session, I love massages, facials, manicures and pedicures; I had so much fun at the spa. As the day progressed I went to the V&A Waterfront, and obviously went shopping. It amazes me how calm and collected people around here are there was an outside area where they have live shows, there was none at the moment but I knew I wanted to see a show before I left, I then made a little note on my Blackberry, as a reminder. From where I was standing I could see Robben Island and wanted to explore the seas but then I realised that I need to get my priorities sorted and start with my family exploring tonight and then explore the beautiful city I was visiting. Despite my efforts, I ended up on a boat to Robben Island, eager to see the history of the place. I was extremely sea sick but it was worth it, finding about the heritage of the island that acts as a focal point of South African heritage, I love how my travelling has enhanced my knowledge. The time we got back to the mainland it was 7pm and I was tired but had to eat so I had some pizza and frozen yogurt, and then went back to my hotel. When I reached my room I called my private investigator to get the information about my dad’s family, to get up to speed with what I came to do. I was laying in a king sized bed all alone, it felt as if in that moment I realised how much I missed Marshall… and Dean and my daddy. My life hit rock bottom so many times, it can only go up and hopefully finding my family will help me do that. My dad’s sister, brother and father are still alive and living in Cape Town, just my luck; I have their addresses and I’m headed there tomorrow morning after breakfast because I need to know why my father left this life behind. I just hope and pray, my view on my dad won't be tainted by what I find out, because I don’t think I could handle him not being him. My dad was always my pillar and best friend. Thoughts of tomorrow keep rushing through my head and I keep over analysing the situation. I struggle to fall asleep but am soon lying in bed and my head goes blank and I feel myself go into a deep sleep.