My time in Durban has been pretty uneventful. I went to the Netherlands-Japan match on Sat. and have otherwise just wandered around. Japan played extremely well and deserved a point. It seems like this ball really is bad. There aren’t this many goalkeeping errors in high school soccer.
It is quite the party atmosphere here. I guess that comes with being in a beach city. There is tons of activity along the beach. The highlight for me would be the beach soccer, but I cannot participate because of my knee. In large part I have avoided the beach. I do need to jump in the ocean before I leave. I will. The hostel I am staying also has quite the social scene. It’s pretty big, there must be 100 people staying here sharing the common areas. I’ve only spoken to a couple. This isn’t really my crowd…no one wants to talk about the politics or challenges of South Africa, or their own countries. I’ll have to be fun and outgoing to fit in here, not sure if I will figure it out. I’ve walked around the city lots, it really is a great vacation spot. It would be nice to have a car to tour around other places. There is mountain range to explore close to here. There is tons of Indian and Zulu culture to learn about. There are other natural attractions close by. I have thought of paying for a tour of something or spending a couple days in the mountains, right now I am leaning against it. I have a tendency to want to see everything, but then I never really relax and enjoy anything. But at the moment I am torn between just meandering along the coast, going back to Joburg for the Germany-Ghana match, or spending a couple days in the mountains. We will see.
African teams are killing me. I am still convinced they have the talent to compete with any team. Ghana and Ivory Coast showed lots of immaturity in not getting the results they needed in their last matches. I respect having a certain style. I understand pride and holding on to certain values. Every athlete dreams off making certain plays and scoring goals in big moments. But at some point all those things need to be put aside, or at least in the right place, to win a match. Ghana was casual and selfish against Australia, they played like they were gonna win just cause they are better. This happens all the time in all sports, but you don’t do it here when you have three matches to qualify. Cote d’Ivoire made a fair mistake on the first goal, but the next two should not have happened. Yes, the second was a handball, but the ball would have never been in their net if they hadn’t stopped. The third goal we saw a defender stand completely unaware of his surroundings and allowed a hurtful third goal. Then after they did score, they got caught up in everything that didn’t matter, and lost a chance to at least attempt to close the goal difference. Brazil’s antics were equally as childish, I can’t stand watching Luis Fabiano, he cries the entire match. But they are Brazil, they are established as the best team in the world, I don’t like it, but their arrogance and swag has a foundation. These African nations seem to have the same arrogance and swag. Many of their players have achieved much with their club teams, but not with their national teams, I’d like to see some more humility and a desire to earn some success. The Asian teams have been great so far. Each match they put their absolute best out there, and I think that is reflected in the results they have earned. All regions are really doing the best they can with the talent they have, but the African nations can’t seem to figure what it takes to get a result in this World Cup. Again, I am usually ok with taking things as a learning experience and moving forward, but this opportunity will not come again for a long time. Not in any of these players’ careers. Maybe African life is too fractured. There is corruption in African governments, there are always problems within African FA’s, there are countless problems in African nations. Maybe there is too much turmoil around an African player and their national side. Maybe they have to play for self, because playing for country just doesn’t make sense. I sure can’t understand whatever it is, it is upsetting me though. I came here dreaming of people encouraged, empowered, or maybe their lives just brightened a bit by their fellow countrymen doing something great. Now we hope at least one team gets through. I think Nigeria may be in the best place, even though they havn't earned a point yet. If they win and Greece loses, they should be through. Ghana needs at least a point against Germany, not easy, or a Serbian fold. Algeria needs to beat the US, which is possible, and then Cote d’Ivoire and Bafana need the stars to align just right. Cote d’Ivoire is a bit more likely, but still a stretch. Ok, I’m done now, time to go watch Spain knock the ball around, we’ll see if they decide to score this time.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, June 18
I had Thursday typed up, but I lost it, so I will give the brief recap. I went with a crew to France-Mexico in Polokwane, it was fun, Mexico won. Onto Friday.
So I woke up in Polokwane and wanted to get to Durban. I wanted to travel east to the coast then down to Durban even though I hadn’t found any trains or buses that went that way in the minimal research I had done. I didn’t want to go back through joburg cause I been there plenty already. I told the crew I was with to drop me in town and I would figure it out. This was a questionable choice, but I was determined I would find a way to do it. I walked around town and asked a number people and everyone told me they same thing I had heard already, I had to go through Joburg. So in the end I caught a bus to Joburg, the bus arrived a bit after 3, and conveniently, the US played Slovenia at 4. So I got off the bus and walked down to find a ticket to the match after quickly saying hi to Martin at the cell phone store.
I found a ticket for r350, about $50. It was a good match, I am usually critical of the US side, but I was impressed, maybe even proud to be an American. Slovenia is no joke, they beat a very strong Russian team to get here. After the US went down a goal, they started playing really well and almost equalized on a couple occasions. Then they gave up another goal on the counterattack. Many teams seem hopeful they will score when they go down. I felt like there was a difference in the posture of the US team. The became more aggressive and hungry for a goal. They put dangerous balls in and threw their bodies at goal scoring opportunities, forcing the Slovenia defenders to be strong. Landon Donovan’s goal was a fantastic finish. I think the result was simply a matter of will, the US decided they were going to comeback, and Slovenia was uncertain if they could hold their lead. The decision to reverse the last goal was strange, I’m sure the US media had opinions. But the US team kept their composure and finished the game with class. I think that will, the decision to make something happen regardless of obstacles, is an American attribute. I like it. Their match against Algeria will be tough, Algeria has looked dangerous even though they havn’t scored a goal, and they play with great focus and toughness.
After the match I walked back to park station to wait for my 10 pm bus to Durban. 3 hours of sitting at Park Station isn’t much fun. You can’t stray at all cause of the risk of being robbed. I did get to watch the first half of the England-Algeria game. I gave one man an American dollar, I had given him some bread earlier and he come back to chat some more. He was going on about how he never touched a US dollar before, I’m sure this is a scam he's used before. I fell for it. “Boss” is one of the terms that people use to speak to a stranger. I get called boss many times each day. After giving this man a dollar, I got to be “Big Boss”, maybe it was worth it.
The bus to Durban was really nice. The seats were really comfortable, Madea goes to jail was on. I sat next to Moses who fell asleep immediately. I fell asleep about midnight, the bus was sposed to arrive at 5:40, unfortunately it arrived at 4:45. I was cheated out of an hour of sleep, I had no idea where in Durban I was, or what time the sun came up. I had some bread and fruit to eat, which took up some time. I called this one girl in the US who informed me the sun rose at 6:40. I couldn’t sit for a full two hours, so I started walking. Fortunately I started walking about the same time as someone else who knew Durban, He walked with me to the beach. I walked out on a pier as the sky was just turning red. There was a younger man there from Tanzania, his name is Ibu. He is studying business here in Durban. We talked for a bit as the sun rose, he liked to have his picture taken. He asked me to watch his belongings while he jumped off the Pier. I had thought of this possibility at one point, but I felt the pier was a bit too high for me. It turned out he was really good at staying afloat, but not much of a swimmer. I had to wait a long time for the waves to push him back to shore.
I said farewell when he returned. At last the day was bright and I could search for a place to rest. I tried to find free wireless with no luck, so I eventually stopped in an internet café. I found a hostel in central Durban, Banana Backpackers. They had a bed for me. It felt good to know where I was staying that night so early in the day.
So I woke up in Polokwane and wanted to get to Durban. I wanted to travel east to the coast then down to Durban even though I hadn’t found any trains or buses that went that way in the minimal research I had done. I didn’t want to go back through joburg cause I been there plenty already. I told the crew I was with to drop me in town and I would figure it out. This was a questionable choice, but I was determined I would find a way to do it. I walked around town and asked a number people and everyone told me they same thing I had heard already, I had to go through Joburg. So in the end I caught a bus to Joburg, the bus arrived a bit after 3, and conveniently, the US played Slovenia at 4. So I got off the bus and walked down to find a ticket to the match after quickly saying hi to Martin at the cell phone store.
I found a ticket for r350, about $50. It was a good match, I am usually critical of the US side, but I was impressed, maybe even proud to be an American. Slovenia is no joke, they beat a very strong Russian team to get here. After the US went down a goal, they started playing really well and almost equalized on a couple occasions. Then they gave up another goal on the counterattack. Many teams seem hopeful they will score when they go down. I felt like there was a difference in the posture of the US team. The became more aggressive and hungry for a goal. They put dangerous balls in and threw their bodies at goal scoring opportunities, forcing the Slovenia defenders to be strong. Landon Donovan’s goal was a fantastic finish. I think the result was simply a matter of will, the US decided they were going to comeback, and Slovenia was uncertain if they could hold their lead. The decision to reverse the last goal was strange, I’m sure the US media had opinions. But the US team kept their composure and finished the game with class. I think that will, the decision to make something happen regardless of obstacles, is an American attribute. I like it. Their match against Algeria will be tough, Algeria has looked dangerous even though they havn’t scored a goal, and they play with great focus and toughness.
After the match I walked back to park station to wait for my 10 pm bus to Durban. 3 hours of sitting at Park Station isn’t much fun. You can’t stray at all cause of the risk of being robbed. I did get to watch the first half of the England-Algeria game. I gave one man an American dollar, I had given him some bread earlier and he come back to chat some more. He was going on about how he never touched a US dollar before, I’m sure this is a scam he's used before. I fell for it. “Boss” is one of the terms that people use to speak to a stranger. I get called boss many times each day. After giving this man a dollar, I got to be “Big Boss”, maybe it was worth it.
The bus to Durban was really nice. The seats were really comfortable, Madea goes to jail was on. I sat next to Moses who fell asleep immediately. I fell asleep about midnight, the bus was sposed to arrive at 5:40, unfortunately it arrived at 4:45. I was cheated out of an hour of sleep, I had no idea where in Durban I was, or what time the sun came up. I had some bread and fruit to eat, which took up some time. I called this one girl in the US who informed me the sun rose at 6:40. I couldn’t sit for a full two hours, so I started walking. Fortunately I started walking about the same time as someone else who knew Durban, He walked with me to the beach. I walked out on a pier as the sky was just turning red. There was a younger man there from Tanzania, his name is Ibu. He is studying business here in Durban. We talked for a bit as the sun rose, he liked to have his picture taken. He asked me to watch his belongings while he jumped off the Pier. I had thought of this possibility at one point, but I felt the pier was a bit too high for me. It turned out he was really good at staying afloat, but not much of a swimmer. I had to wait a long time for the waves to push him back to shore.
I said farewell when he returned. At last the day was bright and I could search for a place to rest. I tried to find free wireless with no luck, so I eventually stopped in an internet café. I found a hostel in central Durban, Banana Backpackers. They had a bed for me. It felt good to know where I was staying that night so early in the day.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday June 16
Wednesday June 16
When I woke up I went and sat in the sun for a bit. The days here are perfect, low 60’s with warm sun. The nights are chilly, I’ve been cold a few nights, and it’s always cold in the morning, so the sun always feel good in the morning. P.W.’s car is struggling a bit these days. He says it’s the carburetor, fuel isn’t getting to the engine well, so the car stalls constantly. So we drove around and talked to a number of people about how to fix his car. We stopped at the market. The townships are really interesting. They are a picture of all phases of development. There are shacks with no floor, rain turns everything to mud and destroys the few belongings people have. There are single room homes built by the government, many people have added on to these, and many people tear these down completely and build new homes, some are very nice. As we stood at the edge of this market filled people selling whatever they can to make a little money, we looked out on a mall that would suit the needs of anyone in the US. It seems that at least part of the emerging black middle class is remaining in the townships, creating economic in these areas.
On the way home we stopped and got a traditional South African meal. They take a big chunk of bread, cut out a square out of the middle, and put stuff inside. I have seen a couple variations, but I guess the main thing is polony, whatever that is. They put cheese, garlic, atcher (mango relish) and chips (French fries) inside. I guess Primanti’s ain’t so original after all. I enjoyed it. We returned to the house, then P.W. and I went for a long walk around the townships and talked. We got back to the house in time to watch Chile beat Honduras, then I said my goodbyes and jumped in a taxi to go back into Pretoria. There was about eight people in the taxi when I got in, half of them got out, so the driver had a bunch of seats to fill before heading into town. We drove around for about twenty minutes only getting a few more. This was killing me cause Spain Switzerland was starting and we still had lots of travel time. Eventually he started toward the highway and picked up a couple more along the way. I jumped straight into another taxi when I got into Pretoria and got back to my hostel with about ten miutes left in the first half. Spain was still beautiful, but beauty doesn’t count for much besides my (and maybe others’) admiration.
After the match it was time to get focused on the real objective of the day, watch bafana bafana make countries dreams come true with victory over Uruguay!!!! We now know this did not happen, but that was the dream at the time. I went out with Milan, my Serbian friend who was also staying in the hostel, to try to get tickets for the match. It was tough, there weren’t many available, except for those few who were asking insane prices. I think everyone has a price that would make them content to watch on tv rather than in the stadium. We ran into a guy who was selling one ticket, Milan bought it for r850 ($120). We kept looking for mine for a long time, finally I found a couple negotiating with a man. They were South African, the man was trying to lowball them, offering r400 and not budging, I offered r800 off top, then we realized they were selling two, so I offered r1400 for them both. They wanted to go, but we offered right around that price that made them happy. I felt a bit bad buying from locals who actually wanted to go to the match, we discussed it with them for a while, not putting any pressure, just allowing our offer to sit. They discussed it in a couple languages, then finally agreed. In the end I think they were probably happy they didn’t sit through such a depressing match. Now that we had 3 tickets, Milan had to sell the original. He started off asking r3000, and ended up selling it for r1100. After about two hours of scheming, it was finally time to go in the stadium.
Milan was an interesting match companion. He loves pictures. His camera’s battery was dead, so we just had mine. I pretty quickly just gave it to him to use for the night. He took 46 photos and two videos. I took two photos. I only know this cause I uploaded them on the computer later. When we were walking into the stadium., I was focused on getting to our seats. Milan had other plans, he wanted someone elses seat. He told me to follow and unfortunately I did. We pushed through crowds, walked through rows people, forcing them to let us by, through a couple private boxes cause the aisles were too crowded, and finally to a 6 empty seats almost at midfield. As people arrived, we were pushed out of those seats and were lucky to find a couple nearby that remained ours the rest of the match.
The match itself was unfortunate. South Africa was just not quite ready for this tournament. I don’t question any of the players’ heart, but their nerves and inexperience showed. A man told me that this will be the first time a host nation has not qualified, that’s sad. Their captain is the one who has made all their crucial mistakes. In the first match, he was the one who kept the Mexican goal scorer onsides, and this match, he backed off and allowed Forlan to turn for the opening goal in this match. You can’t let any player turn and shoot from that range, especially one of the top forwards in the world. He is the one of the few with international experience, and while the rest of the team is holding it down, he is folding. SA’s attack was very disappointing as well. They did ok possessing through the midfield, but they were never dangerous. Against Mexico, they did well when they played over top on the counter attack. I think Uruguay noticed that and weren’t pushing any of their backs up the field, but you have to test a defense in every way. It’s silly to keep trying the same thing when you havn’t created any decent chances. Bafana just kept trying to break them down with short passes and it didn’t work.
I think I will stay far away from the next Bafana match, maybe they will have better luck without me
When I woke up I went and sat in the sun for a bit. The days here are perfect, low 60’s with warm sun. The nights are chilly, I’ve been cold a few nights, and it’s always cold in the morning, so the sun always feel good in the morning. P.W.’s car is struggling a bit these days. He says it’s the carburetor, fuel isn’t getting to the engine well, so the car stalls constantly. So we drove around and talked to a number of people about how to fix his car. We stopped at the market. The townships are really interesting. They are a picture of all phases of development. There are shacks with no floor, rain turns everything to mud and destroys the few belongings people have. There are single room homes built by the government, many people have added on to these, and many people tear these down completely and build new homes, some are very nice. As we stood at the edge of this market filled people selling whatever they can to make a little money, we looked out on a mall that would suit the needs of anyone in the US. It seems that at least part of the emerging black middle class is remaining in the townships, creating economic in these areas.
On the way home we stopped and got a traditional South African meal. They take a big chunk of bread, cut out a square out of the middle, and put stuff inside. I have seen a couple variations, but I guess the main thing is polony, whatever that is. They put cheese, garlic, atcher (mango relish) and chips (French fries) inside. I guess Primanti’s ain’t so original after all. I enjoyed it. We returned to the house, then P.W. and I went for a long walk around the townships and talked. We got back to the house in time to watch Chile beat Honduras, then I said my goodbyes and jumped in a taxi to go back into Pretoria. There was about eight people in the taxi when I got in, half of them got out, so the driver had a bunch of seats to fill before heading into town. We drove around for about twenty minutes only getting a few more. This was killing me cause Spain Switzerland was starting and we still had lots of travel time. Eventually he started toward the highway and picked up a couple more along the way. I jumped straight into another taxi when I got into Pretoria and got back to my hostel with about ten miutes left in the first half. Spain was still beautiful, but beauty doesn’t count for much besides my (and maybe others’) admiration.
After the match it was time to get focused on the real objective of the day, watch bafana bafana make countries dreams come true with victory over Uruguay!!!! We now know this did not happen, but that was the dream at the time. I went out with Milan, my Serbian friend who was also staying in the hostel, to try to get tickets for the match. It was tough, there weren’t many available, except for those few who were asking insane prices. I think everyone has a price that would make them content to watch on tv rather than in the stadium. We ran into a guy who was selling one ticket, Milan bought it for r850 ($120). We kept looking for mine for a long time, finally I found a couple negotiating with a man. They were South African, the man was trying to lowball them, offering r400 and not budging, I offered r800 off top, then we realized they were selling two, so I offered r1400 for them both. They wanted to go, but we offered right around that price that made them happy. I felt a bit bad buying from locals who actually wanted to go to the match, we discussed it with them for a while, not putting any pressure, just allowing our offer to sit. They discussed it in a couple languages, then finally agreed. In the end I think they were probably happy they didn’t sit through such a depressing match. Now that we had 3 tickets, Milan had to sell the original. He started off asking r3000, and ended up selling it for r1100. After about two hours of scheming, it was finally time to go in the stadium.
Milan was an interesting match companion. He loves pictures. His camera’s battery was dead, so we just had mine. I pretty quickly just gave it to him to use for the night. He took 46 photos and two videos. I took two photos. I only know this cause I uploaded them on the computer later. When we were walking into the stadium., I was focused on getting to our seats. Milan had other plans, he wanted someone elses seat. He told me to follow and unfortunately I did. We pushed through crowds, walked through rows people, forcing them to let us by, through a couple private boxes cause the aisles were too crowded, and finally to a 6 empty seats almost at midfield. As people arrived, we were pushed out of those seats and were lucky to find a couple nearby that remained ours the rest of the match.
The match itself was unfortunate. South Africa was just not quite ready for this tournament. I don’t question any of the players’ heart, but their nerves and inexperience showed. A man told me that this will be the first time a host nation has not qualified, that’s sad. Their captain is the one who has made all their crucial mistakes. In the first match, he was the one who kept the Mexican goal scorer onsides, and this match, he backed off and allowed Forlan to turn for the opening goal in this match. You can’t let any player turn and shoot from that range, especially one of the top forwards in the world. He is the one of the few with international experience, and while the rest of the team is holding it down, he is folding. SA’s attack was very disappointing as well. They did ok possessing through the midfield, but they were never dangerous. Against Mexico, they did well when they played over top on the counter attack. I think Uruguay noticed that and weren’t pushing any of their backs up the field, but you have to test a defense in every way. It’s silly to keep trying the same thing when you havn’t created any decent chances. Bafana just kept trying to break them down with short passes and it didn’t work.
I think I will stay far away from the next Bafana match, maybe they will have better luck without me
Tuesday June 15
Tuesday June 15
I had originally planned to leave Pretoria this morning, but I decided I would stay til Thursday morning cause South Africa was playing Uruguay in Pretoria on Wednesday night. I didn’t really want to spend two more days just kickin it Pretoria, I relaxed for the morning trying to decide what to do with this free time, and ended up calling Pastor Washington, he had invited me to come up to the township area he lived in. I met up with him as he was leaving work and hopped on a rowdy public taxi. There was a woman who cut up the entire 40 minute ride. I guess on trains a Pastor will basically have church on the train cars. This practice has been around for a long time. The woman was imitating a pastor, leading our taxi in songs and encouraging her small congregation. The entire taxi was thoroughly entertained, I had to wait til we got off the taxi to learn what all the fun was about.
P.W.’s house is very nice. He lives with his lovely wife Nikki, her brother Lincoln, his two kids and his niece. I had fun with them, we watched Brazil and North Korea. N.K. was very impressive, they may be the best example of how to compete so far. The talent gap is massive, but they gave Brazil a challenge by preparing well, sticking to their tactics, and fighting every minute of the match. I still think they will be hard pressed to maintain that level for their other two matches, eventually they will get broken down. Well done Korea DPR.
Before the match, the power went out for about almost two hours for no reason. The family was saying the country’s electricity was stretched by all the stadium lights. We went for a drive and came back at about 8. The lights came back on around 8:20, ten minutes before the match. It was like they electric company decided they could turn off all the lights between matches and no one would get too mad.
We had a very tasty meal of chicken, rice, and something else that is slipping my mind. Lincoln gave up his bed for me, I would have liked to argue, but I think that’s the way it had to be.
I had originally planned to leave Pretoria this morning, but I decided I would stay til Thursday morning cause South Africa was playing Uruguay in Pretoria on Wednesday night. I didn’t really want to spend two more days just kickin it Pretoria, I relaxed for the morning trying to decide what to do with this free time, and ended up calling Pastor Washington, he had invited me to come up to the township area he lived in. I met up with him as he was leaving work and hopped on a rowdy public taxi. There was a woman who cut up the entire 40 minute ride. I guess on trains a Pastor will basically have church on the train cars. This practice has been around for a long time. The woman was imitating a pastor, leading our taxi in songs and encouraging her small congregation. The entire taxi was thoroughly entertained, I had to wait til we got off the taxi to learn what all the fun was about.
P.W.’s house is very nice. He lives with his lovely wife Nikki, her brother Lincoln, his two kids and his niece. I had fun with them, we watched Brazil and North Korea. N.K. was very impressive, they may be the best example of how to compete so far. The talent gap is massive, but they gave Brazil a challenge by preparing well, sticking to their tactics, and fighting every minute of the match. I still think they will be hard pressed to maintain that level for their other two matches, eventually they will get broken down. Well done Korea DPR.
Before the match, the power went out for about almost two hours for no reason. The family was saying the country’s electricity was stretched by all the stadium lights. We went for a drive and came back at about 8. The lights came back on around 8:20, ten minutes before the match. It was like they electric company decided they could turn off all the lights between matches and no one would get too mad.
We had a very tasty meal of chicken, rice, and something else that is slipping my mind. Lincoln gave up his bed for me, I would have liked to argue, but I think that’s the way it had to be.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday
I got up early on Monday morning cause I was too cold to stay in bed. I typed for about an hour until Abraham woke up. Our first task was to find me a place to sleep for the next night. I was hoping to spend about r200, r100 is about $14. I landed at a hostel for r300 right by the stadium. I dropped off my backpack, and started towards the city center with Abraham still to meet up with Pastor Washington. Pastor Wahington started a small community college/technical school about 3 years ago. That is where I met him, it is located on part of a floor in an office building. We talked for a bit then went to a nearby restaurant to watch Holland V. Denmark. The match was disappointing, neither team created much. I was pretty lame company at that point, I was tired and needed a bit of space and rest to re-energize. I walked back to the hostel and caught most of the Japan-Cameroon match. This was very disappointing as well, Japan played well, but Cameroon played well below their ability. African teams need to stop hiring European managers. It seemed Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire were uncomfortable in their matches, too rigid. Ghana and Nigeria also have Europeans in charge and seem more comfortable. We’ll keep watching. I don’t think much of Sven Goran Errickson (Cote d’Ivoire’s Manager). It hurts to say this about a Swede, but his teams always seem uninspired. Anyway, back at the hostel, I enjoyed watching the Jap-Cam match with Eric, an employee at the hostel, and the old Rasta man. Our chatter was entertaining, enough so that I chose the watch the evening match between Paraguay and Italy there instead going out. It was a nice evening, I also got to the owners of the hostel a bit, names to come, a Colombian man and a south African woman had met in Mexico last year to while the woman was backpacking and decided to provide a reasonably priced place to stay during the world cup. I they are only doing this during the tournament, then they plan on traveling around Africa once the world cup is over. I may travel with them, we’ll see.
Sunday
I woke up to a breakfast of eggs, beans and bread prepared by Evelyn’s son. She then put me on a taxi to town, giving very clear instructions to the driver on where to drop me off. We drove around the townships for a bit and only picked up a few people. Our driver signaled to another taxi, we pulled over and were instructed to change taxis, I guess cause both vehicles didn’t have many people. I had three main tasks: 1.Find a place to stay for Sunday night, I figured I’d enjoy the day more if I had security for the night. 2. Go to church 3. Try to get tickets to the Serbia Ghana match. It turned out I was fair distance away from Pretoria….the taxi wound its way through the townships and it must have been over ten miles on the highway before we reached the edges of Pretoria. While in the townships, a man and his wife got on dressed very I well, the man was holding a Bible. The taxi was jam packed, he was two benches behind me, I didn’t want to be goofy and turn around and ask him about, I was kinda out of place already. I decided if he got off when we were clearly in town, I would ask if I could join him for church. We ended up the last three on the taxi, at which point the driver turned to me and asked me where I was getting off. I had assumed the previous driver had relayed Evelyn’s message, this wasn’t the case, so I turned and asked the man with the Bible if he was going to church. He said yes and agreed to my company, so I reported back to the driver that I would get off with them. On the walk between the taxi and the church, I learned the man was in fact Pastor Washington, the shepherd of the church.
We entered a large building downtown and went into a small room on the ground floor. Church had just started, Pastor was a bit behind schedule because of a bit of car trouble, which was why he was on the taxi. Church was quite nice, good singing, sound doctrine, and a small friendly congregation. I was identified quickly in the one of these doesn’t belong game and asked to introduce myself, Pastor W. got up soon after and explained how I came to be there. There was one song in English, the rest in other languages. It was lively for having 15 people in the room. I joke (I think to myself) that half my church goes up front when our informal choir sings, in fairness it is probably only a quarter. Sometimes I’d like to be part of the choir, but I feel bad leaving the few people in the pews. Anyway, in this church it was just over half that went up to lead the singing on this occasion. I felt at home. Since I didn’t know the words of the songs, more accurately the language, I had to at least join in the dancing. I swayed to the best of my African abilities, trying to pick up accepted movements from those around me. There was a significant dance break in one of the songs, something I hope to bring back with me, but with someone else dancing. After church I spoke with a few people, there was a finance committee meeting so half the church stayed behind, another comforting similarity. One man wanted my phone number so he could call me when came to the states. I think I’ve invited about 40 people to stay with me in the US so far, hopefully not everyone comes at the same time, I may need some help from the readers out there.
We started walking as Pastor Washington gave me directions towards the stadium….one member, Abraham, was walking in that direction so he said he would guide me a bit. Abraham is a teacher, so he is off this month, so he walked me all the way to the stadium. He said he wanted to help get tickets, then help me find a place to stay….he basically took responsibility for me. We learned the only place to buy tickets was far from the stadium. This was disappointing, but we were content to watch in the nearby fan park. Ghana and Serbia both played well. I am excited about Ghana, especially the way they attack. The test the defense in every…short passes, long passes, counter attacks, crosses, off the dribble…granted their final ball was lacking, but I feel they will find it. Ghana, Serbia, and Germany are all quality sides, it’s too bad that one must go home. Everyone here is convinced Germany is among the top teams after dominating the socceroos, but I need to see more. Australia had terrible organization in the back, I don’t if I’ve ever seen a team get in behind so easily. Australia was just as bad as Germany was good. I still think it’s possible for Ghana and Serbia to go through ahead of the Germans, not too likely, but Serbia can defend well and they are capable of getting a result against the Germans, as are Ghana.
After the match, it was decided that I would just stay with Abraham. I said I was perfectly fine sleeping on a couch or floor. He said, no he has a queen size bed. I wasn’t sure why he was advocating bed sharing over other options, but I figured we’d sort it out when we arrived. It turned out the bed was the only option. Abraham lives in a room in a someone else’s small apartment. The room is exactly the width of a queen size bed and about five feet longer. The added length is where he keeps his belonging, and he still maintains a bit of floor space, I need to learn organization from this man. In an earlier conversation when he learned I was also a teacher, he enthusiastically pointed out that teachers are the most meticulous people, they must be in their planning and record keeping and so on. I agreed with his opinion, embarrassed to admit my shortcomings, but I didn’t think much of it. Seeing his living space allowed me to truly appreciate his organizational abilities. We got organized, then went to a nearby restaurant to watch the Germans dismantle the Aussies. I was dead tired by the time we got back, and fell asleep easily in the queen size bed. At some point I woke up to another man in the room. In the morning I learned it was Abraham’s cousin George who shares the bed when he has to work late. So yes< George jumped in the queen size bed as well. There was quite enough blanket for all three of us, and I think I lost the battle of the blankets. I feel they just had more experience in grasping to a share of blanket, but with a bit of practice I could compete with them. It gets cold here at night during their two winter months, and no place has heat, you just have a hot beverage and get under the blankets. Without the full blanket warmth I didn’t get much sleep.
We entered a large building downtown and went into a small room on the ground floor. Church had just started, Pastor was a bit behind schedule because of a bit of car trouble, which was why he was on the taxi. Church was quite nice, good singing, sound doctrine, and a small friendly congregation. I was identified quickly in the one of these doesn’t belong game and asked to introduce myself, Pastor W. got up soon after and explained how I came to be there. There was one song in English, the rest in other languages. It was lively for having 15 people in the room. I joke (I think to myself) that half my church goes up front when our informal choir sings, in fairness it is probably only a quarter. Sometimes I’d like to be part of the choir, but I feel bad leaving the few people in the pews. Anyway, in this church it was just over half that went up to lead the singing on this occasion. I felt at home. Since I didn’t know the words of the songs, more accurately the language, I had to at least join in the dancing. I swayed to the best of my African abilities, trying to pick up accepted movements from those around me. There was a significant dance break in one of the songs, something I hope to bring back with me, but with someone else dancing. After church I spoke with a few people, there was a finance committee meeting so half the church stayed behind, another comforting similarity. One man wanted my phone number so he could call me when came to the states. I think I’ve invited about 40 people to stay with me in the US so far, hopefully not everyone comes at the same time, I may need some help from the readers out there.
We started walking as Pastor Washington gave me directions towards the stadium….one member, Abraham, was walking in that direction so he said he would guide me a bit. Abraham is a teacher, so he is off this month, so he walked me all the way to the stadium. He said he wanted to help get tickets, then help me find a place to stay….he basically took responsibility for me. We learned the only place to buy tickets was far from the stadium. This was disappointing, but we were content to watch in the nearby fan park. Ghana and Serbia both played well. I am excited about Ghana, especially the way they attack. The test the defense in every…short passes, long passes, counter attacks, crosses, off the dribble…granted their final ball was lacking, but I feel they will find it. Ghana, Serbia, and Germany are all quality sides, it’s too bad that one must go home. Everyone here is convinced Germany is among the top teams after dominating the socceroos, but I need to see more. Australia had terrible organization in the back, I don’t if I’ve ever seen a team get in behind so easily. Australia was just as bad as Germany was good. I still think it’s possible for Ghana and Serbia to go through ahead of the Germans, not too likely, but Serbia can defend well and they are capable of getting a result against the Germans, as are Ghana.
After the match, it was decided that I would just stay with Abraham. I said I was perfectly fine sleeping on a couch or floor. He said, no he has a queen size bed. I wasn’t sure why he was advocating bed sharing over other options, but I figured we’d sort it out when we arrived. It turned out the bed was the only option. Abraham lives in a room in a someone else’s small apartment. The room is exactly the width of a queen size bed and about five feet longer. The added length is where he keeps his belonging, and he still maintains a bit of floor space, I need to learn organization from this man. In an earlier conversation when he learned I was also a teacher, he enthusiastically pointed out that teachers are the most meticulous people, they must be in their planning and record keeping and so on. I agreed with his opinion, embarrassed to admit my shortcomings, but I didn’t think much of it. Seeing his living space allowed me to truly appreciate his organizational abilities. We got organized, then went to a nearby restaurant to watch the Germans dismantle the Aussies. I was dead tired by the time we got back, and fell asleep easily in the queen size bed. At some point I woke up to another man in the room. In the morning I learned it was Abraham’s cousin George who shares the bed when he has to work late. So yes< George jumped in the queen size bed as well. There was quite enough blanket for all three of us, and I think I lost the battle of the blankets. I feel they just had more experience in grasping to a share of blanket, but with a bit of practice I could compete with them. It gets cold here at night during their two winter months, and no place has heat, you just have a hot beverage and get under the blankets. Without the full blanket warmth I didn’t get much sleep.
Monday, June 14, 2010
not enough wifi in SA
On Monday I met Martin, he works at the cell phone store where I got my phone turned on. As he was sorting out my phone, we talked a bit, and he told me to call him later in the week for a tour of Soweto. I called him on Thursday evening and we agreed to meet up on Friday morning at his job. For those who might not know, Soweto is short for South West Townships. From the beginning of Joburg, the white population needed black labor, but didn’t want black neighbors. Well before the Apartheid government they tried to push blacks outside the city to their own areas. This includes Indians and anyone else with darker skin. Over a decade after apartheid began, the white population still wasn’t satisfied with the current level of segregation, so the government acquired a large piece of land well outside of the city (to the southwest). They tore down whole neighborhoods inside the city and forced people to move to Soweto. The living conditions were terrible in every possible way imaginable. It is still an area with lots of poverty and challenges. It is mostly proper homes at this point, although there are still a fair amount of shacks made of tin. There is lots more background information to be given about Soweto, but I’ll go on to my experiences.
Martin met me at 11am with his girlfriend Bernadette. We started off toward the public taxis, our first stop was the mall in Soweto. The mall was up to any US standard, unfortunately with American fast food chains as well. The large presence of American businesses is frustrating. SA needs foreign investment to build, I guess I just hope that SA and other countries end up with their fair market share as they develop. We got some biltong, which is dried meet, they dry every type of meat, right now I’m eating dried sausage. I got a South African flag painted on my face, so it was off to his Father’s house to grab the car. We talked to a few people on the way, ran a couple errands once we had the car, met up with his crew, got some beer and food, and we were about 10 minutes late arriving at the fan park we were watch the game at. While we were hanging out around Soweto, everyone was extremely friendly. I took this picture of Sbu in front of his house, he gave me a beer and shared his chicken with me. We got our food across the street from Sbu, many families sell food out of their homes.
I got to talk a lot with Martin and his friends about their lives, ambitions and such. In some ways SA and the US are much different. There is definitely better access to everything in the US, but challenges and concerns are very similar. His friends were great, I enjoyed being them. I am very grateful to them for allowing me to tag along on a day that was so meaningful to them.
The actually match was great fun. There were more people than could physically fit in the fan park. There was no space to move. Most of the crowd was blowing vuvuzelas in different rhythms, small pockets were chanting different things, but if you weren’t in the pocket chanting you couldn’t hear it. It was obvious something different was happening because they would wave the vuvuzelas in the air instead of blowing. When the goal was scored, it was a beautiful explosion, jumping and yelling and blowing and everything else. I was preoccupied with items on the ground, I was worried I might land a beer bottle or other recently dropped garbage as I was jumping and twist my ankle. I survived. In the end everyone felt good with a draw to begin. Both sides earned their point. It was a bit disappointing because most of Mexico’s chances including the goal, were pretty simple mental errors. I guess their nerves affected a bit. I was surprised at how much Mexico exposed themselves to counter-attacks over and over again. So again, in the end it was fair. But the country was robbed of a moment it would have cherished forever. I do not know if a victory in another match could equal what this may have been. Everyone had waited years for their boys to represent on their home, the whole country was ready to explode. It feels like some of that has been released, any victory will be huge, but I don’t think it will match what almost was.
I said goodbye to the Chandlers this morning. I will always be extremely grateful to them, not only for taking care of me, but just as much so for allowing me to get to know them and just the encouragement I received from being part of their family for a week.
Today has been a failure so far. I went to a fan park in joburg to watch the S Korea Greece match, but the fan park was closed for the first match, they were repairing something. So I started to walked up to the other fan park by park station. I figured I’d stop into Park Station and check out some travel schemes for tomorrow. I ended up running into some other Americans, who were puzzled by the Nigeria jersey I was wearing, and the fact that I was up in the air about going to Rustenburg. I went back and forth for a bit, and I did want to see Rustenburg, so I figured this was a good opportunity. So I am currently sitting on a bus in traffic approaching the stadium. We went through some beautiful countryside to get here, but I have been thrown back in with a bunch of egocentric westerners. This bus has been on African time, which is fair, cause we are in Africa, but these two great world powers are not so understanding. Once again, I don’t think the British and US fans are open to being changed by Africa, I sense they are looking for ways to change it. But we should be fine. I hope I can find a place to stay, and then figure out how to get out of here tomorrow. This is the only host city without train service. Ima try to close my eyes for a couple minutes before game time, until tomorrow.
The rest of the bus ride was quite interesting. There was almost mutiny, I think there would have been if anyone else knew how to drive the bus. The bus driver made a couple wrong turns, it turned out he really didn’t know where the stadium was. He also tried to make a stop with us a running very late, I’m not sure why, but he was gently encouraged to continue. The passengers were pretty rude to the bus driver, but at the same time, he was pretty bad and we made not have made the game without their intervention.
The England-US match was pretty average from an entertainment standpoint, England played good football at times, but there wasn’t much imagination from other side. The US are fortunate to come away with a point. I’m not much of a fan, I don’t like when the other fans yell mean things. I have to post what I have, I will try and clean this up and post the pictures soon tomorrow.
Martin met me at 11am with his girlfriend Bernadette. We started off toward the public taxis, our first stop was the mall in Soweto. The mall was up to any US standard, unfortunately with American fast food chains as well. The large presence of American businesses is frustrating. SA needs foreign investment to build, I guess I just hope that SA and other countries end up with their fair market share as they develop. We got some biltong, which is dried meet, they dry every type of meat, right now I’m eating dried sausage. I got a South African flag painted on my face, so it was off to his Father’s house to grab the car. We talked to a few people on the way, ran a couple errands once we had the car, met up with his crew, got some beer and food, and we were about 10 minutes late arriving at the fan park we were watch the game at. While we were hanging out around Soweto, everyone was extremely friendly. I took this picture of Sbu in front of his house, he gave me a beer and shared his chicken with me. We got our food across the street from Sbu, many families sell food out of their homes.
I got to talk a lot with Martin and his friends about their lives, ambitions and such. In some ways SA and the US are much different. There is definitely better access to everything in the US, but challenges and concerns are very similar. His friends were great, I enjoyed being them. I am very grateful to them for allowing me to tag along on a day that was so meaningful to them.
The actually match was great fun. There were more people than could physically fit in the fan park. There was no space to move. Most of the crowd was blowing vuvuzelas in different rhythms, small pockets were chanting different things, but if you weren’t in the pocket chanting you couldn’t hear it. It was obvious something different was happening because they would wave the vuvuzelas in the air instead of blowing. When the goal was scored, it was a beautiful explosion, jumping and yelling and blowing and everything else. I was preoccupied with items on the ground, I was worried I might land a beer bottle or other recently dropped garbage as I was jumping and twist my ankle. I survived. In the end everyone felt good with a draw to begin. Both sides earned their point. It was a bit disappointing because most of Mexico’s chances including the goal, were pretty simple mental errors. I guess their nerves affected a bit. I was surprised at how much Mexico exposed themselves to counter-attacks over and over again. So again, in the end it was fair. But the country was robbed of a moment it would have cherished forever. I do not know if a victory in another match could equal what this may have been. Everyone had waited years for their boys to represent on their home, the whole country was ready to explode. It feels like some of that has been released, any victory will be huge, but I don’t think it will match what almost was.
I said goodbye to the Chandlers this morning. I will always be extremely grateful to them, not only for taking care of me, but just as much so for allowing me to get to know them and just the encouragement I received from being part of their family for a week.
Today has been a failure so far. I went to a fan park in joburg to watch the S Korea Greece match, but the fan park was closed for the first match, they were repairing something. So I started to walked up to the other fan park by park station. I figured I’d stop into Park Station and check out some travel schemes for tomorrow. I ended up running into some other Americans, who were puzzled by the Nigeria jersey I was wearing, and the fact that I was up in the air about going to Rustenburg. I went back and forth for a bit, and I did want to see Rustenburg, so I figured this was a good opportunity. So I am currently sitting on a bus in traffic approaching the stadium. We went through some beautiful countryside to get here, but I have been thrown back in with a bunch of egocentric westerners. This bus has been on African time, which is fair, cause we are in Africa, but these two great world powers are not so understanding. Once again, I don’t think the British and US fans are open to being changed by Africa, I sense they are looking for ways to change it. But we should be fine. I hope I can find a place to stay, and then figure out how to get out of here tomorrow. This is the only host city without train service. Ima try to close my eyes for a couple minutes before game time, until tomorrow.
The rest of the bus ride was quite interesting. There was almost mutiny, I think there would have been if anyone else knew how to drive the bus. The bus driver made a couple wrong turns, it turned out he really didn’t know where the stadium was. He also tried to make a stop with us a running very late, I’m not sure why, but he was gently encouraged to continue. The passengers were pretty rude to the bus driver, but at the same time, he was pretty bad and we made not have made the game without their intervention.
The England-US match was pretty average from an entertainment standpoint, England played good football at times, but there wasn’t much imagination from other side. The US are fortunate to come away with a point. I’m not much of a fan, I don’t like when the other fans yell mean things. I have to post what I have, I will try and clean this up and post the pictures soon tomorrow.
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