The (mis)Adventures of Miss Lynsee Melchi

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu

2011-01-20T14:23:00.000-06:00

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu

-Zulu saying translating into “A person is a person because of other people.”

I have been accused, of late, of posting cryptic status updates on my Facebook page. My enigmatic phrases aren’t necessarily meant to exclude. Sometimes my updates make sense to everyone. Sometimes they make sense to one continent, but not another. Sometimes they make sense to a few. Sometimes they make sense only to me. It’s my personal outlet of expression and I choose to express myself as I see fit…whether it’s understood or not.

The status update is an extension of whatever random thoughts are popping around my brain or a concise way of sharing a snapshot of my physical momentito. I’m not always thinking in American English and if that’s all you speak…you may be assed out from time to time. Sometimes, due to the public nature of Facebook, it is prudent to speak in code so that one can express one’s true “status” without directly busting out the person/people/situation in question. But mostly the words that pop up in your news feed from me are just the fleeting thoughts of another person in your web.

Yes, I do think in status updates sometimes. It’s embarrassing and strange sign of the times, for better or worse. Plus, now I have a lot more ways of thinking and expressing myself as I daily increase my language palette and vocabulary. There are some days when I want to talk South African, but don’t because I know that my conversation contributions will fall on deaf ears. Sometimes even “normal” sounding phrases are met with confusion here at home. The other day I tacked on an “as well” to my sentence to mean “too” or “also.” “As well” is a SAn relic that lingers on my tongue. I was in a high school classroom when I said this and the kids were not used to this expression. The student I was directing the sentence to thought I was calling him an asshole. It was a hilarious misunderstanding. Sometimes American English just isn’t enough. Not when there are so many wonderful expressions available!

“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” is constantly floating around my brain. I think it’s one of the best phrases I’ve ever learned. If I was forced at gunpoint to get a tattoo these are the words I would prick permanently into my skin. Where did I learn these words? The answer is simple…beer. Homer Simpson told us that beer is the cause and solution to all life’s problems. Again his words ring true.

In South Africa there is a beer called Castle Milk Stout. It is the only commercially available dark beer in South Africa. It’s something along the lines of Guinness, but better. Its nickname is “inkunz emnyama” or “black bull” in Zulu. It also happens to be mostly consumed by older black men…and me. The mamas of Onderstepoort used to tease me so much about my love of this beer and if I went to go see them right now they would ask if I was still drinking inkunz emnyama. My love of this beer strikes a chord of hilarity in most South Africans that I just can’t explain enough.

Recently the brewers had a marketing campaign directed, presumably, toward the major demographic purchasing their product. It was called “Amasiko amanje” or something like that. I am probably not spelling that correctly, but it translated into something like “our culture now.” Each label featured a phrase either in Sotho or Zulu with an English translation. Frankly, this is the shit. I kept a couple of them, but my favorite was “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.”

Wise words tucked into my jewelry box

More wise words in my wallet

After I learned this phrase, I started to see it in other places. Like on posters at the Department of Home Affairs. Apparently Home Affairs (something similar to the INS in the USA) was using this phrase as its marketing campaign too. Being able to recognize this phrase in other places cemented its placement in my brain even further. I may one day forget all the Zulu words I know, but I guarantee that this phrase will always be burned into my memory.

Say it: UMUNTU NGUMUNTU NGABANTU

(oo-MOO-ntoo ngoo-MOO-ntoo ngah-BAH-ntoo)

These days the phrase is so important to me (and thus frequently appears in my status updates) because it is probably the one concept that is keeping me afloat right now. It is most certainly the phrase that best defined my 2010. And it looks like it will make a strong showing in 2011 too.

Right now, specifically financially, but in some other ways too, feels like a very low point in my life. This is easily the most consistently broke I have ever been. I’m super confused about what to do with my life. I don’t have that many friends in Waukegan. It’s cold outside!! And on and on. It’s been really stressful and continues to be stressful as I build myself up. Please take my words with a grain of salt because I realize that my actions have gotten me here. I only worked 4-5 months of 2010…namely because I was dicking around in South Africa for the other 7 months of the year. My choice. There are many other examples and explanations required to qualify why I have no right to complain or be a baby right now, but they are boring and you can spend your own time thinking them over. I know these things, but I still get stressed out. I can’t help it. I’m a human and I can be weak. I’m also an impatient person and, although things are moving slowly in a positive direction (or at least into the future), sometimes things just don’t move fast enough for my liking. Boo hoo, right?

I’ve been trying hard to think about the reality of my situation instead of falling into martyrdom. The positives. It’s not easy. I fail at it all the time. I act out and treat people mean because I am so freaked out. I’m sorry.

“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” is one thing that snaps me back. My situation would be infinitely worse if it were not for the kindness of those around me. For people like Helen and Ross that tolerated me in their house in Pretoria for 7 months and brought me treats from SA when they visited the USA. For Edwin. For Surprise who took care of me in the wilds of Sunnyside. For my mom, who is constantly taking me out and getting me things I need but can’t afford, like new underpants. For my 2^nd family who pick me up and take me out and do a million other things for me. For Dave who lets me get behind on my rent and still buys me beers even though I owe him the national debt of a small Baltic state. For my brother who keeps the nicotine flowing and helped me buy a car. For Big C who texts me stanky treats and keeps up my spirits. For Nick who always shows up with random gifts from the dollar store. For for for…there are a million people to mention here. A million kindnesses paid my way. A million reasons to be grateful. All wrapped up in 3 little words that I promise even you can pronounce: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu…

So…thanks. I would be dead without you. Nothing without you. All of you…wherever you are.

And next time you see some crazy words in another language up on my facebook thing…don’t be shy. Ask me wtf I’m talking about. I promise in some reality it makes sense. Maybe not in your reality but if you ask me I’ll open the door. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu is just the beginning.

Happy 2011 and may you have the good sense in the upcoming year to see and be grateful for all the people that make you a person.

A nationless world

2010-09-01T16:21:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share a promotional video for a project my friend Jie Song is working on for the upcoming World Expo in Shanghai. This video is really awesome and I felt appropriate for the feel of my blog. I hope you enjoy it too!

See the trailer at: http://www.nationlessworld.com/

From the porch--8/12/10

2010-08-14T09:28:00.001-05:00

Call your parents. Right now. For no reason except to say hi. In my family we are close, but maybe not calling everyday close. Today, without direct intention or even realizing it until now, I brought flowers from the yard to my mom’s work and called my dad for a quick chat. Just for shits and giggles. It was nice and sort of gave me a warm fuzzy that was unplanned. It’s good to be able to be geographically closer to the ones I love. So, call your parents or send ‘em flowers or a letter. I’m sure they will appreciate it and so will you.

Today is the start of Ramadan. Millions and billions of Muslims are praying, fasting, being mindful of their thoughts and actions, and spending time with family today. And will do so for a whole month. I’ll be honest…many a Ramadan has passed in my day without a 2^nd thought going through my brain. The only reason I’m thinking of it now is because I’ve recently made a new Muslim friend from Algeria. I’ve been thinking about him a lot for various reasons but I have to say that I find it hard to grasp his day-to-day in Algeria. I’ve been reading tons of books about Algeria (thank you Waukegan Public Library…living 2 blocks away from you is just the massive awesome geek fest I needed!). But still I find it hard to mentally create a palpable existence for him from something I’ve only read about in books. Especially a life steeped in religious guidelines and discipline so clearly absent from my own life. Plus to think that millions or billions of people are all moving together in the same motions today all because of some dude called Mohammed…wow. I don’t know…it’s just kind of interesting to let my mind wander in that. Physics, time, relativity, etc dictate that different universes and planes of existence may or may not exist in parallel with our own. But we don’t have to look far or use calculus to see other worlds. Other planes of existence or reality. It’s a big old goofy world out there and even a person walking down the street in front of your house is occupying a different orbital of life. Your mission is empathy and understanding for each person you encounter…and even those that you don’t. Not easy…yes. But try hugs, smiles, friendly words, and the underlying fact that humans are humans are humans. Umuntu ngumuntu ngumuntu. These tools work wonders. You don’t need physics or Einstein to get that.

Side note: How much random shit do we get into cos of our hearts? I tried Pink Floyd in high school (minus the drugs) because of Alex Radosevich and now I’m on some crazy Algerian tip. All because some cute boy spoke French and smiled at me. But at the end of the day…I’m learning and pondering in new directions because of it. Life is strange and takes us in so many directions, some good some bad, because of cute smiles.

PBR aka Pabst Blue Ribbon beer is a solid ass beer. So cheap and doesn’t exactly taste like crap even though it’s union made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin…the home of shitty beer production. Yeah, it’s resting on its laurels from some prize (a blue ribbon prize…) it won in 1-8-9-whatever, but right on. PBR…you rock my silly American world. Thanks for being on draft almost everywhere. You always got my back.

Yeah…I’d rather drink Oberon with a slice of orange, but I still loves ya PBR!

Teenagers…eat a dick. I was so happy to get back to being around you. Shooting the shit, being silly, being a guide if you need that. But today the balance was thrown off and you annoy me. Thank goodness for PBR to help me release the tension you built up between my ears. I haven’t given up on you. You are bright and beautiful…even when you are working my nerves with your brilliant testing-the-waters glare. Let’s get along tomorrow cos I don’t want to have to eject you from my class.

It has been said, or at least heavily implied, that I have a problem with authority. Right now this little rebel yells 2 blocks from the Waukegan Police Department. I have not calculated how many squad cars pass by per hour (calculation coming soon, no doubt), but it is many. One thing that strikes me about all these cops is that they never look at me sitting on the porch as they drive by. Sorry to sound like an egomaniac. I am still not acclimated to all the cops so as soon as I see one pass by my eyes instantly zoom to their car. Habit, I suppose. I think even the most chaste nun will think twice about how straight and pure her steps are in the midst of the law. Shame, really. That we should feel guilty and examine our most innocent presentations in the presence of the police. We are trained. All of us. But aren’t the cops serving and protecting (and being paid by) us? And we feel guilty…? Strange. I digress. This was not my original point, but words are flowing and Rage Against the Machine is on the speakers…

I meant to conclude that it is likely that the cops would calmly pass me by without a blink even if I was naked and smoking a massive spliff on my porch. Sometimes the best place to get away with something is in the home territory of the beast. Theory to be tested later…

There is SO a cassette deck in the driver’s ed car I am using at work!!! I am about to get massively crazy to all the old jams! If you see me dancing in my seat and singing at the stop light…just chuckle and forgive me. Kid in the candy store syndrome. I have not rocked the tapes in a good 5 years. Mostly cos I haven’t had a deck that doesn’t eat tapes in that long. Nice and Easy, Mo and Al’s wedding tape, Lynsee and Kai’s tape for long stoned drives, A syringe of joy, Local 101/Empire records…you will all soon get play. Dust yourselves off. Today I grooved to a Derek house mix…5 minutes of “condom song” (aka DJs @ work “go down” song) between driving lessons and classroom. More to come. Plus the addition of windows-down-hair-whipping-joy. Wait…does the tail end of this summer keep getting better or what???

The mosquitoes are crazy bad this year. Mosquitoes are something everyone has an opinion about. I haven’t been around so I just have to listen to the theories. Too much rain and blah blah blah. I heard the City of Waukegan is dead broke…like California and Illinois broke. Side note: check this hilarious Onion article on what the State of Illinois is doing to make ends meet in this budget crisis (http://www.theonion.com/articles/illinois-does-a-few-adult-films-to-make-ends-meet,17823/) “I just want to be clear on one thing…IL does not do anal.” LOL) If I remember correctly, Waukegan sprays for mosquitoes. Or they used to. I remember in my youth the city trucks rolling through the neighborhood at night with their spraying sound innocuously filling the silence. Maybe they are too broke to do it now. All I know is that I can’t shake a damn shrubbery without being attacked…

I’m living with my friend Dave and his cat these days. It’s so good to live with an animal again (the cat…not Dave). Her name is “Sans,” cos she only has one eye, but I just call her “Kitty Pants.” No reason. It just came to me. She is very adorable and I am enjoying her antics a lot. She is kind of naughty and likes to climb on things and knock them over. I find it hilarious even though it’s probably going to bite me in the ass one day. One downfall of moving so much is not having an animal around. Good times about to be had by all.

American assimilation part #1,578: What I did for my summer vacation

2010-08-06T16:05:00.001-05:00

I’m up to my ears in summertime these days. It’s glorious. Walking off a plane into summer is a pretty beautiful thing. Something not to be missed. Try it some time…I beg you…

Imagine all the cold baby-making days of winter that trudge on endlessly. You look out the frosty bus window just dreading the sidewalk sludgefest awaiting your boots. The chilly floors greeting your toes in the dark morning. The cough syrup. The undershirts. In South Africa the winter is less ferocious but still less pleasant than the warm tank top days of summer in SA. It is still possible to get a tan on the porch but you have to work much harder to soak up the sun.

Imagine you can flip the script, winter to summer, in 24 hours. We’ve all hoped for it from the frozen tundra. I am sure of that.

Well, I did it

Long version: Joburg—Cairo—New York—Vermont—Chicago—Waukegan—Urbana—Waukegan

Short version: Winter—Summer

So how have I spent my summer vacation? I stand before you with sweaty palms and practiced cursive penned on paper…yarns to tell. Grandma’s house? Roadtrips? Theme parks? Just wait…

Today I went fishing. Catfishin’ to be exact. Saw some friends out last night and we made a lazy Sunday fishin’ pact. Poles, chicken livers, smokes, Budweiser (yes, Taki, Budweiser), and a little spot of free time on a dusky Sunday coming down. We didn’t catch shit, but it was good enough to be out there on the banks of “Dead Man Lake” (a few bodies are pulled out of there every year) just having a good time. Slapping mosquitoes and swapping tales. Overall it was an idyllic summer moment in a string of small joys that have welcomed me back to my home.

My recent time in South Africa was short, comparatively. But as my brother might recite…it was short and hard like a body building elf. I was ready to come home this time. More than ready.

In these last weeks there’s been perfect moments of home that have wrapped me in a warm embrace. Cliched feelings, maybe…insert warm milk and cookies or puppy dogs or rainbows. But inside I still scream “I’M HOME! THIS IS MY F**KING HOME!” The bread that raised the babe…

Cruising by instantly tall tassled corn

Demolition Derby and funnel cakes

Closing out the “basement” with my bro

Kilborn Alley on a Saturday night

PBR

Catfish perch on a darkened bank

Carnitas, root beer, orange tootsie roll pops

The dishes saga…continues

Dancing with Jacques

Metra meditation

Dirty looks from outside smoking corners

Porch livin’

Walking the streets at night without fear

Inappropriate old men and $1 snacks at the Rose Bowl

Moist humid dirt and forest smells

Cars that stop for you when you walk across the street

Organic tree huggin’ gluten free fare

Geeking out at the library

BBQ in the alley

Pharmaceutical scare tactics on prime time

Hulk Hogan debt commercials…CREDIT APPROVAL! (insert thunder sound effect)

Not being noticed on the street

Boycotting the ‘navigator’ position in mom’s car

Little Debbie

The Daily Show

Hugs…lots and lots of hugs

…plus many many more moments too tiny to record but powerful enough to register emotion…

Many of you folks I’ve met away from home have asked me about my home. Sometimes I don’t know what to tell you. It’s always the little things that escape grand description that give your home that unmistakable something. I also don’t think my American experience describes what everyone here is doing. I’m probably a bit of a weirdo in any environment. But this is my essay. This is my home. This is my abridged summer so far.

To the wonder and enchantment of summer...

Hugs

Lynsee

Summer thoughts from the train

2010-08-05T19:18:00.001-05:00

"There's a bright, golden haze on the meadow.

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye

And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky.

Oh, what a beautiful Mornin'

Oh, what a beautiful day.

I've got a beautiful feelin'

Everything's goin' my way. "

-from "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" from the musical "Oklahoma!"

(Some time around the "high as an elephant's eye" mark, Summer 2009)

The corn gave it away. The corn always gives it away. Watching the corn grow over the span of a summer is one of my favorite things about summer in the USA. It’s the unofficial timeline for summer in the Midwest. “Knee high by the 4^th of July” is what we say around here. No matter what is happening with you the corn is always there growing and reminding you just how much summer has elapsed and how much is left for living it up. Even though the field is bound to turn to dry brown stalks cut off at the shins…it’s still comforting to have the corn growing up around you in the summer. It’s “home” to me. I didn’t know I missed it until I saw a big field of tall ass corn in Vermont. It made me realize that even though I just came from winter into summer…the summer is almost gone! Better enjoy it while I can J

I’m currently speeding through the USA landscape on a train bound for Chicago. Soaking up corn fields. Thinking about how damn tall the corn is already as we pass each field. The national long distance train in the USA, Amtrak, takes an interesting path through the USA. Usually when I ride this train I feel like I am entering someone’s house from the back door they no longer use. You pass a lot of fields…I’ve seen grapes, corn, soybeans, horticulture plants, evergreens, and some other things I couldn’t identify. You pass through the forgotten railroad yards and industrial areas of days past…days when the train was king. You seem to go through a lot of peoples’ backyards. And tiny towns that have long been taken off the major car routes. It seems like the whole human landscape has its back turned to you when you take the train while the human infrastructure of the highway is openly inviting you to enter. Buy our gas. Buy our food. Stop here. You don’t get that on the train. You just pass through the backside of life. It gives you an interesting glimpse of America. A more relaxed and less pretentious look. Plus there are less crazy people and folks coming home from jail on the train. Always a bonus. Compared to Amtrak…taking Greyhound is sort of like travelling through the legitimate underbelly of America. Less than savory buses, passengers, and stations. But Amtrak is a little classier and you get the back door view…nice.

I started to think on summer cos in a few hours I’m going to be home to enjoy the tail end of summer with friends and family. County fairs, demo derbies, riding with the windows down, staying up too late cos the summer magic has got you, and other such nonsense fueled by that hot summer vibe.

The corn (and Julie) told me…it’s county fair time!

I think I talked about it before in an old post…but I’m most excited about the demo derby at the county fair. County fairs are local events that usually last a week and often happen in the late summer. People in the area show off their livestock, farm produce, baked goods, art, home craft work, and just about anything else you can enter into a contest. My favorite things to see here are the sheep, pigs (like to give a nice little slap on the backfat), and freaks of the farm (the tallest corn grown, etc). Usually there are carnival rides, games, and plenty of the worst (and most delicious) kind of food you can stuff your face with. You will find just about anything on a stick or fried at the county fair. I’ve had fried twinkies and seen many other interesting fried things (like pickles). Mmmm…funnel cakes are the best. It’s fried dough that is drizzled out of a cone into hot oil. When fried, it comes in the shape of an elephant’s ear (that’s the other name for it) made of one continuous fried dough worm and is covered with powdered sugar and other things. Delicious!

(Mmmmm...funnel cake...2010 Champaign County IL Fair)

But the real gem of any county fair, in my humble opinion, is the demolition derby. Or demo derby for short. The demo derby is a tournament involving cars that people enter as a team. The cars in the derby “battle” in rounds of about 10 cars each. They start in a blocked off area and just smash into each other until only a few cars are standing. The cars that are left go on to the next rounds (semifinals, etc) and compete until only 1 car is left standing. The cars are “fixed” up for the match, usually to make them more hardy and less dangerous. The gas tank is removed and placed somewhere else. All the glass is taken out of the car, etc. There are rules (like you can’t usually hit people head on, you have to hit people while backing up into them) and surprisingly I have never really witnessed anyone getting majorly hurt at one of these events. I have been to many demo derbies in my day and look forward to attending quite a few more. Friday I should be down for the Champaign County Fair Demo Derby and if I have my way then I’ll be soaking up a few more before the summer is out.

(2009 Lake County IL Fair's Demo Derby winner)

Last year at the Lake County Fair (the fair for my area) was the best for demo derby action. I met a young lady through random chatter and we ended up watching the rest of the derby together. It was great cos she was just as hardcore as me about the derby. We shouted at cars and got covered in mud together. She got us these radical seats in the front row about ½ way through the day so we really had it good for the final. Damn…that was a sweet derby…

(Me and my new friend Wendy...the 2009 demo queens!)

This year there is a special event going on with my friend. Her kids are showing horses, dogs, and chickens in the Kenosha County Fair up in Wisconsin and they are camping out for the whole week. She’s invited me to come hang out with her and the fam for the week. She enticed me with thoughts of how we could stumble home from the beer tent. Nice one, Julie…but you had me at “sleepover at the county fair.” Should be fun J I haven’t done the fair sleepover thing in a long long time.

Damn…headed into Toledo…5 hours behind schedule…which means I’m going to miss my chance to hit the Lake County Fair with my friend today. But at least I’m headed home…finally…via Chicago.

Hugs

Lynsee

2 feet on American soil…but not quite home yet

2010-07-22T14:45:00.000-05:00

Landed in New York City on July 12 to hot sticky summer…aw yeah! I bought my ticket in December to end in New York with the forethought that I’d come home and hit NYC and Vermont to visit friends. Good plan initially, but these days I’m rollin’ on credit twinkles and I was worried that I might max out my funds just getting back to the Midwest. In fact, I’m all good on that front so this stopover in New England has proved to be quite cool.

At the airport I waited for my bags and then jumped into a line for a yellow cab to Manhattan. My friend Sandra, another Pietermartizburg student friend, is living in the East Village on Manhattan and graciously took me in for a few days. I haven’t seen her in awhile, although she used to come and visit in Illinois from time to time.

Being back in the USA was immediately an interesting experience. There is a swirl of the known and unknown happening that is quite weird. Mostly I try not to think about it and just let myself readjust as I will. Although I’ve never been to NYC there was an inherent ease of movement just because it’s the USA. On the flip there was a strangeness because this place was not the place I just came from. And a city I’ve never been to. Right now it’s been over a week since I landed and this familiar/unfamiliar balancing act has still been coloring my thoughts and behavior. Sometimes to points of absolute hilarity but also sometimes it’s just a bit disorienting.

(USA convenience culture at its finest...after a drive thru liquor store, that is)

(USA "no shit sherlock" culture at its finest)

(USA consumer culture at its loudest...Times Square NYC)

Sandra agreed to pay for a taxi for me to get to her place. What a doll J because my bags are pretty much murder enclosed in canvas. I got to a meeting place in Sandra’s neighborhood, a scuba shop she frequents, and waited for a bit to meet her after work. Cal, the owner of the dive shop, was super cool and we drank a beer while waiting. It was great to see Sandra. She is someone I never thought I’d stay friends with after South Africa because in ‘Maritzburg we used to fight a lot. But we’ve kept in touch and I can honestly say I’m proud to call this lady a friend.

Sandra and I didn’t get to spend too much time together because she was going to Peru about 2 days after I arrived. We spent our time grabbing a bite to eat and wandering around her neighborhood. She just moved there in the last month into an apartment she bought. So it was new for her too. We had a great time together and I wish I could have spent more time with her. I guess I just have an excuse to come back to NYC.

NYC is one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen. It’s pretty much just mind-blowing. Cape Town is my favorite city in the world, besides Chicago, but now that I’ve tasted NYC I think Cape Town has a run for its money. I couldn’t help but compare Chicago to New York. Obviously NYC is much much bigger and older than Chicago, but even this country mouse couldn’t help but note many general urban threads running through and binding both cities.

“The City that Never Sleeps” is no joke. I have been having issues staying up super late since I’ve gotten back. The sun was going down around 6pm in Pretoria and now it goes down after 8pm. When the sun goes down I innately think it’s like dinner time, so I end up staying up until 1 or 2pm almost every night with ease. I am used to things shutting a bit early in South Africa and going out to eat at 11pm, a norm in a big ciy like NYC, was astounding to me. I was staying up later on accident, but the city had it down to a science. It seems that New Yorkers have found a way to cram every last space with something. From their time to the physical space in their city. I saw the most amazing highway structures in NYC. I saw one mille feuilles layer cake of a bridge that had about 5 routes of traffic (car, train) horizontally and then about 3 layers vertically. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. And the bridge was an old stone arch bridge that one would not expect all the ants to be moving through in their cars. It was breathtaking. In SA I was getting so GEEKED to see the Guatrain tracks being built but this structure blew that paltry little cement pedestal out of the water!

(Basement doors in NYC that open right out into the sidewalk...see...these people stack it up)

I once went to a chicken slaughterhouse in KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. In that place there were chicken bodies in various stages of undress whizzing around on conveyor belts and even above our heads on tracks. It was multi-layer madness. New York felt this way to me without the obvious morbid overtones that this comparison might bring up. It was actually quite exhilarating and impressive. Hats off, NYC!

Walking around the streets of NYC was really interesting because just 2 days before I was walking around the streets of central Johannesburg. The comparison of the two environments was constantly nagging on my brain. I was still in hyper Guateng mode and it was hard to just switch to USA city mode. In the cities here you do have to keep some street smarts about you…but not really. Depending on what part of the city you are in. I was on Manhattan island and it seemed super safe there. While walking I was just part of the landscape instead of sore thumb I become in some SA environments. It was so liberating even though the SA state of mind was still loud in my head. This is one of the best parts about being home.

Luckily I didn’t have any run-ins crossing the street. Sometimes when I switch between two countries that drive on opposite sides of the road…I have problems with stepping out in front of cars cos I forget to look in the correct direction of traffic. No problems this time, but I was still super cautious of crossing because in South Africa, especially in the city, the cars don’t stop for you to cross. Even if you are an old lady with grocery bags. Sandra often stepped out in front of cars and they just stopped for her. Meanwhile I’m cowering on the corner silently screaming “No! Don’t cross!” She was like “Don’t worry…they will stop.” I don’t know man. I don’t know. Adjustments…

Since I just came from World Cup central…I’ve been spying little hidden World Cup messages around. Bars still advertising for the Cup (mind you, it’s over now). I saw an AMAZING bus stop ad for ESPN that mimicked the painting of George Washington crossing the Potomac except all the characters were USA Soccer players. Awesome! I have been so amazed at how many people have asked me “Did you just come from South Africa?” Usually they ask after seeing some South African item in my hand or on my body. The interesting part of this simple question is the use of the term “South Africa.” And the fact that people are visually recognizing something that they think is of South African origin. This has never happened to me on such a grand scale in the USA. If people recognize something visually they usually say something about “Africa” and move about their day. Or the worst is when people tell me they have a friend John from Africa but they don’t even know what country he hails from. Watch my brown hair turn white strand by strand…eish! But now people are seeing stuff…thinking SOUTH AFRICA…and then standby for a quick conversation. It’s kind of awesome. My conclusion on this matter is that now the term, idea, place “South Africa” has a spot in the USA thought process. It no longer exists in the amorphous space outside USA borders called “Africa.” It’s a specific place. This is great not only for South Africa, but also the whole continent of Africa. Mostly people were asking me about South Africa after seeing my vuvuzela but some other things prompted this question too. It’s been cool.

(World Cup...nothing else matters...)

(Amazing bus stop ad for World Cup)

On the vuvuzela tip…so far I have gotten 4 people to blow my vuvuzela. My friend, the greyhound bus driver up to Vermont, and two of Clara’s friends. I will add more! I have slowed down on this front cos last time we blew the vuvuzela the cops came…so gotta keep it on the down low. Ha ha…vuvuzela on the down low…does such a thing exist?

(Curtis tries out the vuvuzela...and then the cops came)

So Sandra and her girlfriend went off to Peru and I stayed at Sandra’s apartment. After a day of walking around Manhattan by my lonesome (awesome), I decided to head up to Vermont to see my best friend, Clara. Vermont is a little green mountainous sliver of a state that extends from Canada down to the northern edge of Massachusetts. It’s about 5 hours north of NYC by bus. So I taxi’d my enormous bags down to the bus station and got myself to Vermont. It was great to flow from the hectic NYC landscape through small little New England towns and finally to the green of Vermont. New England is very picturesque and so old that it sort of doesn’t have an American feel to it. Or at least a very different feel from the place I come from.

Vermont has been awesome. Clara is one of my best friends and although we are in constant contact over the internet and phone, being there in 3D is something else. I’ve been here for about a week now and it’s all going by like a big blur. So much to do. So much porch sitting and relaxing. Carlo and Elvis. We’ve been up to great activities on top of spending hours just reading, chatting, and listening to music on her full length porch. I am such a porch junkie so this feature of her place is great to me. I’ve slept out here each night on a cushion. It’s refreshing to be down with the rhythms of the outdoors. Sun, rain, spiders (!), the sound of the trains passing by just across the river. The other day I heard a big crack and then saw a tree fall on top of a pickup truck. Small town scandal! The fire trucks came. Then the cops. Then the fire officers. Then the cleanup crew. It was the most fascinating small town front page scene. Porch sittin’…you are my heart.

(My porch sleeping nest overlooking a canal of the Connecticut River)

We’ve been to a little music show in a barn in the forest, climbed down into a gorge to swim in the river below Bellows Falls (the falls give the name to the town we are in), yesterday we kayaked. Have had good food, good conversations, and overall a pretty rock’n mellow time. This is the life. I am so damn happy to be home and I haven’t even gotten to my actual home yet…

(Coming home from a long night of partying...stuffed, South African style, in the back of a truck)

(Bellows Falls, Vermont by night)

(Kayak'n on the Connecticut River)

Side note on Vermont…they really do put maple syrup in everything. Just in case you were wondering. It’s true. Clara and I went to a farmers’ market in her neighborhood and they made my lemonade with maple syrup instead of sugar. Now that’s dedication to your syrup! The cheese here is good. And the environment is alternately redneck heaven and artist land. Interesting dichotomy…all amid the backdrop of the Green Mountains. Vermont, you little beauty, you.

(Vermont...that's what's up)

The beer here is amazing. I have starving in South Africa on a poor choice of beers. South Africa has about 6 or 7. Most bars here have about 6 or 7 beers just on tap. Almost all local handcrafted microbrews. Heaven, heaven, heaven. I went to a brewery for lunch in NYC and have been enjoying the smorgasbord of beer that is exploding everywhere. Did I mention it’s good to be home?

I should be here for a little less than a week and then I’m headed home to the Midwest. Back to life, back to reality. Got a job waiting for me. A place to sleep. Friends, family, and carne asada tacos. Woza.

Hope you all are well…riding a summer high in the North or anticipating the end of winter in the South

Hugs and as always…keep the faith and spread it gently

Love

Lynsee

World Cup finals and heading back to Disneyland

2010-07-22T12:29:00.000-05:00

Hey folks! Know I’ve been quiet of late, especially considering the massive blog explosion of the past month, but I’ve been in transit for the last week. Back to Disneyland, but not back to the Midwest just yet. So…bear with me as I try to take it all in, process, and blog it J

I guess we last left off about a week ago with the semifinals for the World Cup: Uruguay vs. Holland and Spain vs. Germany. Right? My last weekend in South Africa was pretty much as awesome as it could be, but there was a plentiful lack of soccer. I mean it’s pretty impossible to not step in a pile of soccer in SA at the moment…but I didn’t go out of my way to get me some soccer. As I said, I felt pretty indifferent about the final teams and my departure for the USA overlapped with the final game of the World Cup so I for the 1^st time in the whole month I actually had a higher priority than watching World Cup soccer. Wow.

For the rest of the week I just tied up my loose ends in South Africa. This time there were surprisingly few things to attend to…just a hard drive warranty to iron out and packing and visiting. Sweet. It’s nice not to have stress on this front cos it always seems like you leave a million things til the end when you are shifting.

Friday I spent the night at my friend Edwin’s house and we watched a bunch of cool art movies. READ: nudity and classical music…that’s pretty much an art movie to me. LOL. We watched Bitter Moon, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and probably some other things. Unbearable Lightness of Being was the most excellent movie. I highly recommend it. It was nice to chill with Edwin. He’s been my best friend and constant companion in Pretoria. It was good to spend some last one-on-one time together tucked away from the World Cup swirl.

The next morning, early, I psyched myself up to hit Joburg. It was really important for me to see my friends Bento, Daphney, and their son before I left. Priority. Also needed to head out to Kempton Park to visit my friend Nhawu. A close friend and a non-technological friend. There is a high chance I will never see him again. But you’re still in my heart, friend! Nolu, a friend from school days in SA past also asked to hang out so there was much to do and many to see in Jozi. Are you following this?

I tried, and failed, to get a posse together for Joburg. Joburg by taxi is kind of scary…even for me. So if you can bring company it’s always preferred. Bree Street (where the taxis from Pretoria drop off in Joburg) is not exactly a friendly place for anyone. But…a necessary evil when you got a people mission in Joburg. I landed in Bree Street, put on my streetwise visage, and headed out into the taxi rank madness. The ride was cool. Taxi ranks are always interesting places to check out, but can be dangerous so you don’t want to be around snap’n pics and ogling the urban landscape. I saw a hilarious shop called “MTN: Meat too nice.” MTN is a cell phone company in South Africa so it was a nice little wordplay on the butcher’s part. Well done. When my friends Ramsey and Lina were visiting from Jordan they wanted to go truck around Joburg. I was kind of against it but willing to accompany them rather then send them to Bree Street on their own. In the end we didn’t go to Joburg and I feel kind of bad for not taking them after having my own journey to Joburg this last weekend in SA. Sorry Ramsey and Lina! Cos you would have loved checking out the sights…

Navigated through Bree Street with no problems even though I had to walk a few blocks to another rank for my taxi. Got to Bento and Daphney’s place without too much static. Had some “taxi scene since World Cup” chatting with a fellow passenger. He was saying that there were a lot more white people on the taxis in Joburg since World Cup (nice!). He also said the drivers were being nicer too J It was great to see my friends and hang out with Lil B…he’s a cutie and has the most amazing deep dark wells of eyes. Adorable! My friend Cbuza swung by and we chatted and hung out over some beers. Daphney and Bento cooked up some pap and meat so I got my last fix on the pap n vleis tip…thanks! Another friend, Nolu, came by and then it was time for me to head off. Hugs to the Bento and Daph fam J Love you!

(Lil B, Daphney, and Bento)

(Peace out, Cbuza!)

Nolu and I were going to go have some goodbye beers at the Joburg Zoo Lake Bowling Club. Probably my favoritest place to have beers in SA. The space is very reminiscent of a local Legion hall or hole-in-the-wall at home. Some down home Wisconsin wood paneling shit. Fish Fry Friday and such. Aw yeah. It’s so chill and nice at the Bowling Club. They play hiphop and other music that doesn’t suck and it’s not a fancy place at all. This is important to me. I am under the impression that many places in Joburg are very hoity toity places and that just ain’t me. Also there is just too much franchise action in SA. It means you end up drinking in the same bar in one city that you would drink at in your home town…this might be nice for some but I find it very sterile, unimaginative, and boring. Also the Bowling Club beer and food is cheap. Definitely a plus.

(At the Bowling Club with Nolu)

Nolu and I met a very nice young man that claims he wasn’t a nerd…however anyone that references so many scientific papers in the span of 3 beers is totally a nerd. Sorry Paul! Embrace it J Good conversation and chilling with Nolu. We went to school in SA in 2002 and have been in touch since. It was super great to chill with her and this was only the beginning of the night! We headed off to catch some of the losers bracket final (Uruguay vs. Germany) at a braai with some of our other friends from school days past. This was a major treat for me cos I haven’t seen these guys in awhile! I did see them once in the last 6 months I spent in SA but this was definitely nice to see them on my way out. We have been friends for like 8 years now…whoa. So there’s a lot of joy when we get together. And beer. Ha ha ha.

(The PMB crew...back row, L-R: not sure, me, Lawrence, Tongai, Bontle. front row, L-R: Robert, Nolu, Tozi, Ndabe)

I guess I sort of watched some of the game. I was more interested in hanging with my friends, shooting the shit, and eating chicken wings. I don’t even remember who won…Germany? Yes, I think it was Germany cos there were plenty of “ha ha Uruguay” jokes going around. I guess their vuvuzelas were silent now. There were a bunch of ladies there and we were having the most hilarious discussion about World Cup things. It was cool to get the vibe from Joburg since I’ve mostly only been in Pretoria for the duration. One lady said that she even (slightly embarrassingly) changed her ringtone to the “Wave your Flag” song from K’naan. But we all agreed that “Waka Waka” was so getting on everyone’s nerves. One lady shared a tale of a friend of her’s that had a whole facebook photo album dedicated to pics he took with strangers that mistook him for a famous soccer star. HA HA HA. Another chick told a story about famous people shopping in Sandton Square (the most fancy mall in Joburg) and how the mall had to be shutdown when R Kelly was around. Whoa. That was an interesting little tidbit.

Also learned a new word: kumnandi…meaning “it’s niiiiiiiiiice.” Said: koom-NAHN-dee…excellent.

Nolu and I hung around a bit more and then decided to head home. I needed to be up early the next day since I was, um, leaving the country in the evening. It was so great and unexpected to see my boys from UNP…big ups and love you much.

Driving around Joburg was great, both at night and the next morning. There is so much wonderful public art up for the World Cup. I really have to hand it to SA in that respect. There is often a lot of neat public art initiatives in various places in the country…even before World Cup. I saw so many cool things like a freeway exit grassy space filled with silhouettes of hands giving various gestures. Other people have been bringing the World Cup noise visually from awesome billboards with soccer or SA flag themes to giant soccer balls filled with sand hanging from a cranes. I saw one billboard that said “In Africa we don’t ole, we ayoba!” Nice one. I even saw a small car painted in the South Africa flag design. Way to come out and show it off, SA!

(A "Revolutionary House" rep'n for Bafana Bafana, CBD Joburg)

(The SA Breakfast of Champions...wors and Stoney's Ginger Beer!)

The next morning, Nolu and I got the SA breakfast of champions…boerewors. I topped mine off with a Stoney’s Ginger Beer and pretty much “ate SAn” for the rest of the day. Koekesisters, malva pudding with fresh cream, and toasted sandwiches. Had to get my last fill! I headed back to Pretoria to get some people and my bags together so I could leave the country. I had a lot of things to do for the whole weekend but somehow they all happened effortlessly. It was a truly great weekend. Big love to all those that helped it out and that participated.

I took my last taxi ride in SA through the mean streets of Joburg and then into the far less threatening, but no less dangerous in its own way, highway back to Pretoria. There was one moment as we were driving through Hillbrow (a very notorious neighborhood in SA) that some religiousy sounding organ music came on the radio while all the Jozi hustle and bustle did its thing outside the taxi. Crazy signs, gutted buildings, people just walking the streets on a Sunday. All against the backdrop of this moving music. It was wonderful. These are the taxi moments I thrive on and one reason why a little taxi meditation session is always in order for me. I am going to miss you, loves! I think I’m addicted to public transportation. I always get such a calm and meditative feeling from moving through the world that way. Yes, it can be frustrating and annoying to use public transportation, but it is something I truly love in an overall sense. Metra train in Chi…I can’t wait to meet you again J Then again, maybe it has nothing to do with the mode of transportation. Maybe it’s the gypsy in me just happy to be moving again.

Got home, got my things together, got my people together. Said goodbye to the neighbors and Helen, Ross, and Nicholas. It’s so weird to say goodbye to people for me now. I say goodbye a lot. Maybe we all do. Since I started travelling and being more out in the world, it has made goodbyes easier. Even for people you are pretty sure you will never see again. Although it’s not always something that makes you feel good…saying goodbye is a natural progression in pretty much all things. I think once you realize that it takes away some of the power and baggage of saying goodbye. It’s just a normal thing to me now. Some goodbyes are hard though. It was rough to say goodbye to Helen, Ross, and Nicholas. They have meant so much to me in my time in SA. My rock. I almost started crying when I said goodbye, but kept it up Spartan style. I am a viking. And they’ll be back to the USA soon or I’ll be back there at some point…so it’s just a ta ta for now…

(TTFN Helen, Ross, and my little SA heart)

Edwin, Surprise, and two of Surprise’s friends made up the airport crew. We headed to the airport and stopped off in Kempton Park to fetch Nhawu. It’s always nice to see him and I miss having him nearby. The airport is soccer crazy. You could even still hear people blowing vuvuzelas there. It’s nuts. People had like 5 vuvuzelas per carryon. I can’t front…I was pack’n 5 vuvuzelas in my bag too! We got to the airport before my ticket counter opened so we went to have a beer together. We wandered around the airport getting kind of lost. The airport has changed a lot because of World Cup upgrades. We eventually got to a place to have a drink and settled in for our last chat. My friend from vet school, Jeanne, popped in for a quick goodbye.

The final game was going to start playing at 8pm. There was also the closing ceremony on just before the last game. I feel bad for my friends because they probably missed all of that to see me off. Thanks so much, guys! As can be counted on…there was static for me at the airport. It always seems to happen no matter how much I try to avoid it by being a good thorough girl. This time, because I bought my ticket online and then changed it, I didn’t have a paper ticket or a current confirmation number. I called twice in the week before I flew to confirm my reservation. I am just that paranoid. Both times the operator said that everything was fine…but that was not the case at the airport. After some quizzical looks, shit eating grins from me, and supervisor overrides, I was able to get a boarding pass. My bags were way overweight but the lady behind the counter just let me slide on that…bless her soul.

So my bags were on. Boarding pass in hand. Time to say goodbye again. It was pretty uneventful but I had a lot of emotion saying goodbye. At the airport I turn into a different animal. Very focused on getting to my gate and waiting cos I am constantly paranoid that I’m going to miss my flight. So I hope I wasn’t too slack on my goodbye…cos I love you guys!

(Last goodbye for now...L-R: Mildred, Surprise, Jabu, Nhawu, me, Edwin)

I headed off to my gate after that. Security check. Passport stamp. These things always go so smooth in the airport in Joburg. Flight outside the USA is so much more relaxing, usually. The way to the gate was an orgy of last minute duty free gifts. Soccer, “Africa,” and liquor. Spend your last rands. The game was playing on some of the TVs along the way but there was also a perplexing set of TVs that were just advertising things. Ten TV sets in a row. It was strange. I was imagining what it would have been like if every TV set in the airport was broadcasting the game. Really cool…that’s what it would be.

I got some food and watched a few minutes of the game. Said my last “Dankie, mamas” for now to the café ladies and then this paranoid android headed straight to her gate. Everything went pretty smooth from there. Got on the plane. Shed a few tears as we breezed over the nighttime Guateng urban carpet. Actually slept a bit. Read a book. Played with the little kid next to me. Usually I can’t sleep on planes so I take a sleeping pill and drink an airplane bottle of red wine. Knocks me out every time. Egypt Air, the carrier I was taking home, was a dry flight so that idea was out the window. But for the most part I slept well and was otherwise entertained. Random note: some Egypt Air flights still use metal silverware…cool. One of the stewards asked to kiss me in a late night back of the plane chat…I wasn’t really amused so I just went back to my seat and passed out. Weirdo.

When I got to Egypt I had to change planes. It was at this point that I realized I didn’t have another boarding pass for the flight from Cairo to NYC. Usually when you check in and check your bags then you get all the boarding passes you need for the rest of your trip. But I only got one in Joburg. I went to a counter in Cairo and tried to get this sorted out. My first question as I approached the counter was: “So, who won the World Cup?” The lady told me Spain and smiled. Yay!

All joy aside now. The ticket people proceeded to tell me that I didn’t have a flight for NYC. I didn’t have a paper ticket to show them (in Joburg they told me I didn’t need one) and no other way to prove my flight except for my name. I did have some email that had important information, but I didn’t have a way to use email just then. So they kept telling me I’m not booked. I keep telling them I paid. Etc. Finally I ask if I can use a computer somewhere in the airport. They allow me to use the one they have behind the desk. After a lot of hassles connecting and using crap browsers (Chrome lover…and can’t go back!)…I connected and got my info. The customer service people did their thing and recovered my place on the plane. Remember I called twice in the week leading up to my flight to the Egypt Air office and they kept telling me it was fine. I must exist in some computer somewhere! After standing my ground and working with the super helpful agents…I had a boarding pass in hand. Success!

The security in the Cairo airport is hard core. I went through x-ray security twice before boarding the plane. These folks do not mess around. I had to open and empty parts of my bag at both places. But in the end I did get on the plane! I had problems at the gate with my enormous bag but again the baggage fairies shined on me and everything got worked out. Major airports in almost every place look about the same when you are right on the runway…sort of empty and desolate. In Chicago this feeling is aided by all the concrete. In Cairo the runway emptiness comes from the sandy desert feel of the place. Like it was a place swept out of the desert for its purpose. Maybe this is just fantasy on my part, but that is how it felt.

My companions for the trip were an overweight lady with diabetes that had to keep switching seats then getting up. She just needed a lot of help, but me and the other guy sitting in our set of chairs were more than happy to help her out. And the other companion was a hot young Egyptian man…nice one. I mostly slept a lot and read and re-read the reading materials I had. We were given Egyptian newspapers for free so I read some of that. Slept a lot in little pockets. The cute young man I sat next to slept almost the whole time and somehow it helped me to sleep too. This flight was 12 hours and for some reason it seemed to take a million years.

It was interesting to take a flight from an Arabic country. There was a different feel to everything. I just met a nice young Muslim in South Africa and that has sparked a lot of simple cultural questions in my head. Things like: Is it okay under Halal guidelines to eat Mopani worms?, Are there different Arabic fonts like with our characters, such as heveltica, etc?, Do you use more ink printing a paper in Arabic or characters like in English?, and Do Muslims believe in something like angels? It was cool to be in a plane where everything was in Arabic and English. The magazines, sugar packets, toilets. Everything. Egyptian TV shows in Arabic broadcast for inflight entertainment. Saw people praying in their seats and at the back of the plane. My brain was working in overdrive curiosity mode.

Eventually we got to NYC. No hassles there. Got a cab and headed off to meet my friend.

I’m going to end the story there for now. This is getting long. Next installment coming soon J

Again…to my SA family…thanks for everything. I love you all very much. Until we me again…keep well and hugs from me!

As always…keep the faith and spread it gently

Love

Lynsee

PS: Congrats to the Spanish World Cup team!

Semifinal World Cup games and semifinal time in SA…for now…

2010-07-08T07:17:00.000-05:00

As the weather warms a bit in Pretoria, the World Cup mania continues to cool. We are still experiencing the “flu” of World Cup fever…everyone and their mom is coughing and shivering away, but the vuvuzela chorus is noticeably absent from the day to day grind. Many teams being cheered on have gone home: Brasil, Argentina, Bafana Bafana, Black Stars, USA, England, and so on. People have shifted their allegiances to the teams left in the fray…whether they really like them or not. It’s semifinal time! The big boys have stayed to play! This semifinal World Cup time is juxtaposed with my last days in SA. 4 days until Disneyland AKA the USA. I’m so excited I could burst.

On Tuesday it was Netherlands vs. Uruguay. The support here is oranje all the way! Uruguay really whooped Bafana Bafana in the group games and you are hard pressed to find a Uruguayan fan around these parts. This might not be the case in the cities where the last games are being played…but in Pretoria if you can mention your support for Uruguay…step back and defend yourself! On Tuesday I met a girl in the line for the toilet who was still supporting Uruguay. I told her to watch her back and a perplexed look settled on her face. She questioned me as to why she must step lively…I asked her where she had been for the last month. I reminded her that Uruguay made the SA vuvuzela choir silent in the group games. It seems she may have remembered this clutch time in the Bafana Bafana World Cup history, but she was still sticking with Uruguay. Hey, I just wished her luck! Even Nicholas was ready to support Holland in the semifinals. He got an orange Holland shirt from his godfather and it arrived just in time for the semifinal game on Tuesday. The shirt is really huge for him and kinda looks like a Tshirt dress so he is going to have to grow into his love for the team J

(Crazy happy Nicholas, the oranje babe)

My friends and I headed to the Square on Tuesday to watch the game. All the games are on at 8:30pm these days. I ran some last minute errands in the morning. Saw a sign at the local grocery store that said “Dear Customers, please do not blow your vuvuzelas in the store. We will ask you to leave if you do.” LOL…sad I didn’t get a pic of that, but I was without camera. D’oh! Surprise and I spent the rest of the day watching movies and having some beers. We gathered some girls up and headed to Hatfield with Edwin after a bunch of annoying missioning for beer. Oh, beer…what we won’t do for you! We met Douwe and some of his friends at News Café for pre-game refreshments. When we tried to get into the Square with our 1 card among 4 people…static! The people there are really looking at IDs these days and there is a smaller volume of fans so it’s harder to wiggle in unnoticed. Compared to the USA, SA is very lax on IDs where drinking is involved…unless you look like an obvious 15-yr old. I actually have to train myself to show ID when I return to the USA cos here you are almost never asked for ID. The drinking age is 18 and it’s a pretty relaxed 18 at that. The Square is a teenage dreamland and I think they have been trying to prevent that more in recent times. I never have an ID these days cos I got robbed a few months ago and lost my drivers license. There is NO WAY I’m going out with my passport if drinking is on the schedule. No way! I am not really a superstitious person, but my group of friends have been touched by robberies and tsotsis about 5 times in the last 2 months. I am under the impression there is some dark cloud over us and I am not going to tempt fate this time. The guards at the Square know me by now and even if I don’t have ID they still let me in. The ladies don’t even check my bag too much anymore. I guess it’s good to be known. Ha ha. There is a heavy security presence in South Africa and this presence has only multiplied with the advent of the World Cup. But one of the first things you must learn in SA is that if you are kind to the little people (like security guards) they will be kind and lax to you. Always greet them, toss in a little banter, a sweetie or loose cigarette, and you are golden!

(Pre game warm-up...note vuvuzela nearby...)

So this security static was a major bummer. We tried going in different entrances and doing all the other sneaky things we could think of, but to no avail. The problem was the chicks, they didn’t have ID, and I think Surprise got a bit fresh with some of the security staff. Bad idea. In the end we got a monster pizza from the Square, think manhole cover size, and went to a bar outside the perimeter to watch the last ½ of the game. Because of all this security drama I missed most of the game. D’oh! It was kind of annoying, but the teams that were playing are not that exciting to me so I wasn’t too upset. I would have liked to watch the entire game though. What I did see was Holland going to town on Uruguay at the end. Well done, gents. Go home Uruguay! Holland easily found their place in the final game and Uruguay will play in the “losers” bracket on Saturday. Ha ha! No love lost.

After the game we headed straight home, as Edwin has to wake up at 3am for work. We took the girls home and Surprise and I headed to his house to watch more movies and have a few more beers. I was dead tired and the mood was pretty much killed by that point so we all kind of drifted out to never never land, beer in hand and “The Jerk” on the glowing screen. I slept poorly with Surprise’s girlfriend and woke up the next day halfheartedly ready to start all over again.

Wednesday I went up to the vet campus to say goodbye to my mamas. “Mama” here is a term you can use with any black lady that is older than you. “Sisi” (sister) is a term you use for someone about your age or younger and “gogo” (grandma) is the term you use for a much older black lady. You can talk to strangers in a very familiar way here. It’s really nice. The Onderstepoort (OP) mamas are my heart at that campus. They are the ladies that clean the dormitories. Every morning I saw them cleaning away and chatting was a morning I could smile in that place that often took away my smiles. The lady that cleaned in the building I lived in, Mavis, is my South African mother. That woman knows everything about me and I know her skeletons too J As I think I have mentioned…I am actively collecting family around the world. In the event of the apocalypse…I am SO covered. On almost any continent. I’m just saying…

(Me and Hildah...my naughty mama)

(Me and Mavis...my South African mom...hugs, mama!)

The ladies eat lunch from 1-2pm and I usually try to hit them up at that time. All the mamas are around and I don’t have to bother their work or search them out individually. I ended up getting to OP pretty late for lunch cos public transport and my own procrastination took longer than I expected. Oops! I had to stop and buy a new cloth in town as my other one was stolen a month ago. I went with a soccer theme print that I saw one day while walking in town and then headed off to the OP taxis. Although I was late, I did get to see my mamas a bit and that was cool. I am going to miss them a lot. I have been going up to visit them pretty regularly since I have been here. I think they will miss me too, but last time I was here I took a picture of all of us and gave it to them. It is displayed above the sink where they wash dishes so I can always shine down on them even when I’m far away. Hugs, mamas!

(My new "F u robbers" cloth)

Mavis and I talked the rest of the afternoon away and I walked her to her bus. Said goodbye and headed back to campus to meet one more vet school friend, Takalani. We chatted for a bit and then he walked me to the taxi. It was getting dark now (danger!) and I got into town a bit later than I would have liked. It is not okay to walk alone at night in town here. I scurried off to the next taxi with my eyes doing a 360 take of my surroundings. Like I said…dark cloud around me these days and I cannot afford to be robbed now cos I’m pretty much down to credit now. I took a taxi to Surprise’s house and he walked me the few blocks to my house. After dark in SA…one can never be too cautious!

A side note on the taxi I took from town. On the group taxis here, the person that sits in the front seat next to the driver is the passenger responsible for taking the money in for the whole taxi. The money is passed forward and the front passenger makes change and returns it to the back of the taxi. I don’t like dealing with money and try to avoid taking in the money when I sit in the front seat. Often times people think this white girl doesn’t know what she’s doing, so if I sit still usually the driver just takes the money. Sorry to hide behind my whiteness…but I really hate taking the money. I actually have NEVER taken the money despite hundreds of rides in taxis. I always avoid it. But this time the young man sitting next to me said “Oh, so you will help me take the money?” I explained my front seat strategy and the fact that I have never ever taken in the money. He said that I must help him, so I did. Everything went fine and I survived my first money taking situation. Nice. Even in my last days…SA is still full of novel experiences.

On my wanderings up and back to Onderstepoort I sort of just wallowed in the feeling of leaving my other home…absorbing all my last ocular snapshots of Pretoria and South Africa. The little things I’m going to miss when I’m firmly planted back in Disneyland: guys warming hands around a streetside fire, the blur of the landscape rushing by, counting out my coins for the taxi fare, the fake (but majestic) waterfall at Wonderboom Nature Reserve, the hustle and bustle of people going home from work in town, street vendors packing up for the day, red dirt, the anxiety of being out after dark alone, scandalousness even from those you least expect it from, laughing at funny street news headlines in Afrikaans/English/Zulu, mopani worms for sale in overflowing cups, the shouts of 3 rand! 3 rand! from the fruit and veg vendors, waiting in the chaotic mass of folks craving KFC chicken, sharing a seat on the taxi with another white passenger, and so on and so forth. It’s always the little things that make a place. Although I’m excited to go home, although Pretoria vexes me like crazy…leaving is always a bit of a maudlin experience.

I arrived home one tired puppy. Fixed some dinner, cracked quite possibly my last quart of Castle Milk Stout, and snuggled in for another soccer match. Wednesday was the game between Spain and Germany. I don’t really have feelings for either side but have to go with Spain. I can’t look past seeing David Villa slap another man in the face (and get away with it), but I think my feelings are for Spain. I just don’t want to admit cos of the man-slapping thing. Also…the octopus said Spain would win. You can’t get around that! There is this fortune-telling octopus in Germany that keeps getting headlines for its World Cup winner predictions. I saw a street news headline poster saying that the octopus was all for Spain today…I guess he was right. Eish…this world we are living in…

The game was being commentated by this really annoying South African guy. I can even cringe when I hear his voice opening up the game. He is so boring and just keeps chattering away on the most annoying tangents. He is really focused on the teams the players are on in Europe and generally is just not an exciting guy to listen to. I can tell from his voice that he is a black South African and spent much of the game wondering if he would be more exciting to hear presiding over a Chiefs or Pirates (local SA teams) game. I guess I’ll never know.

The game was really interesting to watch. I was expecting to see Germany pull out all the stops and kick some major Spanish tail…but it just never happened. Spain was too much for them and ended up winning the game. Cool. At some point in the 1^st half a guy ran onto the field and was captured by what looked like FIFA ninjas. Weird. And hilarious. Don’t F with FIFA I guess.

One guy I like from the Germany side is Schweinsteiger…his name, which means “pig loader” in German, is just kind of fun to say. Try it. Did you laugh a bit? If not, shame ;)

After the game it was mos def bed time. I was really tired from poor sleep the night before, walking all over town, and maybe a bit of Milk Stout. I went out for my last cigarette of the night and noticed the conspicuous silence from the Sunnyside part of town. What I did hear is more and more “Wave your Flag” and “Waka Waka” from the Hatfield part of town. I guess it is still jumping in the Square at night. The vuvuzela toots have been silenced in Sunnyside and switched to Hatfield now I guess. Interesting. When Sunnyside is quiet then you know that the world outside is really dead.

And that’s all the soccer news that’s fit to report on for now. This weekend I’m off to Joburg to see the last of my SA family. I don’t know if I’m going to watch the game on Saturday and Sunday I will be on an airplane during the final game. This may be the last you hear from me for right now. I guess my last report on World Cup will be after cruising over the world by plane, touching Egypt and landing in New York City.

Thanks for staying tuned to my World Cup banter. I really appreciate hearing from you and knowing that you have been reading. It makes me really happy to hear all the nice feedback from folks. At this point, my blog now has over 1800 hits in 1 year. It’s probably not much in the grand blogosphere, but it makes me happy. Thanks.

To my SA family…thanks for your love and support. Thanks for taking care of me. Thanks for providing shelter in the storm. Thanks for trying to keep me here. That last point always makes me feel so happy…it’s good to feel wanted in a place that is not your original home and that happens to exist a continent away from your roots. Much love and respect. Mooi bly. Salani kahle. Go well. And until we meet again :)

Hugs! And as always…keep the faith and spread it gently

Much Love

Lynsee

Day…I lost track: Africa unties and South America gets spanked and sent home to bed

2010-07-04T05:07:00.000-05:00

(Salty...)

(Saturday's news headline on the streets of Pretoria)

Well well well…major upsets to report on the World Cup stage. Most notably…Brasil loses to Netherlands and gets sent home early. Wow.

Pretoria has seen its last games and these days it’s pretty quiet. There is still the occasional vuvuzela blast in the dark from my neighborhood, but otherwise things are quiet. No more vuvu joy in the streets as you drive past strangers, tooting away at them. Saturday I went to a big grocery store in Pretoria East and all the soccer merch is gone. Springbok green and gold is firmly back in place in this rugby mad city they call Pretoria. Although the full vibe is gone…the Cup ain’t over yet and a lot of favorites have now been sent home. It’s still anyone’s Cup!

Friday I took my usual long time to get in gear. The best part of the day is that my friend Surprise came back to Pretoria after being home in Nelspruit for far too long. Surprise is a friend of mine from the veterinary campus. He’s back on the main campus now as he dropped vet nursing and decided to go all the way for the full veterinary doctor degree. He lives up the street from me and we’ve spent a lot of time together since I’ve been in Sunnyside. I’m so grateful for a friend close by to go hang out with whenever. Surprise is a very good friend: fun, thoughtful, and always has my back no matter what we get up to or where that adventure might take us. In 2008 I visited his family’s home and we’ve only gotten closer since. Yay!

(Me and Surprise rep'n for Swaziland)

In the afternoon, Edwin, Douwe, and Surprise descended on my house and we headed off to the Square. Again, things are a bit quieter but since the Square is pretty much the only place worth watching the games…it’s still feebly beating along on game days. The beers are still too expensive but we still have our loyalty cards so we are still drinking like locals should be!

(Up Ghana! Unite Africa!)

Friday we had Netherlands vs. Brasil and Ghana vs. Uruguay. We arrived at the Square just before the game to a sea of orange dotted here and there with Brasil’s green and gold. The Ghanaian fans were out in force as well, but they really started to populate the Square later in the night. Many fans had now switched to supporting Ghana AKA “Africa’s Last Hope.” I was among these supporters. I pulled all my African things out of the closet for the game. My Bafana Bafana Tshirt, my Swaziland cloth, and red/green/gold bangles. Africans are just as xenophobic, tribalistic, and racist as any of us other not-so-perfect humans out there. But, when it suits them, there is a pan-African spirit that infuses the population of the dark continent. This was one of those “Africa Unite” times as Ghana was the last team representing the continent of Africa in the Cup. Cote d’Ivoire, Bafana Bafana, and Nigerian fans have all switched their kit to represent for the Black Stars of Ghana. “Africa Unite” is an ad campaign headed up by MTN (a cell phone provider here). The campaign is meant to invoke the pride of being African, no matter what flag you fly, in the spirit of the first World Cup hosted on the continent. They have a really cool commercial running on TV that shows the major European league players from Africa leaving the continent and then coming home to unite Africa for the 2010 World Cup. It’s actually quite a nice ad, but I haven’t seen it running anymore now that Ghana is out.

(Oranje runs deep...)

(Douwe shows his Holland luv)

(How cool is a flag w/hearts on it...seriously? Edwin shows off the Fries flag)

Because of the strong Dutch ties in South Africa amongst the Afrikaans people…Netherlands also enjoys a lot of support. There was plenty of oranje in the Square on Friday. Brasil is a favorite around the world and since people are still donning their green and gold Bafana Bafana gear…it can double for Brasil’s green and gold. Green, gold, red, and black are the typical “African” colors, so the green and gold can triple for Africa, Brasil, and SA. Brasil are favorites because their players are hot, their skills are superb, and they always freakin’ win…so they are an easy team to support. One of my best friends is from Brasil and we met here in South Africa in 2007. He was such a wonderful person to cruise around with for many reasons, but one of the best was that once people found out he was from Brasil…they just wanted to know if he knew Ronaldo. I can’t imagine a Brasileiro can come to harm in South Africa. People here just love soccer too much. We could be in some shady ass place and even the hardest tsotsi (robber) just wanted to know if my friend knew Ronaldo. Priceless. If you are going to a soccer mad place…take a Brasilian for protection J

The first game, at 4pm, was Netherlands vs. Brasil. I was cheering for Netherlands cos I just can’t cheer for Brasil. Everyone loves them and I love an underdog. I don’t hate Brasil or Brasilians…in fact I love both. But it’s so predictable that Brasil will win and I prefer a little spice to my soccer showdowns. I don’t really care about the Netherlands, but like Kerry was anyone but Bush…Netherlands was anyone but Brasil. Many of the Ghanaian supporters were cheering for Netherlands as well, so there was plenty of support for each team out in force. We ended up getting a table with some Ghanaian dudes that were pretty drunk and crazy. In fact, I told one of the guys that if he spilled one more beer then he was going to have to buy me one for every one he spilt. That stopped that nonsense right away!

So Brasil scored pretty early on, setting up the win we thought was inevitable. The drunk Ghanian dude behind me kept shouting “a football match is 90 minutes! ,” enticing us to keep the hope alive for Holland. I don’t remember when Holland scored, but once they did they pretty much opened up a huge can of whoop ass on Brasil. It was insane. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Brasil was wiggling like a fish on the banks of the Amazon…pinch me. Near the end of the second half a Brasilian player was ejected on a red card and the game was pretty much over. Holland supporters in the Square were going nuts. There were even some guys who stripped down to orange Netherlands undies each time the momentum picked up for Holland. Folks were going mad. Oranje! Hands down the best game I have watched so far.

I met some new Americans on Friday during the Brasil/Netherlands game. Oh, are they still around? Chris from Miami and 2 peace corps volunteers placed in Kazakhstan. I wonder how many Borat jokes they are sick of by now? Ha ha. FYI: I didn’t make any Borat jokes to them. The one guy was an Indian from Wyoming so I may have made a joke about that ;) Chris was running solo since his friends have now gone back to the USA so I asked him to roll with us. We sort of chilled together and lost each other a lot throughout the night. Unfortunately it seems like he might be getting the full SA experience…meaning more than zebra stripe cloth, biltong, and vuvuzelas. He is staying in some shady place in Pretoria Central and says he has been robbed twice there already. The place is dirty and there is a whorehouse next door. Yikes. It ain’t all sunshine in this Rainbow Nation…sorry to say. I gave him my number and hopefully we can spend some time chilling in the next week he is here. Although it sounds like he met a cutie from South Africa…so he might not be alone anymore after all J Again…it’s been nice to be a “local” from the USA for folks that need that here. I’m glad to be of service. Paying it forward for all the folks that have come out of the shadows in foreign lands for me!

In between the games we just chilled and enjoyed 2 for 1 cocktails for R27 (US$4). Somehow I gained a pair of oversized silly yellow glasses. I saw a guy that was a part of the ghost posse that caused all the drama a few weekends ago. That was interesting cos I thought he had gone to jail. Wild stuff, man. “My life’s the sickest…” The rag tag bunch of bandits crew swelled with the addition of Zack (the guy I went to school with in 2002), the ghost posse, Tuan, the new Americans, and a guy I met the other night in the Square that is definitely trying to spend some quality time with me if you catch my drift. I flitted around like the ADD hummingbird that I am…taking photos, having random conversations, enjoying the atmosphere. Sometimes this hummingbird steez does me wrong in SA. My ex-boyfriend used to get really really mad about it. People need to look out for one another here cos it can be dangerous, depending on where you are. Ladies especially need to be taken care of and looked after. South Africa at night, plus alcohol, is no place for a solo lady. My friends often have to work overtime to keep an eye on me…sorry! It’s just my nature. The Square is cool though and a safe zone where you can roam freely. I mostly felt bad for moving around so much cos I kept losing Chris (the lone American) and I didn’t want to abandon him. Being alone in lame when there is such a party going on!

My friend, Tuan, joined us for a bit. Like Alireza (who I met up with the other day), Tuan is an international student that I helped counsel through my blog. This blog of mine, besides giving me a way to write stuff, entertain, and inform you all at home about my adventures, has actually been a useful tool for people interested in studying in Pretoria. I’ve met 3 students through my blog: Tuan from Vietnam, Alireza from Iran, and Eunice from Singapore. The first 2 students ended up studying in Pretoria and Eunice decided against it. I’ve really enjoyed helping them out and setting them up with useful contacts. Mistakes were made when I got here and no one should have to repeat the same mistakes twice!

(Tuan and me)

Chris is American with parents from Chile and Spain. He spotted a group of camera guys and told me that they were from some famous show in Chile. I guess they go around to party places and film people living it up. It’s sort of interesting that they were in Pretoria…I mean it’s not really jumping these days. The presenter, Cuchilo, is supposed to be some big shot in Chile. I don’t know. Just some Square randomness to report. Part of their crew was a guy that juggled, including juggling things on fire, and did unicycle tricks. Around Pretoria that stuff is pretty rare, so it was kind of cool to have that added to the Square.

The guy that was trying to holler at me brought some friends. One of them, Tumi, gave me the best reaction I’ve ever received on giving up that I am American. He was like “USA, huh. Warren Buffet in the house!” Or something like that. Warren Buffet, if you don’t know him, is a super wealthy Nebraskan that has never really let it go to his head. He’s kind of the shit. My friend Ben is in love with him and I often joke that Warren is his boyfriend. It was cool to be met with such a unique reason why Tumi admired the USA. Most people just want to know if McDonald’s tastes the same or do I know such and such famous person. Hats off, Tumi!

(Warren Buffet lover, Tumi, and me)

The Ghana game got underway around 8:30pm with all the support now turned to the Black Stars. No one in the Square was really rooting for Uruguay. I think the support was especially against them because they totally ripped South Africa a new one in the group stage. There was even a demotivational poster online that had one of their star players and a caption of “vuvuzela silencer” underneath. Ouch. The game was alright for the bulk of it. The crowd was very lively with people doing vuvuzela call and response songs (there are a few here in SA that go with soccer games), shouts of “sishaya ivuvuzela” (we are beating our vuvuzelas…a SA soccer chant), and people making plenty of noise for Ghana. My vuvu made the rounds and gathered even more spit from strangers. It was actually kind of gross cos the spit was dripping out of the vuvuzela. Ew. This usually means that the people blowing it don’t know what they are doing…plus it’s just kinda gross. The game went into overtime and then penalty shots…which is where Ghana came undone and Africa untied. Ghana missed a pretty clutch shot and then one of their penalty shots was blocked…it was all over for the continent at this point and Uruguay advanced. Sorry!

Our group sort of came apart after that as well. Some folks went this way and some went that way. The energy of getting everyone back together kind of killed the party mood. Plus Ghana’s loss made all that raucousness die down to a quiet whimper. When I came home…even Sunnyside was quiet. This guy that wants me was trying to get me to come to his place, but honestly I’m going home in a week. I kind of just wanna chill with my friends at this point. I don’t have time for stupid dude drama…sorry gents.

Surprise, his friend, and I stuck around for a bit longer and then ended up going home. When the group’s beer money dries up it is time to bounce J

A side note on the Netherlands vs. Brasil game…apparently Paris Hilton and part of her entourage were here for the game and they got busted for weed. HA HA HA HA. First of all, why on earth would you bring weed to a FIFA game? Those folks got things locked down tighter than a communist stronghold. I mean, Paris probably enjoys a bit more lax security compared to the plebs…but still…it’s freakin’ stupid. You can’t even smoke during a game without drawing serious attention. This ain’t no Chiefs game in the ‘hood, right? If you want to smoke weed then do it before the game and leave the shit at home. So Paris and her friend were detained and had to go to court. The friend took the blame and Paris got off scott free. It must be nice to be rich and famous. All I was thinking when I heard about this story was that I hope it was good shit and not some shake ass crap. If you are doing to go down then it might as well be worth it.

Saturday I spent most of the day running errands with Edwin. I have all these last minute things to buy for you folks at home, so I just wanted to go and get it all done before I drank my money dry. Again, from driving around…the atmosphere in Pretoria is back to the same old same old. There aren’t people in the streets randomly blowing vuvuzelas. Some of the flags in places have come down. As I said, the merch in the stores has switched back to rugby (the Tri-Nations is starting up in a week or so). I guess the World Cup is kind of over in Pretoria. I heard that things were still kicking in Cape Town…which doesn’t surprise me at all. I bet that place is still packed with tourists. I mean, it is the greatest city in the world.

Saturday was also Thanksgiving around here. Helen, Ross, and some of their friends decided to have a Thanksgiving feast. Yeah, it’s not November but it is winter here right now. So it’s sort of the same thing kind of ;) I ended up not going to the feast cos it was on the other side of town and Edwin didn’t want to go. I still don’t understand why he didn’t want to go, but he could not be convinced. I wasn’t going to make my friend drive me to the other side of Pretoria for nothing, so I just chilled at home. I watched the games at home in the comfort of the Lazy Boy and a nice duvet.

After Brasil’s upset…my team was now Argentina for the win. I wasn’t rooting for Brasil, but I did believe they were going to win. Argentina had a lot of promise: Diego Maradona (their coach) was being hailed as the greatest coach ever and blah blah blah, Lionel Messi is supposed to be the greatest player in the world (although he didn’t score a single World Cup goal), and so on and so on. I guess it was a lot of media hype cos Argentina GOT SERVED by Germany. 4-0, Germany. Damn, son! I guess this means my used car salesman dynamo, Diego, is going home crying like a Brasilian. Shame.

As for Paraguay vs Spain…all money on Spain. They are playing really well and their top players (most notably Villa) are really cranking out the goals. Paraguay played hard, but not hard enough. Sorry guys…but I guess it’s time for South America to pack it up and go home.

There were a lot of celebrities in attendance for the games. I saw a few glimpses here and there of them on TV. Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger (he’s been at quite a few games), Charlize Theron, the German head of state, Zuma. And I guess even dear old Paris…although she didn’t make the news until after the game. LOL.

Another quick note on the games as broadcast on TV. There is some “Say No to Racism” campaign that FIFA is hyping big time now. I don’t know why this message was only rolled out in the final games. It’s a good message and should have been a part of all the broadcasts. So now at the beginning of each game there is one player (maybe the captain) from each team that reads a message against racism in his mother tongue and then there is a quick shot of some people holding a “Say no to racism” poster. Sorry but it’s kind of a feeble way to broadcast that message. Yes, many people around the world are watching the game, but the delivery of this message in this way strikes me as about as bland and effective as the “Just Say No (to drugs)” campaign. Combating something as pervasive and entrenched as racism is going to take a bit more than some stupid poster and a 30-second speech from a famous footballer. Good idea, but needs a bit more effort. C+, FIFA. There is also something hilarious or maybe ironic or something about this message and South Africa. South Africa is still racist as hell. Yeah, it’s improving, but there is a LONG walk to peace and love here. I don’t know how to exactly explain how I feel about the hilariousness of this “Say No to Racism” campaign juxtaposed with the current climate in SA…just take my word that it’s a bit funny and strange.

(Puzzling...)

Well, next matches are the semifinals on Tuesday and Wednesday. Happy 4^th of July today! Wish we could still be celebrating USA soccer in the World Cup, but c’est la vie. As of today (Sunday) there is one week til World Cup ends and 1 week until I go home. I’m damn excited…

Day 18-19: The Return of Ramsey and some soccer stuff happened

2010-06-30T08:41:00.000-05:00

Wow…still feeling kinda soccer blurry. The only way I can remember what has happened on a particular day right now is to look at the World Cup calendar and remember “I watched that game at this place and then this happened.” Wild…

On Monday my friend Ramsey and his girlfriend, Lena, made their way back to Pretoria. If you will remember, Ramsey is a fellow Rotary scholar and Midwesterner that now lives in Jordan. We started out our World Cup adventure together in the opening weekend, after which our paths diverged in the pursuit of our respective World Cup missions. He’s been back and forth between Durban and Joburg for games. His dad came to check out SA and World Cup and his girlfriend, Lena, also joined in the madness. It was really nice to see Ramsey again. I think we had a really good time in the opening weekend and he’s a great addition to any posse J

Honestly I don’t even remember what I did in the morning before I met Ramsey and Lena…probably nothing. It takes me forever to get out of bed and get my ass in gear these days. Getting back to reality in the USA (soon!) is going to be a big wakeup call! In the afternoon I took a taxi into town and met Ramsey and Lena in Church Square. Church Square is one of the main attractions in downtown Pretoria. Well, more of a focal point. There are some really historic buildings around there as well as some museums. Pretoria has been a seat of government for a long long time and its structures reflect this. Of course there is also the big memorial at the center of Church Square with Paul Kruger perched like a big iron Afrikaans cherry on top. Paul Kruger is a major figure in SA history. I can’t recall off the top of my head if he was the first President of the Republic or if he was just a majorly important one. At any rate, Oom Paul is not to be missed if you are coming to Pretoria. (Oom means uncle in Afrikaans and is a term you can use for pretty much any man older than you, even with strangers).

(Church Square wire sculptures)

So we met up and Ramsey told me the tales since we parted. I did likewise. We took photos of the wire and bead sculptures in Church Square. These sculptures are actually the last group of sculptures I have needed to see in Pretoria. It appears there might be a few stashed in random locations, but of the major groups of them…these were the last I needed to see. So far the ones at Bosman Station are the best ones I have seen.

We made our way slowly to the taxis for Hatfield, checking out some of the vendors along the way. The vendors we spoke to are really trying to get rid of their World Cup stuff now because there are no more games being played at the stadium in Pretoria. No more ridiculous floods of tourists now…time to dump this merch! And now this is where I will swoop in and get the normal or even reduced prices for the gifts I still need before I come home. Being relatively local has its merits J At times I have been worried that my accent will make me a target for being ripped off but so far, so good. I can pretty much demonstrate that I’m “local” so it’s all good.

Ramsey, Lena, and I grabbed a taxi home. Good times. We squeezed in the back next to the most adorable old man, who in the style of most old black people here, spoke to us mostly in Afrikaans. That always kind of cracks me up. I can usually follow most of what someone is saying, but it’s a bit hard at times. This guy had an awesome little cane that was covered in well worn impala hide. The whole trip was pretty hilarious. We were squished into the back and I dropped all my coins on the floor, but I couldn’t pick them up cos I couldn’t move. Luckily I bought this awesome lighter that also has a little blue light in it. In the last week it has really come in handy. Now was another moment for it to shine…literally. I managed to get most of them and kept up a lively conversation with the old man. He asked where we were from and I said “pheshaya,” which means “overseas” in Zulu. This made him really excited and then he started to say some weird things to me that I didn’t really understand. The people in front of us were laughing at my weak ass Zulu. Finally, per usual, we managed to get out unscathed. Taxis…always a good time.

(A taxi in Pretoria representing for Bafana Bafana. "So mooi Bafana" means "so nice boys" or "so nice" and Bafana Bafana is the name of the SA national soccer team)

We dropped off into the madness of Hatfield. Got a bunny chow (curry inside a “bread bowl” made of a ½ loaf of white bread), bought too much candy at the grocery store, and finally headed into the Square to enjoy the Chile vs. Brasil game. Poor Chile…they never had a chance! But I still screamed my heart out for them. And of course more vuvu action. I am still digging the mad luv I get for my vuvuzela skills. I can’t lie…I’m not too shabby at this plastic horn thing. I’ll demonstrate for you when I get home J People here really love Brasil. I guess everyone loves a winner. It’s been a bit weird cos I always think I’m going to start talking to a lovely Brasileiro when I see a Brasil scarf or flag, but often times I end up talking to a fake ass Brasil fan from Pretoria or Krugersdorp or something. It’s kind of disappointing at times.

The next day I did some serious bike missioning. I bought this hard drive enclosure and it’s all messed up and really getting on my tits. So I had to go get that sorted out…which hopefully can get done before I have to go home. Ugh, this thing has been such a pain. Then went out somewhere to pay a bill for a friend who is out of town. That was interesting. I wanted to get a paper receipt for the amount paid since that is something my mother taught me. Always get a paper receipt and always send a thank you card. There’s just no way around it. So this guy I was paying sent one of his agents to meet me at this McDonald’s in my neighborhood…but the agent didn’t bring a receipt. The guy said he’d send me a text message confirming that he got the money, but that seemed a bit shady. I ended up scratching out a receipt on the back of a bank slip and the guy that signed it said that “my protocol was too much.” Oh, business in South Africa…

I headed up to the Union Buildings to meet Ramsey and Lena for a little picnic. The Union Buildings are on one of the hills/mountains that surround Pretoria. Most of Pretoria is located in a valley between two mountain ridges with some of the rest of the city spilling out and over the neighboring rises of land. This jaunt up to the Union Buildings reminded me how out of shape I really am. I huffed and puffed my way up to the top, at first on two wheels and then on two feet. Wowser. But it was nice to be back to the Union Buildings…still one of my favorite places in Pretoria. When I catch a glimpse from down in the valley of the Union Buildings peeking out from in between some other buildings…I get really excited. It’s kind of like seeing the Sears Tower or the rest of the skyline as you head into Chicago. I get a little surge of emotion inside.

(L-R: Me, Ramsey, and Lena at the Union Buildings)

After a bit we headed down the hill into Arcadia and Sunnyside towards Hatfield so we could catch the games on the big screen in the Square. The area leading up to the stadium was jam packed with fans heading to the stadium and people trying to sell them things along the way. My favorite park, Arcadia Park or as I call it the Art Park (there’s an art museum there), was stuffed with people playing a pickup game of soccer, vendors selling food and goods, and of course the requisite dark element…the drug dealers and shady folk. The streets on the way into Arcadia were conspicuously absent of the normal prostitute here or there. I guess folks gotta keep the streets clean for the tourists. People are still representing for their various countries, even if the countries have been eliminated from the tournament, so I donned my American flag. There were some folks handing out Jesus pamphlets. I saw these white folks in a group in the Art Park and was like, hmmmm….I wonder what they are doing. They just stuck out. My guess was Jesus…and as we continued past them, my suspicions were confirmed. So, everyone was really out in force J

The game at Loftus was the last World Cup fixture to grace Pretoria. Paraguay and Japan faced off at 4pm at Loftus. It was an interesting crowd cos there were some Japanese supporters and some Paraguay supporters, but mostly you could tell that the people there had just bought tickets hoping for a different match. It was an odd mix of fans. Per usual, there were lots of police and news reporters. Helicopters buzzed through the air around the stadium. There was one military ‘copter, one police chopper (I think), and the other ‘copter was probably filming for the TV broadcast. Normally there is a lot of air traffic in the area. Sunnyside is a bit buck wild. I have seen police helicopters circling on more than one occasion in the 6 months I have been here. Also there is a military airstrip nearby and a military base in Centurion, which isn’t far away. There are often fighter jets and other military aircrafts passing through the air over the house. The baby really hates the fighter jets. He gets really upset cos they are really loud. The airstrip on the other side of the mountain from the house is where Jacob Zuma (SA president) lands by plane. From there he is taken by helicopter to the Union Buildings on the other side of the valley. But these helicopters we saw were definitely in place for the game.

A note on the police presence during the World Cup. The police are EVERYWHERE these days. I think South Africa has been doing a good job so far on the security tip. I would guess that the police here are ill-equipped to deal with a major terrorist event, but so far that hasn’t been a concern. Keeping people from going nuts in the streets is probably the biggest problem here. I have seen some crazy stuff happen in the heart of Sunnyside, but that place is crazy anyways…World Cup or no. On the opening night, I was part of a crowd that the police were releasing pepper spray into (and maybe rubber bullets, but I can’t confirm that) but I think most of the crowds, at least in Pretoria, have been relatively calm. It seems that extra cops have been brought in from other towns to beef up the police presence here. I spoke to one police officer who normally works in Joburg, but was in Pretoria to add a little muscle to the police force for the game.

(Mounted police near Loftus Stadium, Pretoria)

Another thing to note has been the explosion of mounted police. Even as I type this some mounted police just walked past our house (I’m out in the backyard doing my lizard thing in the sun). I have seen mounted police in Pretoria before the World Cup. I saw some mounted police in the Art Park when I was hanging out there one day just before World Cup. The police were shaking down people for drugs since the Art Park is a place where drug dealers and prostitutes hang out even on the sunniest days. The best part of this encounter was that I saw one of the horses bite his rider in the ass as the officer was searching the guy next to me for drugs. Up until this point I had kept my cool, but that made me laugh SO loud. I couldn’t help myself. I was trying to look cool cos there aren’t many white ladies in the park and I was hoping that the police weren’t going to harass me. I would have guessed that since there aren’t many white ladies in the park, um like none, that I might be suspected of coming there to get drugs. I didn’t have any reason to fear them, but I would prefer to keep my interactions with the police to a minimum in any situation. The other time I have seen the mounted police in action was in 2008 up at the veterinary campus. In May 2008 there was an outbreak of xenophobia attacks in South Africa. Many people from the surrounding African countries were beaten, killed, burned to death, and many other nasty things. A lot of people were displaced from their homes. A number of people set up a little shanty town in one of the pastures that make up the veterinary campus property. The mounted police came one weekend to get rid of them. I don’t know what happened to the people, but I’m sure they were removed. But otherwise the amount of mounted police in place for World Cup has been pretty astounding. It really fascinates me. The horses are gorgeous and in general I am just intrigued by the mounted police. They seem really hardcore. Sort of an old school throwback to military force.

(Dr. Seuss meets vuvuzela)

Ramsey, Lena, and I continued through the area around the stadium. I saw the most adorable little boy with a Dr. Seuss meets the World Cup vuvuzela. He was so cute with this vuvuzela that was longer than he was. Also I got to blow the Dr. Seuss vuvuzela…kind of cool. We were part of a photography feeding frenzy with some guys from some African country I couldn’t quite identify, but they looked Ethiopian to me. Maybe Eritrean. Photo feeding frenzies are just a part of life these days. Someone will identify a person on the street that they want a photo with and then each permutation of the group and the flags available must be displayed and photographed with every camera in sight. It’s kind of a fun little activity. Definitely a good vibes situation. Photo frenzies were a major part of meeting the Algerians in the Square the first time I encountered them. I have been a part of, witnessed, and caused a few feeding frenzies in these World Cup times. The Argentinians are interesting in this respect because it has been my experience that they are pretty much interested in taking photos with any pretty girl around. And making out and taking pictures if the situation warrants that. Hilarious. Those guys are animals. Lock your daughters up on the real.

(Photo feeding frenzy...and this is only like 1/3 of the shots taken)

We got to the Square and walked down so I could get a vetkoek. Vetkoek means “fat cake” in Afrikaans and is kind of like eating a donut sandwich minus the sweetness. They are freaking delicious. Ladies cook them on the streets and you can usually get them in the morning. The street ones don’t normally have a filling, they are just dough. But at the vetkoek stand near Hatfield Square you can get all kinds of crazy fillings. My favorite is Chicken Surprise. I’m not sure what all is in Chicken Surprise and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know. There are definitely pieces of chicken and hot dog though. Interesting. I got this enormous vetkoek and after eating it I know why I never buy that one…I can’t believe I ate the whole thing! Yikes. Ramsey and Lena went to the grocery store after that and met me inside the Square. I was worried about bringing outside food in, but the ladies that search bags at the door practically know me by name now and don’t even look in my bag anymore. Nice.

I sat down by a Zambian guy (a white African this time) and had a nice chat while I was eating monster vetkoek and waiting for Ramsey and Lena. When they came back they were like “oh do you know this guy?” And I was like…no. That’s just me. I talk to just about anyone. I have been like this since I was knee high. My parents have said that there is no stranger to me, just people I don’t know yet. So true. When I was dating this guy at the beginning of the year he asked me if I have to talk to everyone. It bothered him. I told him, yes…I do have to talk to everyone. If you remove that part of my personality I will shrivel up and die inside. For real.

I also met another guy in the Square during the Japan game. We started a vuvuzela war and he came over to make me test out his vuvuzela. It was frickin’ hard to blow. The mouth was the same as mine, but the cone was much larger. I could hardly blow it properly. My lips just couldn’t fill the space to produce the necessary vibrations. We chatted for a bit about architecture and race relations in Pretoria and Chicago. He started the conversation by saying that he heard Chicago was one of the most racist places in the USA and he was fascinated by how the architecture reflected this. Intriguing way to start a conversation, I must say. The Zambian, the vuvu player, and I also discussed the merits of Joburg vs. Cape Town. The vuvu player is a Pretorian in Joburg and the Zambian is studying in Cape Town. Cape Town and Joburg have this little rivalry going on so it was a heated debate. I am under the impression that Capetonians find Joburg to be one big heaving disgusting fast-paced cesspool and the Joburg folk find Capetonians to be stuck up and lame. It’s easy to hate on Joburg because Joburg doesn’t reveal its riches to just anyone. It has a prickly, scary, dangerous candy coating that is not easy to see past. I was fooled at first but the more you go to Joburg the more fun it is. Joburg is a crap place for visitors. It is huge, dangerous, and there isn’t much touristy stuff to do. But it is a really cool place once you have been here for awhile. You really need friends to take you around though…that’s when Joburg shines eGoli style. (eGoli means “city of gold” and is one of the nicknames of Joburg)

The Japan vs. Paraguay game was sort of boring until the end. I didn’t pay attention too much throughout the match. The game went into overtime and then penalty shots. Japan missed one and Paraguay hit all their shots…so Paraguay came out on top. Well done gents. After that people started to pour in from the game and we were beginning to get a nice little vibe going on in the Square.

Ramsey and Lena decided to go home early and I sat and chatted with the Zambian for a bit longer. He ended up splitting to go hang out with his friends. My next door neighbors were at the game and wanted to head to the Square to watch the 2^nd match (Spain vs. Portugal). They had a whole big group of adults and teenagers. It was pretty fun to join them. The Spain vs. Portugal game was interesting. Many people here are Spain or Portugal supporters. There is a large Portuguese population in South Africa so that gives some people Portugal allegiances. Many of the players on the two teams play in big famous teams in Europe so the supporters of those leagues were out cheering for their favorite Iberian. It was split as far as support in the Square went. I don’t think anyone really had a majority per se.

(The neighbors: Wessel, me, Debbie)

I was rooting for Spain because from what I have seen in the World Cup matches I have watched…the Portuguese squad has a lot of douche bags on the field. Led by the biggest toolbag of them all…Cristiano Ronaldo. He is fast, skilled, and adorable. But he is also a person that falls over a lot to get penalty shots…even if no one has touched him. I don’t dig his arrogance and attitude in general. I’m so not a fan. There is one guy on the Spanish team, David Villa, that I really don’t dig either (cos I saw him slap a man in the face…lame), but given the choices I gotta go Spain. Villa has scored the most goals in the World Cup. He is really good, but nothing excuses you from slapping a grown man in the face. That is some wack shit.

The game was fun to watch. The Iberian peninsula fighting against itself. Spain played much better and ended up scoring the only goal of the game. I think I was sitting with mostly Spanish supporters, so that was cool. Otherwise just general camaraderie to report. Met some nice Brasileiros do Brasilia…both with the name of Victor. Taught a lady how to blow a vuvuzela. Waved my flag and danced around for the “Wave your Flag” song. Saw a World Cup hookah/hubbly/nargile. Met some people from the USA which I couldn’t even identify cos they had really crazy accents.

(Adorable Brasileiros with adorable hats)

(The World Cup in my hands...kinda)

I said goodbye to my neighbors and their posse after a bit. I was going to go home, but decided to have one more beer to see if I could find a situation worth staying for. I didn’t find one. Met some Mexicans and more Algerians, but nothing exciting. Some of my posse is out of commission right now for various reasons, so I have been going solo a lot. Or ending up solo, rather. It’s kind of a bummer at times, but you gotta go with the flow. I was riding my bike home and since nothing grabbed my attention, I decided to head home before I was too drunk to ride. Drunk + bike + South Africa + dark = trouble…this ain’t Urbana, people.

I love riding home from Hatfield right now. It’s downhill and the roads are blocked off so it’s wicked fun. I can really cruise the whole way home. People were getting worried I was riding alone at night. I said if a tsotsi (robber) can catch me on my bike then they deserve to rob me…cos no one is catching me on 2 wheels! I tied my American flag to my belt loops and headed off into the night. I wish I could have seen me riding cos I was hoping to make my flag poof out a bit when I rode. I hope I was a vision in stars and stripes…

And now it’s a bit of a break in the action. Friday is the next set of games. Holland vs. Brasil and Ghana vs. Uraguay. My money is on Ghana and Brasil…

Until then…enjoy it J

Day 15-16-17: A Whirled Cup blur…and the USA goes home :(

2010-06-28T05:30:00.001-05:00

I have to be honest…things are all starting to blur together on the World Cup tip. Whirled Cup, indeed. The one thing I do know for sure is that my name is Lynsee, the USA has gone home, and Africa’s only got one hope left in Ghana. The rest…well it’s kind of hazy.

Friday I was still a little tired from the previous days of USA fanfare, substituting sleep for hanging out, and tour guiding a bit around town. My only hope for going to see an actual game was Friday at Loftus: Chile vs. Spain. My friend said he had some complimentary tickets from some work he was doing. But a few days before he was in a car crash at home and he still hasn’t come back to Pretoria. He is okay and no longer in the hospital…so that is good. But we didn’t go to the game L

My friend’s boyfriend, Sven, called me in the middle of a nap on Friday and told me that he and his friend were in Pretoria. Sven lives in Cape Town and he and his friend from Germany have been touring all over South Africa on a World Cup holiday. It sounds like they are having a lot of fun, have been to a lot of games, and seen lots of wonderful SA sights. I met Sven and his friend in Hatfield Square, again taking a path down past the stadium so I could get a glimpse of the fans en route to the game. Saw lots of bull fighters from Spain, red wigs, and flags flags flags. There wasn’t really anything special about the fan costumes for these teams, so far as I could see. I did see some guys with a big drum and like 20 HUGE Chilean flags. I wanted to take a picture but somehow had a shy moment. I did take some pics of the fans though…so you can check them out below. I even brushed off my Spanish to ask permission to photograph. It was really hard cos I’ve been thinking in French for the last week or so and when I have too many languages in my head they all come out at the wrong time. It’s really something I need to work on.

(Spanish supporters and me)

(Viva Chile!)

The Square was fun. It was cool to see Sven. But I think I’m getting over the Square a bit now. Seriously if I hear “I like to move it, move it” one more time I’m going to stab someone. There are only 2 CDs that the DJ/sound guys are playing because that’s what FIFA says they can do. I have voiced my concerns to them, but they say they can’t do anything about it. Lame. FIFA is the new world order it seems. The sound guys are doing a great job otherwise…and I told them so. I’ve done sound. It’s not easy. But they have been delivering the goods on all the bands that have been playing. If only they could get rid of the damn FIFA soundtrack…

(Andreas, Sven, and me at the Square)

On Friday I watched part of Portugal vs. Brasil (at home) and then the Chile vs. Spain game. My heart really wasn’t in either game. Portugal’s team annoys me and Brasil just always wins. Chile vs. Spain…whatever. I rooted for Chile since they seem to have been doing really well in their matches and compared to Spain they are the underdogs. I guess Spain just won some major tournament in Europe, but they haven’t really opened any cans of whoop ass during World Cup. Portugal and Brasil drew 0-0 and Chile lost to Spain 2-1. Sorry I can’t remember any specific details from the games…

Had some nice conversations in the Square with some South Africans. It was kind of quiet this night, but there were lots of Spain supporters…they are a favorite. Talked about marketing and advertising with a guy who studied in Chicago at Roosevelt University when the Fridge was still terrorizing the gridiron. We had some laughs about the Superbowl Shuffle and the fact that I was like 7 years old when that was hot. I was also scolded by a young man because “you ladies watch soccer for all the wrong reasons.” Meaning that we just watch for the hotties. And for me…the thighs. Whoa mama…the only thing hotter than soccer thighs are rugby thighs. Someone cool me down! But I won’t take that from this young man. There is a game called netball here in SA that is sort of like a lamer version of basketball for women. The highlight for most spectators of the male persuasion is that the ladies wear very short skirts. So I came back with this evidence and that guy had nothing except to say that if he wanted to see hot ladies then he watches tennis. Fine…even steven now.

I showed off my vuvuzela skills some more. I actually had a debate on the merits of the various models of vuvuzela…which was funny cos I just wrote on my blog about it. Sven, Andreas, and I were sitting by some other folks and when Sven and Andreas left I joined their table. Had some nice conversation with a young man that was clearly interested in a bit more from me. At this point in the week…it’s been a wild 7 days and I’ll be honest when I say I still have Algeria on the brain a bit. I don’t switch gears in that department that fast so I had to shut down this young man I was talking to and ask him to cool his jets. But it was cool. He was respectful and we ended up hanging out the rest of the night.

Saturday my friend, Tshepo, was coming over to spend some time hanging out. We haven’t seen each other since 2008, when we were going to Onderstepoort together. He’s graduated now and is working in a clinic in Pretoria. While at Onderstepoort, I turned him onto Johnny Cash and my mom sent a poster of Johnny Cash from the USA for him. So I had to see him and hand over the goods. It was nice to hang out with Tshepo. We chilled at my house for a bit and then went to go get supplies for a braai we were going to later in the day.

(Tshepo and Johnny)

Saturday was the first day of the final 16 games. The final 16 are the top 2 teams from the 8 groups (each group had 4 teams) that started out in the beginning. So this is the start of the real games. Go time! Now, if you don’t win a game then you are eliminated from the Cup. Games that draw go into extra time and then into penalty shots if need be. That last part sounds damn exciting. There is no draw now…someone must win and proceed. The first game of the day was South Korea vs. Uruguay, with Uruguay winning 2-1. South Korea wasn’t doing too bad I guess…all I know about that game is that it was pouring down rain (probably was played in Cape Town) and I got to see a Korean player’s butt as he slid all over the slick field. Nice.

The next game was of course…USA vs. Ghana. Now my allegiances are split…almost. I want to support Africa’s last team in the World Cup (cos I always do) but I can’t watch a game with the USA and not support them. So victory will be bittersweet no matter who wins. My friend Zadok and his sisters were hosting a braai at their house, plus my brother from another mother (Bento) was going to be around. Good times will be had! Tshepo and I got some meat and beer and got over to Zadok’s house. Tshepo had to go home early…it was sad cos the braai was really fun but those of us without cars sometimes have to make plans we don’t want to make. Nice to see you Tshepo!

It was becoming very clear that I was going to be the only USA supporter at this game. The crowd at Zadok’s was a mélange of pretty much any country you can name in Africa and me, the lone American. It doesn’t bother me cos I can hold it down for the USA if I need to! People started trickling in, beer was flowing, meat was grilling. I wanted to go watch the game in the Square but it was obvious we were not going to cook in time to see the kickoff. Also we had our own little party in the apartment and didn’t need the ambience of the Square. The game started, I sang my anthem…poorly. My voice is so thrashed these days. I just have no time to rest it in between more and more insanity. It’s cool though. I will stop sounding like a gorilla one of these days J

(Some tense not-so-good-for-the-USA moment during the game...)

The game didn’t start off very well. We conceded a goal in the first 5 minutes and we just never really got it together. There was one goal that we should have got, but didn’t (I think…I don’t know, maybe I’m thinking of the England vs. Germany game). We did get a really tight penalty kick from Landon Donovan. It was beautiful…all the way over to one side and bounced off the pole into the goal. Nice one. But otherwise it was clear that the USA was not going to win. And we didn’t. I guess now I’m happy because I don’t have to be torn from supporting an African team…I can root for Ghana with a clear conscience now. But I am sad to see the USA go home. I have really enjoyed watching the games and supporting my country’s team. Good times, good times. Thanks guys!

Another important moment from tonight is that I was shown how to blow a vuvuzela so that you get another tone out of it. Like a high pitched one. To make this noise you press your lips together into a very thin line and blow. It’s much harder than the normal way you blow, but it is possible to get 2 tones from a vuvuzela. Coolness. Or rather…Ayobaness!

The braai was really fun. I got to see some of my brothers that I haven’t seen in awhile. Just like most other university situations…when your friends graduate they scatter to the wind. So I haven’t seen my bros in awhile and it’s not cool. Also Zadok, a Ugandan by way of the UK and Namibia and probably some other places, always had a good mix of people around. We can escape this racially/nationally/tribally demarcated group situation that is ever present in South Africa. Zadok’s party was a lot more like being at home…peeps of all flavors just chilling and having fun. Thanks, Z!

(Me and Bento, my brother from another Mozambiquan mother)

I got home around midnight and Sunnyside was jumping. Now that Ghana is the only team left to represent the 50 odd countries of Africa, you must understand that all support from the continent is going to be funneled into Ghana. It’s just the way it works. So all the Bafana Bafana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Algeria fans are going to be rooting for Ghana. Sunnyside was on fire, but not literally. When I sat outside before bed I could hear drums and singing. I am guessing this went on all through the night. Helen said that just after the game there was A LOT of noise in Sunnyside for Ghana’s win.

Sunday brought Germany vs. England and Argentina vs. Mexico. I don’t really have an allegiance for any of the teams except I felt like I had to root for Mexico since most of my town is Mexican people. The Germany vs. England game was really talked about because there is some rivalry that exists between the two teams and people were worried there was going to be violence and all that jazz. Honestly I think the UK media machine is crazy and probably added a lot of hype to the whole situation, but what do I know. The game was interesting. England was totally robbed of a goal because the refs weren’t doing their job. The ball hit the top bar of the goal and bounced almost a meter inside of the box and then sort of out, where the goalie got it. It was pretty obvious it was a goal, but the line refs didn’t see it and the main ref didn’t see it…so there was no goal. It was really really fucked up. It pretty much ruined the momentum of the game for England and Germany thrashed them 4-1. Sorry limeys…

The Argentina vs. Mexico game was also tainted by blind refs. Argentina scored a goal in which the scoring player was WAY offsides…so the goal shouldn’t have counted. But again, because of really crap ref-ing…the goal stood. It’s decisions like this that can really ruin the momentum for one team or the other and it’s not fair. Also the Mexicans were ready to fight after that bad call. At half time there was some scuffling going on as the players left the field, but I don’t think it ever actually came to blows. Argentina ended up destroying Mexico and going on to the next round.

(A sign up in the Square that says: What's up Brasil? Are you nervous? Diego (the coach of Argentina) we will see you in El Obelisk (where the Argentinians celebrate soccer success))

I just want to say a word about the coach of Argentina’s team, Diego Maradona. He is a really interesting figure in this World Cup. Controversial and the name on people’s tongue. I guess he used to play in Argentina and won a World Cup with them in Mexico in the 80s (I think). There is all sorts of talk about how if his team wins this Cup then it will prove that Maradona was the greatest footballer of all time and blah blah blah. I’m pretty sure that title will always stay with Pele, but commentators need to say crap all the time so… Personally I think that Maradona is such an old man hottie. I don’t know why cos he looks like a bad car salesman in his sleek silver sharkskin suit, long dark hair, and intense facial hair. I would not buy a car from that man…but he is kind of cute in an old rogue sort of way ;) I actually want to read up on Wikipedia about him cos it seems like he has had kind of a fascinating bad boy life.

I guess today is Brasil and some other teams…like I said…such a blur now. And it’s funny cos now the games playing are the good ones! Wake up Lynsee!

Day 13-14: America, F**K yeah!

2010-06-25T07:15:00.003-05:00

Well, well, well, will you looky here…the USA has a spot in the last 16 of the World Cup. The USA and England will move through, with the USA at the top of the group. Hooooo boy! Now that’s some real nice work you boys done J

On Wednesday the group consisting of the USA, England, Algeria, and Slovenia played their last games. The games that separated the winners from the losers, the men from the boys. The games ran simultaneously at 4pm and I headed off to the Square to cheer on the boys from home. I was still kiiinda feeling like death in the morning but something about the games and atmosphere really got into me and I began to feel absolutely fine as the day wore on…hooray! My earth-shattering cough even reduced from death shake to slight pulmonary whisper…tight!

(Fans on the way to Loftus Stadium in Pretoria)

(Me and drunk Asian Elvis...lol)

(Captain America and Cap'n America, one of my nicknames here)

(How adorable is this fan?)

I rode my bike out to the Square, taking the route that passes by the stadium in Pretoria (and my neighborhood) where the USA would play Algeria. There was a massive flood of fans in the streets representing either the USA or Algeria, with a few SA and other fans sprinkled in for good measure. In many ways I often struggle to find a way to describe the culture of the USA. Sometimes I don’t feel that we have a national dress style or food or song or anything really that defines us. But seeing all these fans in the streets and on TV really changed that for me. I saw people dressed like the Statue of Liberty, Elvis, various USA-themed superheroes (most notably Captain America), Revolutionary war figures, as well as a guy dressed in what could best be described as Steve Urkel meets a star-spangled cloth factory. Well done to the USA fans for making me wake up and see that we do indeed have some things, besides ignorance and loudness, that can leave an American legacy on the world stage. Of course I saw tons of flags and people painted up in the red, white, and blue…but it was these USA “characters” that really made me smile J J I chose blue jeans, a red shirt, a white undershirt, and braided pigtails with red/white/blue threads woven into the mix to show my pride. Also had a few clutch pins added to my hat: “Yes you can” pin from the Obama inauguration and a “Dig for Victory” red pin from the WW2 Victory Garden effort. Nice. I also made another flag (this time w/better stars) and wrote “U-S-A!” and “Get ‘er done!” on the back of this flag. I wanted to put the most American phrase I could think of and frankly there ain’t nothing more American than “Get ‘er done!” For better or worse. That phrase had mixed reviews with the American fans with one guy even scolding me for representing one of the most embarrassing aspects of USA culture. F you dude…it’s America whether you like it or not!!!!

On the way to the Square it was interesting to see Hatfield on a game day. Most notably that all of a sudden a million ladies selling souvenirs now lined the streets. Also all the streets in Hatfield were closed off to cars (but not bikes…ha ha) and being heavily patrolled by the police. It’s a faaaaaaan’s world!

(Vendors spring up where opportunity knocks, Burnett St Hatfield)

I arrived at the Square just in time for the opening chit chat, only to find out that they were not playing the USA game on the big screen outside. LAME!! So I had to go inside one of the bars to watch on a smaller TV. I was really annoyed cos it’s nice to be outside for the games. There is the sun to keep you warm (crucial in SA winter) and plenty of space to jump around, blow my vuvuzela, and scream at the top of my lungs. Watching inside meant I was cold and had to tone down my fanfare a bit…not cool. I did get to sit on some very nice couches though. Other American fans were also driven inside so I had a few people to watch with, including a guy born and raised in Kenosha, WI. Wow. Small world J

USA won the game 1-0 over Algeria. Algeria just never really brought the noise. They had very few attempts at the goal and many of their players received yellow cards. In the end of the game (in extra time) the Algerian captain got a red card over an argument that he wasn’t even really a part of…kind of messed up. Red card means ejection from the game and a loss of a player on the field. So now the team must play with 10 players for the rest of the game, not 11. Yellow card is sort of like a very stern warning, but if you get 2 yellow cards in one game it is like getting a red card and you get ejected. 2 yellow cards in 2 games means you are not allowed to play in the next game and in some leagues there are other penalties that go along with 2 yellow cards in 2 games.

I am pretty sure that many USA fans got some ulcers during the game. We only scored in the 92^nd minute of the game…just in the knick! Soccer games last 90 minutes (2 45-minute halves) but there is always some time added on at the end of each half for times the game was stopped: injuries, ref calls like yellow cards, goal celebrations, etc. I think there was 4 minutes added on to the end of this game and in that time we scored the only goal of the game. Brilliant. We had a million chances at the goal and frankly should have been awarded 2 goals. One of the goals was denied because the ref said our player was offsides…which on the instant replay, was not the case at all. Soccer does not use instant replay in any of their decisions. It is pretty much the only major sport that doesn’t use the technology available to make better decisions. FIFA just refuses to use it. Lame.

I really like the USA’s goal celebration. It’s not as cool as the SA dance, but it is reminiscent of childhood playground dogpiles…and for that…I dig. When the USA scores, all the players jump on top of one another and make a pile, similar to what you see in American football games. The dogpile I guess it is called. I know we used to play some game like that when I was in elementary school.

I could now face my Algerian friends and dish out a little good-natured sports trash talk in the meantime. Hoo-ray! Sadly, though, most of the Algerians were not present in the flood of USA fans to be found in the Square. It was probably a combination of things: their loss, the entrance fee for the Square (R20 = $US3), many of the Algerian fans are Muslim and don’t drink so all the rowdy drinking in the Square kind of puts them off, and I heard that some of the fans were leaving that night to go back to Algeria. It was a real shame cos the Algerians SO bring the party! I hope the USA fans didn’t put them off. Ross attended the game and said that American fans are kind of rude and taunting of the other team. That’s not nice! And the Algerians are cool…they don’t deserve to be assaulted with rude sports trash talk. The Algerians have a cheer that goes “1-2-3! Viva l’Algerie!” When I was walking the streets after the game, if an Algerian fan stopped me with shouts of “USA!” then I would stop and say “1-2-3! Viva les Etats Unis” (viva the United States). It was good-natured and the guys would laugh because they were expecting me to say their cheer. So it’s okay to tease the other fans as long as you aren’t rude and mean. That’s just not cool. So I was sad to not see so many Algerians in the Square. Also I was looking for a particular Algerian in the crowd…Said, the guy I spent the previous night talking with at News Café. I was really looking forward to some more laughs and conversation with him. I even left the Square to search the other places where the Algerians were to be found in the hopes of finding him…but no luck. C’est dommage! He ended up finding me though…more on that in a bit.

I have never seen so many Americans in Pretoria. There usually are not many Americans to be found in Pretoria despite the fact that the Peace Corps in South Africa is centered in Pretoria and the American Embassy is also here. I actually like being a lone American here. I don’t often enjoy meeting Americans here. I don’t know why exactly, but usually I don’t have much to talk to them about. Frankly, many Americans are hard to stomach and when you meet one overseas they are either really cool or really really not cool. The later being the one I usually try to avoid at all costs. The “ignorant American” we all despise being grouped with. American fans, despite soccer apparently not being big in the USA, bought the most World Cup tickets of any country in the world. Very paradoxical if you ask me. But, since the USA game was in Pretoria…tonight the Square was little USA. It was actually kind of rad.

(Ummm...wow)

Wow…seeing so many Americans around was kind of a culture shock for me. A taste of what is waiting for me at home. The dress, the attitude, the accents…get ready Lynsee…more to come in about 2 weeks! Home again, home again, jiggety jig. J Some of the culture shock items for me were the abundance of tight pants and obvious hipster steez, college sweatshirts from around the country, hockey jerseys (what?), and of course, plenty of hugely ridiculous facial hair. I don’t know what it is about the resurgence of inappropriate facial hair reviving the flavor of the 1970s…but ridiculous facial hair is alive and well in the USA. I saw all permutations of it in the Square on game night: molester moustaches, full on mountain man beards, and everything in between. I think the best truly USA moment I witnessed, and actively participated in, was some guys that turned a vuvuzela into a beer bong. Leave it to an American to turn the most South African soccer item into a tool of college drinking debauchery…well done guys.

I spent a good deal of the night sharing beer and pizza with some American fans I watched the game with earlier. I was trying to avoid drinking because I was hoping to see Said. He doesn’t drink or smoke and I didn’t want to be a vessel of sin around him...if you can believe that of me. J But after awhile I was losing hope that I’d meet up with him again so when beers were offered by my new American friends I decided to join them in a bit of revelry. Plus I could not say no to a beer bong vuvuzela! The Americans I chilled with (from watching the game) were really nice people and I enjoyed their company. It’s nice to hear the things people have been doing since they arrived in the USA. It sounds like people are having a good time and enjoying SA. I am concerned that people aren’t eating enough cool SA food though! There were too many people that didn’t know biltong for my tastes! It’s also nice to be able to share my “SA expertise,” acquired through a few years of having my feet on the ground in SA. I spent a lot of time trying to coach the Americans (and others) on how to blow a vuvuzela with enough acoustic force to shake the walls. Many of the vuvuzelas people had were not that nice though. You actually get a few different styles of vuvuzela with the difference being in the mouthpiece. The true vuvuzela has a mouthpiece that is slightly fluted, has a bit of a lip on the outside, and is continuous with the rest of the horn. There is nothing inside and you have to purse your lips and puff your cheeks to properly blow it. You don’t need to blow loud to make a loud noise…it’s all in the technique and I still contend that in order to be a vuvu master you need to make your lips swell (I call it breaking your lips) one time. After the initial lip breakage…you will be a master. There are some other variations of the horn that I have seen with a separate piece of plastic acting as a mouthpiece. This separate mouthpiece vuvu usually has a more fluted opening and no outside lip. There are some other versions of the vuvu that are continuous but also share this more fluted opening…it is this fluted edge that makes these particular vuvus hard to blow. Even I struggle with those ones. In the end, folks were getting some more earth-shattering noises out and I felt proud to be of assistance! Keep practicing, folks!

(The vuvuzela meets Animal House)

Side note on the vuvu: there is now a soccer ball button near the volume control on some youtube videos that you can press that adds continuous vuvuzela noise as long as the button is engaged. HILARIOUS! I watched the Weezer video of the unofficial USA soccer song with some vuvu noise on it…good times. Actually, you must check out this video. It’s quite nice. Weezer’s “Represent” song on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7nCt6vWOxQ

As the night wore on I moved from group to group since I was solo that night. Saw my friend from university days past, Zack, again and chilled with him a bit. The Americans I watched the game with left midway through the Ghana vs. Germany game. Met a guy from Evanston, IL (identified by his Cubbie jersey). Talked about how bicycles rule with a bike messenger from NYC. Gave him a bit of “what’s up on the SA daily cycling scene.” Bonged a beer through a vuvuzela. Talked to a girl with the Peace Corps who is volunteering in the middle of nowhere in the Northern Cape, a place I haven’t been yet. Halfheartedly watched the Ghana vs. Germany game while wholeheartedly cheering for Africa’s last hope, Ghana. I’m pretty sure Ghana lost, but they are still in. The USA will play Ghana in our next game in the final 16.

But you know what…there was sorrow in my heart even though I was mingling and enjoying myself. I really wanted to see Said again because I knew he was leaving soon. Spending time with him has been the best part of the World Cup chop suey so far. Good conversation, good laughs, a bit of teasing, and I can’t lie…he is quite cute. You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. This is important when travelling because sometimes you meet the most amazing people, but only for a short time. It’s important to grab onto them with both hands while respecting that sometimes the best thing about the situation is that it has an expiration date. Being greedy and forcing more encounters can often lead to sadness…you must respect the flow of the universe. There is a great Janis Joplin song where she talks over it. In that song she says something about having a cat for only one day. She says you can enjoy that 1 day or mourn over the 364 days you don’t have that cat. I always think of this in my life…especially when you have these fleeting joys brought on by a bunch of transient moments and people mixing in the same time and place. I enjoyed and celebrate the moments we spent together. Was trying not to force more meetings TOO much (I am very guilty of this most times because I don’t want to miss out from lack of engagement on my part)…but I still wanted more!

(Can't we all just get along? Me and Said showing that the winners and the losers can still be friends)

But then my moment came…while talking to someone in the Square I felt some hands from behind over my eyes. I knew instantly who it was, but my suspicion was confirmed when I heard “good game…you deserved to win” whispered in my ear. Yay! Said! We left the madness of the Square’s interior and retired to a quiet corner to have some more nice conversation. It got later and later and we didn’t want to part. We tried to go back to his place for some sleep but got hijacked by some weird rules and nonsense. Said was staying in one of the university dormitories with the other Algerian fans. They came as a big group and are all staying, traveling, and playing together. Normally opposite sex visitors are strictly prohibited from even being on the premises of the respective dormitories, but I figured since this was sort of a hotel situation now that this would be overlooked. Not the case. The security guard gave us some hassles and while Said was inside the guard even asked if I was a prostitute. EXCUSE ME?!?!?! There is a street in Sunnyside where all the hookers are. I angrily pointed out that the street we were now occupying was not this prostitute promenade and I was not for sale. I even threw in a few slang swear words and comebacks for good measure…to let him know I was not playing around. He also tried to get me to go around the side of the building for “1 round” and attempted to show me the “rubbish he was covering in his trousers.” Anger, angry, incensed. I have actually noticed this in the past with other situations I’ve been in here in South Africa. Black men seem to think that when I hang out with other black people (like when I’m the only white girl for miles at a club) that I am easy. I have been propositioned, kissed, and touched inappropriately even when someone I was dating was standing nearby. I am no stranger to slapping a fool in my day. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on…but now I know and I am not happy about it. I am not for sale.

We decided that Said would walk me and my bike back to my place and then he’d go home from there. I am staying with a family with a baby. It is okay for me to have people over as long as there is warning. I respect this. I don’t want to bring bad vibes to my friends and the baby must be protected at all costs. We arrived back at my place (which is not too far of a walk from the Square and where Said was staying) maybe around 3am. It was cold. I was worried about Said going back alone (even if he used my bicycle) for security purposes and I just didn’t want him to get lost in the cold dark night. So I broke the rules and we got out of the cold and into Club Duvet. It was nice to spend more time with Said. The next day we got some food and we walked to my favorite park and my favorite Pretoria sight, The Union Buildings. It was good to show Said around. I really wanted to get us some pap and chicken so Said could taste a bit of South Africa proper but he only eats halal food (kind of like kosher for Muslims). I am pretty sure that a place where you can also buy a ½ sheep head for a meal is not at the height of halal correctness. We got fish instead.

(Said, me, and some adorable passersby with Zakumi, the official World Cup mascot, at the Union Buildings)

Day 13 was long and a bit sleepless, so on day 14 I didn’t watch any soccer at all. Fine by me…I was enjoying being a tour guide. I guess this has also been an integral part of the massive influx of tourists for the World Cup. So I did my part to be true to the World Cup fever. Said and I split ways later in the evening as he was heading back to Algeria that night. Too short of a time…but I enjoyed every minute and wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. 1-2-3! Viva l’Algerie! Great to meet all of you. Hands down, even minus my time with Said, the Algerians have been the most awesome fans and people I have met in the madness of the World Cup. Big ups to you all. I think I’m going to have to add a trip to Algeria to my list of future adventures.

Today there are more games. I may check out the Chile vs. Spain game at the stadium thanks to my friend Surprise…but this might not happen. Surprise and his friends were in a car crash and I don’t know if he is going to make it back to Pretoria today. Luckily no one was killed (many people die in car crashes in SA) and I’m glad my friend is okay. World Cup match be damned…his well being is much more important! I should also be checking out my friend’s band later tonight…which is going to be ill as hell.

Come’n atcha later with more on the World Cup tip. Hugs until then J

Day 12: More Algerian love and Bafana Bafana go out on a high note

2010-06-23T04:18:00.002-05:00

I can’t pretend anymore that this is just a little throat irritation…I am full on sick now! I literally and figuratively have the World Cup fever. Figuratively…I can’t concentrate on anything but soccer. I even watched a music video w/Mos Def in it last night and all I could think about was how Mos Def and Onweyu from the USA soccer team had similar facial hair. I am touched. Literally…hot and cold flashes that should be reserved for the golden menopausal days (*shiver*) and deep rumbling bronchial heaves that attempt to release the congestion, to no avail. Cough drops are the new breath mint. Red syrup chugged down at intervals.

But there’s no rest for the wicked and we all know that I am no saint. I got a World Cup to enjoy. Fever or no!

Yesterday Bafana Bafana played so I dug out my green and yellow from the closet and headed to Hatfield Square, vuvuzela in hand. Bafana Bafana had to pull out all the stops and go super crazy on France. 3 options: lose and go out on a sour note, win and go out on a high note, win with a crap load of goals and move through to the next stage.

A word here on my opinion of South African sports. South Africans lose at sports all the time, especially if Australia is even remotely involved. I don’t know what it is cos they often have good teams and plenty of fan support. I feel that often times in international matches in various sports that the mood starts out super upbeat: flag-waving, shit-talking, rah-rah-ing. But something always happens. Like SA can be annihilating the competition and then it always just falls apart at the end. I have seen it countless times. The only exception to this is in rugby as SA currently holds pretty much all the major rugby trophies: 2010 Super 14 championship title (a league played between 14 teams in SA, Australia, New Zealand), World Cup for rugby (won in 2007), and the 2009 Tri-Nations title (played between Australia, New Zealand, and SA). But otherwise it seems like things always end up going to hell in a handbag for SA sports. In a way it’s even fitting to the attitude of some of the people here. Like a national vibe, if you will. There is a lot of deep-seated pessimism in some communities in SA. Some people have not yet drunk the rainbow nation koolaid. This pessimism can be masked at first by team support, but eventually ends up winning out in the end. Sort of a “look, I told you so” type of thing going on.

So, in a way it’s fitting to this model that Bafana Bafana did not go through. I don’t want to be a nay-sayer, but I didn’t think they would make it through to the next round. Their team isn’t strong enough from what I have seen on the field. They lost their goalie, Khune, to a red card in the 2^nd match…and he was a pretty amazing goalie in the games I saw. Siphiwe Tshabalala can’t do everything! There is just a gel that is missing with the SA team.

That’s not to say I wasn’t shouting my lungs out for them! I think the reason they even did as well as they did in their matches has something to do with fan support here. The fan support has been really crazy. People you would never think of as soccer fans have been turned. Everything is Ayoba this and Ayoba that. (Ayoba is a slang word here that means “cool.” It was hijacked by a cell phone company here and it is now the World Cup buzz word in SA) World Cup fever is real in South Africa, especially for South African fans. My USA soccer fans at home were all predicting a total slaughter by Mexico in the first game SA played, but I had to tell them that they would never predict that if they were on SA soil. The atmosphere was just too green and gold electric for Bafana to go out like that!

I’m happy that Bafana Bafana could go out on a nice respectable win. It sort of pisses on the fire of the pessimists and gives hope and pride to everyone. People can look back and say “yeah, we did good even if we didn’t go through.” South Africa has plenty of things to be ashamed of…things that people bring up in their face all the time. It’s nice that they can now add another thing to the “Proudly South African” pile! And the boys played hard and well against France. It was a nice game to watch. They had a million shots at the goal and thankfully a few got through J Even Modise couldn’t break the rhythm. Modise is a star player here in SA for the Orlando Pirates, one of the major pro soccer teams in SA. He is a cutie and even I can recognize him on the field cos his face is often used in major ad campaigns. But MAN has he been stinking up the field in this World Cup. You should have heard all the cursing and shouts of “NOOOOO!” when he was substituted in during yesterday’s game. It was kind of bogus, but I understand cos he played a major part in SA drawing, not winning, the first game.

Yesterday I was supposed to meet one of my new Algerian friends, Said. Said is the guy I traded flags with when I first mentioned those crazy Algerians. We have been in contact ever since and since his team came back to Pretoria to play the USA…we decided to meet and cheer for SA together. I’ll be honest I couldn’t quite remember what he looked like. I thought I was sure, but then I saw some other Algerians when I got to the Square that I knew I had met. This made me unsure of whether or not I really did know his face. I didn’t want to go up to some dudes and get it wrong, so I just sort of chilled out and kept my eye on the people in the Square to see if I could spot who I thought he was. I figured if too much time passed he might call me and we could get this sorted out.

In the meantime, as I searched the faces of the people in the Square I met another nice Algerian man, Marwan. We passed as we were walking and he said to me “Ca va?” Which means “how are you/how’s it going?” in French. I didn’t think twice and just started speaking to him in French. He was amazed I spoke French and even more amazed when I told him I was from the USA. And this pretty much started a 2 hour conversation in French with a nice older man. I am amazed I could keep up deep discussion in French for that long (quite proud of myself, actually). I may have mentioned it before, but I am kind of sick of dogs barking at my tree…meaning jerk ass dudes that got nothing to say to me and just want to jump my bones. The Algerians have been refreshing in this way. I can feel that they are attracted to me in some way, but they are very polite and don’t tell me nasty things or try to slickly weasel their way into my heart. We just talk. It’s quite cool.

As the older man and I went to go get something to eat…I saw Said and that’s when I confirmed that I did in fact know his face. Whew! What a relief. Ok, I’ll admit I was relieved cos I had the suspicion that Said was one of the cute Algerians I met and I didn’t want to be wrong. I was not J Marwan and I got our food and came back to eat with Said. There was quite an international posse that kept growing. We had English, Algerian, Australian, American…then South African, Ugandan…do you want more?!?!?! World Cup! Woot!!!!

In Helen and Ross’s house there is a young lady, Nyulani, that keeps things tidy and helps to take care of Nicholas a few days a week. I really enjoy the days she comes cos we always have a lot to talk and laugh about. She was at the house today and gets off at 3pm. This gets her home by 5:30pm as she lives in one of the townships and travels during rush hour. Since the Bafana game started at 4pm there was no way she would make it home in time to see the game, I suggested she come join me in the Square. It’s not far from the house and she could still get a taxi home from there. So after she knocked off we met in the Square. It was nice to watch the game with her. We had lots of laughs and cheers together. The day before World Cup started, everyone in SA was supposed to blow their vuvuzelas between 12-1pm. We did this together at home…ending in too many giggles at our totally crap vuvuzela skills. But now, since we have both had more practice, we were rocking the raucousness on the vuvu. During some points in the game people kept turning around and looking at me cos I can really blow that thing HARD now. I can make even the strongest eardrums ring these days.

Today was also a day of random encounters in the Square. I saw some of my old TuksFM colleagues as well as a few people I know from around the way. Saw lots of my new Algerian friends too. The most random encounter was with a guy that I went to school with back in 2002 in Pietermaritzburg (SA). He was sitting at the table next to us and I just knew I knew him from somewhere. His name came to mind and I went up to him asking if he was Zack. Sure enough…he was. He was a bit surprised, but then came to see that he remembered me too. He is now studying at the University of Pretoria and we had a bit of reminiscing and catching up to do about people and places we shared. It was quite nice. I can always count on SA for these types of encounters. SA is very small at the end of the day and I always seem to know a face in the crowd…even if it’s a face I haven’t encountered since my first sojourn to SA in 2002. Word.

From today forward there are now 4 games playing per day with 2 games being run simultaneously during each time slot (4pm and 8:30pm). I don’t know the outcome of the other game played at 4pm and only barely caught the 8:30pm game in between slices of wonderful conversation with Said. After the Bafana game, Said and I walked Nyulani to the taxi and then met up with my friends Douwe and Edwin. Douwe is unable to pass a moment without coffee. If we ever lose him in the crowd we know he can always be found at News Café having a coffee and probably chatting up some young ladies. This is where Said and I found them. I was supposed to go back and rejoin Marwan (the older Algerian) but we got lost and stayed with Douwe and Edwin. I felt bad, but I was getting tired on the French tip. Speaking another language can be very tiring in the brain. Je suis desole, Marwan! J’espere que tu as les bonne temps sans moi!

For the rest of the evening, Said and I just talked. Again, the Algerian attention is quite refreshing. I can tell Said is a bit sweet on me (likewise, you handsome devil) but he has been a pure gentleman. I am looking forward to spending more time with him. I’m sorry the USA is going to have to whip his team’s caboose J

After awhile I had to say goodbye. It was cold and getting late. Yawns were starting to escape from both of our mouths. Plus I was only drinking water at News Café and I felt embarrassed to keep asking the waiter to bring me free water. Douwe, Edwin, and I do spend plenty of our beer money there so it’s not like I never spend a rand there…but after 3 glasses of water…I felt it was time to stop bothering the waiter. I said goodbye to Said and hopped on my bike. It was GREAT to ride home. It was super cold, but the streets are blocked off between Hatfield Square and my home so I can ride like the devil on a mission without having to worry about cars. It’s the best! I got home in under 5 minutes…sweetness.

The next post you read from me will be laced with U-S-A! I hope our boys can do well against Algeria. I want to be the shit talker after the game…not on the receiving end! Until next time…

Day 11: Portugal hands out the proverbial ass whoop’n

2010-06-21T16:07:00.002-05:00

Not too much soccer action for me today. Still a bit tired from the weekend and really wanted to get some stuff done around the house. I watched the 1^st game of the day where Portugal handed the North Korean team their ass on a plate. Ouch. Portugal won 7-0. Again, it wasn’t that nice to watch Portugal play cos they really have a cocky smarmy jerk attitude…especially that captain, Cristiano Ronaldo. The smirk on that guy’s face alone makes my blood boil.

I missed the next game cos it was totally nap time, but it seems Chile is really starting to heat up. Good. I may go see their game later in the week here at Loftus.

The last game was Spain vs. Honduras. Again, I cheered for Honduras in honor of the hondurenos of Waukegan. Honduras didn’t do so great and lost 2-0 to Spain. Again more cocky jerk bull from the Spanish team. Eish, not impressed with the Iberian peninsula at the moment. I actually saw the player who scored both goals slap another man in the face. Lucky the ref didn’t see that, although it looks like there is so much favoritism that he probably wouldn’t have gotten the red card that offense deserves. I was kind of hoping one of those hondurenos would have showed him how they deal w/man slaps in Honduras…

In non-soccer news...Nicholas got his first tooth today. Yay for Nicholas!

Tomorrow South Africa plays (yay!) and I am supposed to meet up with one of my new Algerian friends. Should prove to be a lekker soccer day J Hasta manana…

Days 7-8-9-10: My, what a weekend…

2010-06-20T16:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, so on the soccer tip…it’s been a bit of a haze for the last few days. I’ll be honest, some non-World Cup things have been given my time from Friday so I don’t have too much to say about the last few days.

Thursday of last week I sort of watched a bit of the games on TV, but didn’t focus too much on the matches. I have to admit there was a cute guy I had met the night before that was beating out soccer in my thoughts. Don’t really have much to say about the games for Thursday. The big game was France vs. Mexico and my only comment is that France’s blue jerseys are kind of lame. Ok, there was one funny thing about that game. On the TV station that is hosting all the games here there was a quick little spat between the commentators that made me laugh out loud. There was a guy from Trinidad/Tobago and a French guy on the round table team that is adding their 2 cents to the matches. The Trinidad/Tobago guy was sort of cutting off the French guy and the French guy said “hey, at least we are here.” Meaning that at least their team made it to the World Cup this year. Ouch. It was hilarious because often commentary is innocuous yet opinionated…however that is possible.

Friday saw Germany vs. Serbia, USA vs. Slovenia, and finally England vs. Algeria. I watched all the games, but really was most interested in the USA game. I don’t have a USA flag so I made one out of a piece of paper and put it on a stick. Literally, a tiny branch from a tree. Super ghetto, but did the trick and I figured I could lose it and mess it up without feeling too much remorse. Good plan when you are going out to do a spot of drinking. I wrote “Go U-S-A!,” “Bleksem Slovenia!,” and “Nishayani” on the back of my flag. “Bleksem Slovenia” means “beat up Slovenia” in Afrikaans, but I think the intention of the phrase is a bit more violent and vulgar in Afrikaans. Also, it was pointed out that I spelled “bleksem” wrong…that is should be “bliksem.” Shades of gray, shades of gray…people got the point. “Nishayani” means “you must hit them” in a few languages here. I walked alone to Hatfield Square and caught the end of the Germany game. Got a few shouts on my walk there cos of the flag…nice! Showed a Slovenia fan how to blow a vuvuzela and met some old men, but otherwise the Square was really dead. I was hoping it was warm up a bit from when I got there…but no dice. I heard there was an article in the paper here complaining about how Hatfield Square was really really gouging its prices (which is true) and that may have had an effect on attendance. As I said, I have this “loyalty card” that I got a week before the Cup started…so I’m all good. No price gouging is affecting me. Whew! Cos I can’t afford it!

(Zadok and I rep'n for the USA...stick flag and all)

The USA game was great! The Square was dead, but I befriended some other USA fans and was later joined by my friend Zadok to cheer on the USA. I had the advantage of 2 for 1 happy hour and a vuvuzela in hand…all making for plenty of shouts and cheers for the USA J I got to sing the national anthem, which was kind of exciting for me. I missed the start of the 1^st USA game, so was looking forward to singing for this game. A quick word on national anthem singing. It makes me so sad to see the players not singing their national anthem. It is possible that some of the players are not natural-born citizens of that country, but if you are playing for a national team…you need to represent. Don’t just stand there like a statue when the national anthem is playing. It’s not cool. To those of you players and fans moved to tears…aw, that is sweet. I mean it.

Overall our team played well, so it was a nice game to watch. Gave me lots of chances to shout and be rowdy. Since the Square was so dead...I really had to make up for it. ;) Many people say that we were robbed a win in that game over a kind of shady ref call. I’m just happy we didn’t lose and that it was a nice game to watch.

Again, there is about 3 hours in between the 2^nd game and last game of the night. By this time my friends Edwin and Douwe had joined me in the Square so I had those guys to chill with. I met a girl from Delaware (“Hi, I’m in Delaware.”) and later Edwin and Douwe and I met some nice girls from Mozambique. I also met an Australian and had a pretty lively chat about a bunch of South African issues. That was a good conversation.

We were inside at News Café, so I decided to go out and watch the England vs. Algeria game out there. I saw some close friends of mine that I have been meaning to visit, but haven’t been to see. It was great to see them cos we had some catching up to do. The England/Algeria game was disappointing. I was too embarrassed to wave my new Algerian flag cos I was at the English pub and surrounded by English fans…including my friends. Sorry Algerians! But England just never exploded. I was really expecting them to win. During the game a ghost from my past visited me and I spent a lot of time talking to him…meaning not focusing on the game.

The Square was really dead and Edwin and Douwe were chatting up the Mozambiquan girls…so I decided to head out with my ghost. This turned out to be a bad idea. Not because of the ghost, though. It’s a really long story and I don’t feel like going into details but basically I was involved in a domestic abuse fight type thing at the ghost’s friend’s house. I’m okay. It wasn’t directed at me…I was just there. After all that has happened regarding this issue this weekend…I can’t definitively say who was at fault. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel comfortable with both parties being in the apartment together for the night so I helped the young lady go to the police station cos that is what she wanted to do. The following day saw the entire family of the male party come and try to intervene in the issue with me sitting on the couch quietly witnessing a Tswana crossfire between family members. Wow. Because of all the drama I ended up not sleeping Friday night and not much Saturday either. It was really draining. I don’t know these people. And, yeah, I could have done without all that drama. I just hope they can sort the issue out without messing up each other.

I didn’t watch any soccer on Saturday, except for part of the Holland vs. Japan. I surreptitiously watched while family members duked it out in a language I don’t quite understand. When I got home from that ordeal I kind of just relaxed in my room cos I was so tired. Also was spending time with my ghost.

Same thing today…too tired, relaxing in my bed, entertaining my ghost. I did want to watch the Cote d’Ivoire vs. Brasil game as it would hopefully prove to be an exciting match. I’m sorry but it was a really disappointing game to watch. Cote d’Ivoire did some good things, but it wasn’t enough. Brasil was manipulative and relied not so much on their superb playing, but instead on trickery and lameness. It made me sick. If you are the best, play the best. The ref was FUCKING HORRIBLE. He didn’t call about 1 million things that he should have. He allowed a double handball leading to a goal to stand. All the ref did was ask the player if he used is hands. WTF. It is the ref’s job to call this and make decisions…not leave it up to the players. What do you think a player is going to say? Yeah, my world cup goal SO didn’t count. Please ref, call a yellow card against me. Please. Because the ref was so horrible he lost control of the game at the end. There was a fight…kind of. A star player for Brasil was ejected on a double yellow card and things pretty much just spiraled out of control from there. I think if the ref would have been more fair in his calls then the players wouldn’t have been so quick to lose their cool.

Argh. I’m still annoyed…that game was so lame. Also I think Cote d’Ivoire is probably the most likely African team to kick some ass. But probably not now. When I root for teams my loyalty is: 1. USA 2. South Africa 3. Any other African team 4. The underdog 5. Anyone playing Brasil

As for tomorrow…probably Portugal vs. North Korea will be the game I’m most interested in watching. Sorry…but N Korea just fascinates me.

Happy Father’s Day to all the daddys out there. I called my dad today and he asked me if I had one of “those noisemaker things” he has been hearing so much about. Hilarious. I told him yes and explained how the vuvuzela has been messing up my lips and throat…all acceptable soccer injuries ;)

Day 6: BAFANA joy then sadness

2010-06-17T06:17:00.001-05:00

Today was a public holiday in South Africa…which means everything pretty much shuts down. And a World Cup public holiday…good luck! These folks know the meaning of really celebrating a public holiday. Not like in the USA where only the bank or post office or schools are closed. Now that is a lame way to observe a public holiday! Today was Youth Day, which is my favorite public holiday in SA. It commemorates the killing of students in Soweto on June 16, 1976. The students were protesting the apartheid regime’s decision to start delivering education only in Afrikaans. Students, some of them very young, took to the streets and protested this decision. Many many kids were shot…a lot of them in the back. It was a sad moment for SA. But today it’s a wonderful day to celebrate the contribution of youth to the past, present, and future of South Africa and the world. The spirit of this day is really quite wonderful.

Since it was a public holiday that meant my friend Edwin, who is usually a working fool during the week, was free to hang…which means it is on! We were going on a bike ride, and since my tennis shoes got stolen over the weekend, I needed to buy some new ones. We headed to Marabastad to do a bit of quick shopping. People think that my neighborhood is the most dangerous in Pretoria…but that means they don’t know Marabastad! That place is super hardcore. It’s the kind of dirty dangerous place you might picture when you think of “Africa.” But the stuff there is super duper cheap and when you are running low on cash, like me, cheap is where it’s at. We parked at Edwin’s shop (it’s in Marabastad) and walked over to the shops. All the shops were stuffed with Bafana Bafana gear and vuvuzelas and pretty much anything you need to show off soccer-style. Got my shoes and some vuvuzelas for the folks at home and we headed back to the car. On the way back some guys tried to mug my friend for his phone, but he was being REALLY not street smart and it was kind of inevitable. I don’t mean to keep telling dangerous stories…but this week has been crazy. To be fair to SA, this stuff has been happening in really rough areas at times when we were not acting smart. That is a recipe for disaster in SA. You will be taken advantage of. We managed to elude the robbers and head off on our next adventure.

On our drive around town I nabbed some posters and added them to our car so we could show our support for Bafana Bafana. The newspapers here put up posters on a daily basis that state the news headlines. It’s one of my favorite things about SA. I often learn new words this way and practice my other languages cos the sentences are simple and full of slang. The posters are just slid into a metal holder so they are easy to pinch. I grabbed a SA flag printed one and a picture of Tshabalala (the player who scored against Mexico) that said “Go Bafana!” We put them up in the side windows and were ready to roll around town for Bafana Bafana!

We decided to “take Teddy on safari” via bike today. Edwin and his brother have been working on this project which means that Edwin and I go around Pretoria snapping pics of the sights with Teddy in the frame. Long story…but it means we get to do ridiculous shit around town with a big teddy bear. The first round we did involved a very large gorilla named Bananas. We got lots of crazy looks, but we had fun and that is really all the matters. So today we took Teddy on safari. We went out to Groenkloof Nature Reserve in Pretoria and took a little bike ride in search of animals. There are some mountain biking trails there and some paved trails you can pedal around on. We chose the later with our out of shape selves. It was a nice invigorating ride and we saw some giraffe, guinea hens, and an ostrich. The only messed up part happened when we chased a giraffe and ended up on the hiking trail…which is not landscape friendly for the 2 wheels. There was a lot of bike portaging after that point…

Went back to Edwin’s and had some prego steak rolls and garlic bread while we watched the end of the Honduras vs. Chile game on TV. It has been SO cold the last week in Pretoria, so it was nice to snuggle with a blanket for a bit. I was sad to see Honduras lose. I’m under the impression they aren’t the best team in the world, but since most of the population of my home town is Honduran…I had to root for them! Douwe came and met us and we headed off to the Square for some group revelry.

Again…heading to the Square meant hooting the vuvuzela at just about anyone passing by…good times. I’m getting really good at blowing it loud and I think a lot of people don’t expect such a noise to come from a white lady. It really makes people smile when you blow the vuvuzela at them in a silly manner. I got lots of smiles and laughs and thumbs up (a pretty ubiquitous hand gesture here). Also Bafana Bafana was playing today so lots of people were out in force in their green and yellow kit, vuvuzela in hand. Woop! Woop!

We picked up our friend Surprise and headed off. The Square has started charging admission for the games (R50 = US$7) and charging sky high prices for beer. We have a “loyalty card” that was available for sale before the World Cup started, so we are exempt from these ridiculous prices…yay! We have 2 cards and there were 4 of us so we had to do a little passing back to get everyone in for free…but it worked! I’m a hustler, baby!

(Surprise and I show our love for Bafana Bafana)

Again, the Square is on fire these days. So many internationals decked out in their country’s colors, flags, and all kinds of crazy soccer outfits. It’s really a nice atmosphere. They have a big screen up for watching the games, live music, and sometimes DJs. I have to say that I’m getting a bit sick of hearing the “Waka Waka” song (official song of the World Cup, featuring Shakira and a SA band called Freshly Ground). Also they keep playing the same songs over and over when there isn’t a live band. That is getting a bit old…but otherwise…good times. I saw some nice SA, Uruguay, and Holland outfits today. There is a hat made from a construction helmet that is pretty common in the soccer world here in SA. It’s called a makarapa and some of them are quite elaborate. I saw an old man with a really cool Madiba (Nelson Mandela’s nickname) theme…that one was the best one. Quick note about Madiba. He’s getting old, okay. People really really had to beg him to come to the opening game. I think he wanted to just watch at home. I also heard that he said it was too much excitement for him cos the games are really emotional for him. Unfortunately one of his grandchildren was killed the night of the opening concert in a car crash and he ended up not being able to come to the opening game after all. It was really sad, but SA understands. There was a lot of support for him and his family in the face of this tragedy. Everyone loves them some Madiba!!!!!!!

I met some American guys at the Square, even one from Lincoln Park in Chicago. It was really cool. They were going to the game later and had a BIG ASS American flag on hand. We went nuts during the “Wave your Flag” song (the other official song for the World Cup…and the one I am not getting sick of). It was cool to celebrate being American. I don’t do it often. I don’t often even have the desire to wave my flag. It’s not a USA-hate thing…I just don’t celebrate my home in that way.

We watched the end of the Spain vs. Switzerland game where the Spainards got their ass handed to them on a plate. Big upset cos Spain just won a major tournament in Europe…so everyone expected them to win really easily. And then we had a few hours until the SA vs. Uruguay game. I got my face painted with a South African flag. We had some beers and danced around. I met a very hot and nice guy from Ethiopia but studying in Cape Town. That was refreshing. I get a lot of attention from guys here, but a lot of it is crap. I think part of it is because I’m international and American. Part of it is because African guys don’t mind a little meat on the bones. Part of it is because I’m a “cool” white chick (whatever that means)…which is pretty rare here. But often times this just means a lot of guys talk to me, but have nothing to say. It gets old after awhile. Frankly, I’m not interested in a lot of dogs barking at my gate. So it was nice to have a productive conversation and share some laughs with a hottie.

The Bafana Bafana game got under way and I was right in front of the stage shouting and vuvu-ing to my heart’s content. The game was here in Pretoria so that was even more electric. Plus I had a cutie Ethiopique by my side to keep me warm. The game was not played very well by Bafana Bafana and Uruguay pretty much took them to the cleaners. People were still supporting, but things got kind of quiet at the end there. The ejection of Khune with a red card in the final moments of the game was REALLY harsh. It was pretty much the final blow for SA cos Khune is the man! He is such an awesome goalie and after he left more goals were given up. Now the he had a red card he will not be able to play anymore…which really sucks…a lot. Morale was very low after the game and a lot of people left. Even on TV you could see people leaving the game before it was over. Ross said it was in protest, but to me it just looked like you weren’t supporting your guys…and that is not cool.

And that was the end of the soccer day for me too. Edwin has to get to work by 4am so we had to go straight home. Shame…I could have spent a lot more time with my cutie Ethiopian ;)

Stay tuned for the next episode…it proves to be another chill day at home J

Day 5: Day in the Life and fire at home

2010-06-15T17:33:00.000-05:00

Today also saw me hanging at home and watching the games on the couch. Also it was my Day in the Life picture project today. I wanted to do a World Cup theme, but realized if I did then I would have about 1 million pictures…so I just stuck to the formula J

For Day in the Life pics go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/lynseemelchi

(remember the new pics for June are at the end of the album)

It was SO freezing today in Pretoria and from the looks of it, all over the country. I know people think it’s impossible for any place in Africa to be cold…but you are wrong. There was snow on the ground in a few places around the country today (not where I live though) and it seemed like it was generally cold as hell just about everywhere. I wanted to go for a bike ride today to check out the city and see if anything was going on, but it was chilly enough to make me think twice. Also we started a fire in the fireplace at about 2pm so that helped encourage me to stay inside J

As far as the games go we had: New Zealand vs. Slovakia, Cote d’Ivoire vs. Portugal, and Brasil vs. Korea DPR (aka North Korea). NZ vs. Slovakia was a draw with a very exciting goal scored by NZ in the last seconds of the game. Another draw in the mix for the Cote d’Ivoire/Portugal game and Brasil beat NK 2-1.

The Cote d’Ivoire game was the most interesting to watch although I did enjoy the Brasil game too. Cote d’Ivoire vs. Portugal was cool cos it was the first game where you could tell 2 really skilled teams were fighting for it. The level of ball control was amazing compared to some of the slop that we’ve seen so far. It was my first time seeing everyone’s sweetheart Christiano Ronaldo play and I have to say I was mildly impressed. He is hot…I’ll give him that. His skill as a soccer player is amazing but otherwise he kind of seems like a class A royal douche bag personality-wise. It looks like he falls on the ground if a mild breeze even dares pass his way and that is kind of a lame way to play soccer…however effective it might be.

Ah, the Brasil game. Brasil, for me, is such an annoying team because they are just so damn good. I mean…where is the surprise and fun in that? Brasileiros are just so cocky about it too. And I always want to talk shit, but come on…we are talking about Brasil here! It was a joy to watch the Brasilians play though. They really have amazing skills. I can’t deny that. But I’m sorry…I just like rooting for the underdogs and that sure ain’t Brasil. North Korea put up a pretty good fight considering they are ranked something like #105 in the world and Brasil is ranked #1. They were quick and tenacious, but it just wasn’t enough. Sorry guys.

I think North Korea is one of the most interesting teams in the World Cup. They are totally shrouded in secrecy from what type of team they are on the field to what has been happening since they arrived in SA. Very few reporters have had access to the team in SA and you could tell from the commentary during the game today that not much has been said about them before they got to SA either. I heard them described in one paper as “shy.” The games are supposedly not being broadcast in NK and only highlights will be shown IF they win. Sorry NK fans…it’s going to be a dry World Cup for you so don’t hold out for those clips. Also they are based out of Tembisa, one of the more hardcore townships in the Joburg/Pretoria area. The team was in the news last week when they played a friendly with Nigeria in Tembisa and a stampede went down. But dude, Tembisa…that is some other shit. I wonder how they got stashed there. At any rate, I wish them well. They are going to need it since they are playing in the “group of death” as it has been called here...Cote d’Ivoire, Portugal, and Brasil. I would NOT want them for my opponents, that is for sure.

Um, also, it seems like there is no end to the jokes one can make about a strict regime like NK. Sorry...but state-sponsored bogusness just makes for good comedy...

PS: Kyle, I did see NK fans in the stands at the game, so apparently they exist. Whether they came here just for World Cup or were already here…I have no idea.

Random thought of the day…what is up with all the super skin tight jerseys on some of the African teams?? I’m not complaining, but it is something that I noticed today when Cote d’Ivoire played and also when Cameroon played.

On the bogus tip for the day…

Yesterday when Ross was telling his stories of going to Soccer City he recalled a moment when the train he was on erupted into cat calls over a group of scantily mini-dress clad Dutch fans passing by. I sure thought that was the end of that story, but I was certainly wrong. This morning I overheard Ross and Helen talking about “they should sue” and other such talk. When I finally got out of bed and left my room I asked Ross about it and he told me about how the chicks he saw had been harassed/detained/arrested at the game last night by FIFA people over these dresses they were wearing. I was like…WTF?!?!?

Here’s a link to the story: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=2871&art_id=vn20100615044444433C406692

The first thing you must understand is that FIFA is very very monopolistic about the brands they have as sponsors for the World Cup. No one is allowed into the stadiums wearing branded items, so they say. FIFA has very stringent rules about a lot of things so that they keep an iron-fisted balls clutch on all that goes on surrounding the World Cup. It’s kind of ridiculous if you ask me and just about anybody else, but those are the breaks if you want to host the World Cup. Also it seems like things in SA are so fluid sometimes that these sort of strict rules just don’t go down well. People here are all about “making a plan.”

So these ladies were wearing a dress that was given out in Holland with Bavaria beer as a lead up to the World Cup. Apparently there is no branding on it, but it seems like those who know might be able to associate it with the beer. Honestly, though, outside of Holland…how many people really knew what that little dress meant? FIFA made a big mistake making such a big deal about all this as it only drew more attention to how fucking ridiculously FIFA acted as well as giving Bavaria more press. Good one, dumbasses.

I think the worst part is that these women were harassed under pretty stupid pretenses. If you don’t allow branding into the matches then they should have been barred from entering the stadium. But where do you draw the line on branding? If Adidas is the official sponsor of the World Cup and I come into your stadium wearing Nike…am I branding for Nike? What about players that wear non-Adidas shoes or the gloves worn by Brasil today (they were Nike)??

Anyways, good job dumbasses. And the monopoly keeps on turning…

Tomorrow should be nice and exciting. It’s a public holiday in SA tomorrow called Youth Day. This day commemorates the protests and police killings of a bunch of students (like elementary students) in June 1976. Youth Day is one of my favorite public holidays here…I don’t know why…I just like what it stands for. Also Bafana Bafana will play on Youth Day in Pretoria, so it should be an exciting day in the ‘hood.

Day 4: A chilled out viewing at home kind of day

2010-06-15T03:15:00.002-05:00

As mentioned in my previous post…the opening weekend was kiiiiiiiinda hectic. So I took the opportunity again on Monday to slow my roll a bit. I spent the day at home relaxing (but not in my pajamas cos they got stolen on Friday), writing things up for the blog, and playing with orange-clad baby Nicholas. My new Algerian friends tried to coax me out to Hatfield, but I had to say no. In that respect there is not much to report from the road on World Cup soccer J

The games today were: Holland vs. Denmark, Cameroon vs. Japan, Paraguay vs. Italy. Holland, Japan, and Italy/Paraguay were the victors today. I enjoyed the Cameroon vs. Japan game the most, although I wish Cameroon would have won. They put out a nice effort in the 2^nd half, but the Japanese goalie was the bomb. Ross went to go see the Holland vs. Denmark game at Soccer City in Soweto and it sounded like he had a good time. He took a train/shuttle thing there and said it went off pretty well without a hitch. He did say that they ran out of water part of the way through the game (sounds dangerous…i.e. Woodstock 99 dangerous) but other than that it sounded like a good time.

Ross’s birthday is coming up soon and he just got a nice flat screen TV for his birthday present. Well-timed for World Cup viewing, no doubt. So it has been nice to watch the games at home so far. Mostly I just keep the sound down but for the Japan vs. Cameroon game I had the sound up and was treated with the frequent mispronunciation of “vuvuzela” by the commentator. “Vuvuzela” turned into “vuvuzwela” a few times in that match. Ha ha ha ha.

Also to note on watching the games on TV is the digital juice it takes to make it all happen. Look, internet in South Africa is not the best. This can be attributed to a number of things: Telkom’s government monopoly on telecommunication services, finite bandwidth available to the continent of Africa, and maybe some other things my tech-saavy mind knows nothing about. Broadband services are at a premium here and if you want them you will pay out the nose for them. This is improving incrementally and I can say that in the time I have spent here I have seen better services available for people to get the internet in their home. At Helen and Ross’s we do have wireless internet in the house, but that is a pretty rare thing. It is almost impossible to find wifi hotspots in the community. I even know people that STILL have modems in their house…now THAT is old school.

In a roundabout way…what I am getting at is that in order for the matches to be broadcast on HDTV, the internet juice for the whole country is really really being taxed. Not so much that it will break or anything, but just try loading facebook or an internet page during a match. Good fucking luck. Maybe by the end of the 1^st half you will have part of the page loaded.

Phone lines have also been a bit taxed since World Cup started. I don’t normally have problems with reaching people on my phone, but I’ve had to redial a few times since the World Cup started. The official sponsor of the World Cup is MTN (a South African company w/branches in many African countries) but it seems that Vodacom is trying to get a piece of the pie however they can. My friend Ramsey said that at the airport they were just giving out Vodacom SIM cards for use while the travelers were here. I found that very very interesting. Media reports here have voiced concerns that the whole system might crash in the face of increased traffic, but let’s not get all “the sky is falling” here if we don’t have to.

This finite capacity is something that we don’t know much about in the USA…and not just in an internet sense of the word. I am grateful for the chance to understand the limitations of consumption and availability in the way that I have known them in South Africa. This broadband broadcasting issue is just one example, but I have experienced this many times from booking a bus ticket at peak travel times to times when there is a shortage of Coca Cola in the country because of a shortage of carbonation ingredients. I have even seen cement shortages here. Serious…how do you run out of cement? Sometimes there just isn’t enough of something here. It would do us well in the USA to have to learn this lesson of shortage and want. Sometimes you can’t always get what you want…

Hugs everyone and hope you are all enjoying World Cup!

Hasta manana…when Bafana Bafana plays in Pretoria!
=========<() *X*x*X*x*

Day 3: Attempted recuperation in the face of more and more soccer

2010-06-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

So far it has been a hectic week. Not only has the World Cup started but my friends from the veterinary campus were also on their way out of town…so there was some goodbye partying that went down in advance of the opening weekend. Essentially I have been on the party grind for almost a whole week by Day 3 of the World Cup…I’m tired! It is becoming more and more obvious that I am 29 and no longer 19. I have a feeling this is going to only be reinforced more and more as time goes on…eish!

Ramsey (my friend from the USA), Edwin, and I woke up and started a fresh day of soccer. Edwin’s dad was having his 60^th birthday party on Sunday and so Edwin had to go celebrate that. Ramsey and I went back to my house to chill out and watch some more games.

We drove around a bit to take care of some things like buying boerewors (SA bratwurst…another “apple pie” of SA) for an SA farmer breakfast and getting Ramsey a bus ticket to his next destination. Had to do a bit of vuvu blowing at people on the street, of course. As we drove through Sunnyside we saw Ghanaian fans lining the streets and turning out for the upcoming Ghana vs. Serbia game in Pretoria. We also passed by the police station and saw them doing maneuvers in preparation for the day of World Cup action. They had the street blocked off in front of the police station in Sunnyside and all the police were lined up in formation. Sunnyside has mounted police and nowadays you really need to look out for horse apples on the sidewalks in my neighborhood. I have seen the mounted police around in Sunnyside before, but now I see them, or fecal evidence of them, just about every day. In fact, I saw one of these police horses bite his rider in the ass the other day…hilarious!

We arrived back to my house to find Helen and Ross preparing to receive guests. Ross and his friend were going to head off to the Serbia vs. Ghana game at the neighboring Loftus Versfeld, so Ross was cooking some pulled pork for a little nosh before the game. We all watched the Slovenia vs. Algeria game on TV. I cheered and waved my new Algerian flag for my new Algerian friends…but they still lost. Ross and his friend headed off to the game and his friend’s daughter stayed behind to watch with us on TV.

Edwin decided that we should have gone with him to his dad’s bday party, so he came back and picked us up after we watched the Algeria game. We gave some bday hugs and Ramsey got to have “jou ma se kos” (your mom’s food…in Afrikaans…kind of like saying home cooked food). Played a little Settlers of Catan and then decided to take Ramsey to the Union Buildings (the White House of SA) to check out the Pretoria skyline at night. I will never get sick of going up to the Union Buildings. I think it is one of the most stunning things about Pretoria. The Union Buildings are up on a hill and there are these beautiful gardens that roll down to a nice park and finally into Arcadia/Sunnyside. In the spring the gardens are super pretty and bursting with horticultural delights. I really like the view from up there and it was really lovely at night. There are a few places in Pretoria where they have spotlights up: the corner of Park and Eastwoods (next to Loftus), Church Square, Bosman Station, and there might be one other place that I can’t think of right now. These spotlight locations are also the locations of these bead and wire sculptures of soccer players and fans. They have cord lights on the inside and at night these are turned on causing the sculptures to glow. They are really cool. I like the bead/wire art form here. You can find a lot of curios made out of wire and beads. I have even seen a sculptor that makes patio furniture and coffee tables out of wire. It’s a pretty ubiquitous art form here in SA, so it’s fitting that these sculptures are done in this style. I say…well done!

And then it was time to say goodbye to Ramsey (for now) and our other new friend, Vama…part of the opening weekend crew. We picked up Vama and took both of them to the bus station. I got the chance to see some more of these sculptures I was just describing (so far I had only seen the ones by Loftus) while we were at the bus station. Very cool!

(Opening weekend crew L-R: Edwin, Ramsey, Vama, me, Surprise)

It was really nice to show Ramsey around. Besides the fact that we got a fun addition to our opening weekend crew…we did our part to make people from overseas know South Africa. Even if I’m not South African ;) It’s good to share a place you know with someone who doesn’t. Plus I am so grateful to be able to help out a fellow traveler as there have been many unexpected people that were there for me on the road.

By now I am even more exhausted so Edwin takes me home and I catch the last game of the evening: Australia vs. Germany. It was the highest scoring game of the Cup so far with the final score being 4-0, Germany. Also want to note that the Australian team is called the “Socceroos.” This is hands down the lamest name of a team to date. Wow. I think the Algerian team name is pretty cool…they are the Desert Foxes and Cameroon is the most ferocious with the Lions of Cameroon. Nice. But Socceroos…dude.

Zzzzzzz…Day 4 to follow soon J

Day 2 of World Cup: Les Algerians sont touts fou! (The Algerians are totally crazy!)

2010-06-14T06:00:00.001-05:00

The country of the day for Day 2 of World Cup is mos def: Algeria!

My friend Edwin and I started the day off by picking up a friend from USA up at the airport. One nice thing about World Cup is that a lot of infrastructure improvements have been made all over SA. Usually the road to the airport from Pretoria is pretty packed, but now it’s a 3 or 4 lane dream drive. We arrived in no time! Ramsey, my friend from the USA, is living in Jordan now, but is originally from Iowa. Midwest, represent! We met in 2006 because we both got Rotary Scholarships and were attending an orientation together in Kansas City, MO. I haven’t kept up with Ramsey much in the time that has passed since we met, but we did become facebook friends in the last few months. I saw he was coming to SA for the World Cup and insisted he get in touch when he arrived. It just worked out that we could go get him and spend the day enjoying soccer and sharing Pretoria with him.

(L-R: Edwin and Ramsey vuvu it up in Hatfield Square)

We dropped his stuff off at Edwin’s place (since we got robbed Friday…stuff needs to go inside the house!), picked up our friend Douwe, and headed to Hatfield Square.

Driving in the car these days means seeing people selling flags for the World Cup teams at just about every single intersection. I did have to buy an American flag on Day 2, since we were playing later in the day and I just wanted to wave my flag like K’naan suggests. A small flag (about 1.5ft x 1ft) cost R50 but I managed to haggle down to R26 since that’s all I had in my pocket. Plus the flag was really really poor quality and was so not worth R50 (about US$7). Last time I checked there was not some amorphous blue mark in the spot the red and white stripes should be…

Driving in the car also means being silly with the vuvuzela! Ok, at least for me. It seems vuvuzela toots are pretty much okay anywhere these days. I heard people blowing them in the airport when I looked for Ramsey (I also greeted him by vuvu…lol). People are blowing them all over the place. So when you ride in the car it’s fun to put the window down and blow the vuvu as you see fit. The best neighborhoods are ones like mine where there are a lot of people on the street also blowing vuvus. Then you can get a call and response thing going on…which is kind of fun. I actually had a few vuvu battles with people on this day: some little kids, an English chick that was getting annoyed, and just about anyone else that wanted to throw down. Good times. A vuvu is a must carry item these days J

I live about two blocks from one of the World Cup stadiums, Loftus Versfeld, and on the other side of the stadium lies Hatfield Square, which is the campus bar scene for the University of Pretoria. Hatfield Square is one of the viewing places for all the FIFA games so it is probably going to be packed with internationals and domestics for the next month…hooray! I think the University of Pretoria is also renting out the student dormitories for World Cup guests so those folks will probably make their way to the Square most days since it’s within stumbling distance to most of the dormitories.

I will admit that we headed to the Square to watch rugby and not soccer. Rugby appetizer, soccer main. That may be a sacrilegious thing to say these days, but I’m just throwing it out there! We went to watch the SA national team (Springboks) play France. The funny thing is that usually in the Square you can never find a place that is willing to play a soccer game. Honestly, the Square is kiiiiiinda of a white stronghold. And especially Afrikaans. Bar managers often won’t play soccer games on TV in the bar cos it “attracts the wrong crowd.” Let your imagination run wildly racist with that phrase. This day it was the complete opposite situation. Only one bar in the Square was playing rugby on TV. We got Ramsey some biltong (similar to beef jerky AKA the “apple pie” of SA) and settled in to watch the Springboks kick some French tail…which they did.

The Algerian madness started for Ramsey and I when we went during rugby half time to the grocery store across the street to get some things. Some fans there started talking to Ramsey in Arabic and then me in French. The photo snapping started there and continued for the whole rest of the evening.

After the rugby, we wandered out to where they were playing the soccer games on a big screen and were greeted with more Algerian madness. The Square was PACKED with Algerian fans (predominantly men…actually I don’t think I saw any women). And it seems when Algerians come out to represent…they do not mess around. Most of the people were completely decked out in the Algerian colors (red, green, white), dancing around, instruments in hand. The vuvu was there, of course. Everyone was just happy and enjoying the atmosphere. Algeria wasn’t even playing today, but these guys were bringing the noise in a serious fashion. Guys kept asking to have their picture taken w/me and my flag. It was almost swarm-like at times. One guy would ask to snap a picture together and all of a sudden 3 more people were jumping in and handing off their cameras to a another person.

We watched the Nigeria vs. Argentina game in the Square with everyone pretty much rooting for Nigeria. There were a lot of Nigerian fans out and “Up Nija!” was being shouted from all corners of the Square. Many people in South Africa have their other favorite team (besides the SA team Bafana Bafana), but it seems there is an African solidarity thing going on big time…so many people are shouting for any African team that is playing. This was the case with the Nigerian game, even though Messi (an Argentinian player that was just voted best soccer player of the year) was on the opposing team. Messi has a lot of fans, but not when another African team is on the pitch!

The next game started a few hours later, so Ramsey, Douwe, Edwin, and 2 friends that joined us (Surprise and Vama) headed off to Sunnyside for a meal and some beers. In the short time we spent with Ramsey we packed as much SA in as we could. J We took him to Sunnyside for pap and vleis, a traditionally SA dish, and showed him the chocolate side of Pretoria.

Now back to the Square for the USA vs England game…which we drew 1-1 with England. What a relief! England has some serious players on their team, but we gave them a run for their money! I spent the first ½ of the game out in the Square jumping around and waving my flag and the second ½ with Douwe at a bit quieter bar. This saw me wiggling around some guys standing in the way of the TV, keeping my vuvu quiet, but still shouting at the top of my lungs for the USA. We were at News Café, which is a bit of an upmarket chain restaurant/club here in SA. They have the BEST cocktails in all of SA. They can be a bit expensive, but are so worth it. Now they have these vuvuzela shots with each team having their own special blend. My favorite one was the “Chastity Belt” representing England. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Hilarious. They also had cocktails representing each team and when you bought one you got a bracelet with the flag of that team on each bead. I decided to splash out and get a “Long Island Iced Tea” to represent for the USA! I had traded my USA flag for an Algerian flag a bit earlier in the evening, so I needed something to show my support. I figured it was a good diplomatic move and the flag I got in return was much nicer than the one I had to offer. Sorry Algerian dude!

(U-S-A! U-S-A!...Vama vuvus for the USA)

The best thing about meeting Algerians was being able to speak French with them. It seems Algeria has a French/Arabic hybrid thing going on, but they seemed to understand my rusty ass French and I got the basic idea of what they were saying. I think many of the people I talked to were impressed that this American girl could keep up in their language…it is not something we are known for.

Also, Algerian dudes are pretty hot. I'm just sayin'...

After the games we headed back to Sunnyside to go to a bar called Europa for some dancing. Ramsey and I were pretty tired so we ended up going home pretty early to gather up our reserves for the next day of World Cup madness.

And that’s where I’ll leave you for now…Day 3 coming up next!