The opening concert was pretty cool. John Legend was my favorite but I also enjoyed K'naan and of course Big Nuz with "Umlilo." Umlilo (meaning fire in Zulu) one best song of the year at the SA Music Awards this year and is one of my favorites. I did not like that SABC (SA Broadcasting company) found it necessary to put their commercial breaks so long that they cut off parts of the concert. Not cool. Not cool at all.
I am not at home right now, but will post a list of people's facebook statuses from the opening day so that you all can get flavor from the people of how damn excited everyone was yesterday. It was electric. I also have photos and videos to post.
So ever since I decided to stay in SA for World Cup I had one goal: see the opening night in Soweto. Soweto (standing for Southwest townships) is a township near Joburg. It's one of the most cosmopolitan townships in SA and I kind of think of it as the Cape Town of SA. It is also where the opening game and ceremony were held. I just wanted to party with the people there. I don't know how to explain in words to people unfamiliar with SA exactly why I had this desire...I just thought it was going to be the place to be on opening night.
We gathered a posse and decided to head off to Soweto for the opening festivities. But, upon hearing of all the crazy ass traffic and road closures due to the game, we decided to stick a bit closer to home. So we ended up going to a Fan Park in Centurion (a suburb of Pretoria). Fan Parks are something set up by FIFA in smaller stadium venues so that people can watch the games in a nice atmosphere. The entrance is free. There are big screens set up, food, beer, entertainment. It was so awesome there...except for the expensive beer and long lines for things like food and the toilet. But overall, I had a nice time. Got to meet some new people. Blew my vuvuzela until my lips chapped and got swollen. Taught a South African fan how to say "puta madre" whenever Mexico was shut down by SA defense. Danced and danced. Was chastized for not singing the SA national anthem...but hey, I only sing for America, people. (Many white South Africans don't know the words to the national anthem here, Nkosi si'kele iAfrica" and you can usually see them humming until the Afrikaans and English part come on. The rest of the song is in Zulu and Sotho or something)
But it was no Soweto...so I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Expectations are a mutha sometimes. And I don't mean to sound like an alcoholic...but I was far too sober up until this point for such a party party day in SA history.
After the game was over we decided to head back to Pretoria to Sunnyside (my neighborhood) to get some beer, food, and party. Cos it's usually happening there. Sunnyside was on fire...not literally, thankfully. I had kind of a hectic party day on Wednesday of this week and my stomach is only now recovering. I requested we go find a place to get pap n meat. It's always cheap and fills you up in a non-threatening kind of way. Pap is a thick porridge made from super-refined corn meal. This meal is usually served with some sort of sauce and meat. One of my favorite SA dishes. Kind of like SA comfort food for me, actually.
So we went and got our pap on this crazy street where people were blowing vuvuzelas and dancing in the streets. Stopping cars and acting a fool. It was kind of nice. People were being cool in a crazy festive sort of way. I saw these guys sort of "baptizing" cars that stopped at the traffic light with a SA flag. Dragging it over the car in the same motion that a car wash dryer makes. One thing you have to know about SA is that sometimes there is a very fine line between revelry and madness. This scene was approaching the later...and then the cops showed up. At this point we had our food and were eating outside. All of a sudden we would start to see people move quickly away from the intersection...like violence or gunfire was emminent. It reminded me of how people used to move in my high school lunchroom when the threat of a food fight moved. Ya know, kind of like scared sheep. We were starting to get nervous now, but we continued to eat. We saw that the police moving down the street, breaking people up, was what was causing this. But now all of us are saying "ah, ah, ah, something is going to happen here." And then it did...
All of a sudden some shots were fired. Not gun shots. I think it was pepper spray. But it didn't matter...people jumped up and scrambled inside on to the floor...just in case. Myself included. It was nuts. When things settled down after a few minutes we went back outside only to find that someone stole the chicken off of our plates...but not the pap. Wtf! Sorry to say, but it was a quintessential SA moment..hilarious in its bogusness. By now we just ate the rest of our food and got the heck out of there.
Now we decide we are going to hit up the House 22/Thebe's place/Da Joint complex. Ok, the last time I came here I got robbed. It was not cool, but it was also the product of too much alcohol, late night, not paying attention. THAT is how you get robbed in SA. Complacency will be taken advantage of here. We parked and went inside. Part of the problem last time was also that we parked on the street instead of inside the complex where the parking is more secure. We made this same mistake again this night. I complained when we parked on the street but it fell on deaf ears. Went inside, had a beer. People were pretty festive inside, but this place is always a good time. Part of the group went out to buy beer before the liquor store closed and then about an hour later part of the group went off to take some ladies home. Now the guy that stayed behind is telling me we have to go...now! We go out to the car to find that everything inside has been stolen. The car is still there. The beer is still there. But the ladies' purses are gone, my friend's bag is gone, my overnight bag is gone. What a pain!! I feel for the people that lost their IDs, phones, keys, etc. It recently happened to me and it's not fun. The things I had stolen were irreplaceable...like a hat my mom gave me, my favorite cloth from Mozambique, etc. The theives at least were in some World Cup spirit as they left our vuvuzelas in the car. So some soccer good did come from this horrible incident.
Now I am really annoyed. Broken Soweto plans (actually the whole day was like a plane that never got off the ground), police insanity, stolen chicken from right off our plates, I am far too sober, and now bags stolen. Ugh.
I'm sorry to post such a depressing story on a day when I want to shout how great SA is from the rooftops. But it's important that you also understand that SA is a country with 2 sides to its coin. Some days you get heads and some days you get tails. You must always know from me that I won't sensationalize the bad things here. Too many people do that and I don't like it because it overshadows all the beauty in the land and people of SA...and that is not fair.
The game was great. 1-1 draw for Mexico and SA. We were all hoping for a win from Bafana Bafana, but we will take a draw! And Tshabalala's goal was brilliant. Nice and clean. The defense was AWESOME! Hats off to the goalie for SA...he did such a great job. Modise...dude, you need to go see a sangoma or something to get that curse off your head. You played kak. Sorry to say.
France and Uruguay played also. Result was a 0-0 draw. I didn't watch the game so I can't say too much about it.
Today I'm looking forward to Nigeria and Argentina and of course the USA vs Australia or New Zealand or whatever down under team they are playing :)
Hugs everyone...let's keep the spirit up here!!!
Love
Lynsee
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