a quick summary of south africa 2010. doesn’t nearly cover how diverse this place is. one thing i gathered from attending the world cup is that if you really want to get to see a place in detail, do not go while a major event is happening. lesson learned.
still alive
starting a blog for traveling in africa may have been the worst idea i’ve ever had. there are cell phones everywhere, but the interweb is a bit on the elusive side. here’s what i’ve learned so far:
1) british tourists and soccer fans make me hate the brits even more than i did already.
2) leave at least 5 hours early for games.
3) a country with grills everywhere and warmish weather year round is fantastic.
4) the weather is not warm here in the winter. not one bit.
the atmosphere at games is just increadible. i wish everyone could experience a world cup game day, even my worst enimies. seriously. and south africa is pretty amazing too. i’ve seen hippos, rhinos, and elephants. we are passing out soccer balls to kids around the stadiums and on our side trips. food is delicious.
one of my travel mates got super sick yesterday, throwing up and the such up to 1 hour until game time against slovenia. he won the super trooper award for perserverance. the usa couldn’t give him a win for his dedication though. no way was there a foul on that third goal. no way ever.
the line for internet grows longer behind me, so that’s all for now. take care peoples.
r kelly is at the world cup
seriously. a travel companion, anthony got a picture of him from his cell phone. i’d try to repost it, but this isn’t my computer to download images onto and internet is weak. you’re just gonna have to believe me until i can post it.
i am staying at am heng lodge, halfway up the 1700 meter maliseberg(sp?) massive. speaking of massive, the owners, walter and karin, have a enormous st. bernard which is destroying it’s dinner in front of me. i am the first guest at this collection of lodges in the area. others are arriving tomorrow and friday. all in all, there will be yanks, brits, and aussies here to cheer on their teams, and to try to drink each other under the table. we’re all winners in that game!
the area is amazing here. about 50 k outisde the hustle and bustle of jo’berg. 92 different bird species have been sighted. it was hilarious taking a nap to the goofy sounds of southern hemisphere birds. one sounds like a complaining toddler - meeeeeh.
traffic was a mess in jo’burg, which allowed me the opportunity to ride the gautrain, a new high speed rail link between the airport in jo’berg and pretoria. 2nd day in operation. and on top of that, i’m pretty sure they got the gov of california to do the station announcements. the entire country has the world cup on their brain, it is super obvious. but that is going to make getting to games in crowded areas super difficult.
that’s all i got for today. and probably tomorrow too. internet access is limited until the rest of the gang shows up friday, and even then, it still won’t be good.
tonite’s the nite….
finally. 8 days worth of clothes with varying layering options, 3 scarves, two giant sheets of blank fabric, and one heavy bag of medicines, vitamins, and things that will hopefully prevent me from dying if stung by something exotic. hey, it could happen.
this is the second trip in my life where i arrive at my destination 2 days after departure. the first one was australia in 2003, crossing the international date line and all. still to this day i do not recall much of those flights to or back, other than leaving this awesome brown hat on the plane in los angeles. that gives me hope for these flights being somewhat manageable. an ipod, two halfway finished books, a barely started book, and whatever entertainment the plane has is all i got to get me through.
in between flights i have an 8 hour layover in heathrow airport. its in the middle of the day too, so logistically getting into london is possible, but with work traffic and the lot, maybe not the best move. andy, neal, and sasha (fellow travelers) get 12 hours in paris, with which they plan to do it up. my envy will be in full effect once i’ve finished browsing all the duty free stores. people watching and listening to tunes only entertains to a point.
transportation from the jo’burg airport to the am heng lodge is all arranged for my arrival. so is transportation back into jo’berg the next day for a super secret event which i’ll be attending. it will be well documented here. and there will be pickup soccer at it, hopefully the first game of many on this trip. the weather looks like it will be quite agreeable.
england are beating the platinum stars and brazil are beating tanzania. trying times for top teams.
see y’all in africa!
socceroos? really?
that is easily the worst name for a sports team ever. and most of their players looked like grizzled descendants of ex-convicts. oh wait, they are.
-scoring goals good. new, internationally unproven forwards may be the way to do this.
-letting the other team score goals bad. goodson has been slowly working his way into the international level of play, gooch is still hurt (tell me he isn’t and i’ll show you a liar), and jay demerrit kinda looked like he chose the wrong football to play. big worries.
-aside from the games, south africa is going to be awesome! the crazy landscape behind the stadium got me super excited on top of already being super excited. is that even possible?
-my packing skills are good, my ability to focus and actually pack are absolutely terrible.
-nearly 20 people turned out at the sweetwater for a 7:30 am game, including some dudes who have organized a pub crawl before the usa-england game. sorta makes me mad i’ll be missing the festivities here, but then i remember where i am going.
looking back at that list, i guess i already knew that scoring goals was good and giving them up was bad. so thats something i didn’t actually learn today.
completely unrelated to soccer, but have you ever tried to make your ipod as full and banging as possible? i did, this afternoon. and my head hurts from it. AND I STILL HAVEN’T MADE ANY BANNERS! extra annoying on multiple fronts.
countdown done did begun
a looooooooong time ago. but now it’s just a shade over 4 days away. still so much to do it’s not even funny. here’s a sampling, with details left out, cause y’all don’t really care for those. in no particular order:
-family time
-sig. other time
-laundry
-banners
-packing
-work. yeah that.
england traveled today
and at least they looked sharp. the suits don’t nearly make up for how ugly peter crouch is. he’s a goofy. also, all those suits were probably handmade. imagine being a tailor and seeing crouch walk in. i’d be pissed.
check the picture of bob bradley, deuce, and hahnemann at the end of that slideshow. that’s exactly why goalies are awesome. look at the genuine interest in whatever he’s looking at, most likely a bird. coach and deuce are programmed to not enjoy anything. but that’s okay, they are waaaaaaaaaaay more important than our 2nd/3rd choice goalkeeper.
banners are getting made this weekend. you will def be able to notice them. screw english flags with cities written on them. screw england in general. pop idol sucks.
send off series over
pretty decent game in philadelphia. if you subtract the first 45 min of course. turkey is gonna be great soon. but then again so are the usa. what’s the name of that book about this? anyways…..
heres what i learned:
1) ricardo clark has no first touch. maybe he’s rusty or something, but its hard to see a scenario where i’d actually like to see him play.
2) our best option at left back is normally central defender. and that still worries me a lot. steve cherundolo is a workhorse without a doubt though.
3) gooch = awesome still, just super shaky. he can say he’s match fit all he wants, coaches can say it too, but he’s not.
4) jose torres is some sort of tasmanian devil like creature. the way he turned with the ball away from defenders made me think he learned to play in an area of 10 sq. feet. ole! and the tenacious tackles. i’m smitten.
5) deuce and landon should show up more. sure landon got two assists and deuce got a goal (on which his first touch was with his lower back/ass), but the only other times i noticed them is when they were getting fouled (it does serve a purpose i suppose).
guus hiddink was there today, and maybe he told turkey to sandbag a little bit so he could assess how their defense is under pressure or something? in the second half so much space opened up and the ball stayed at our feet. went from a team that encouraged the turkey fans to be cocky to a team that shut said fans up real fast like. if i was that england assistant coach in phila watching that game i’d be worried. i’d also be seeing a dentist while in the states, as i don’t think they have them across the pond.
who the hell cares what alan shearer thinks?
ireland should be at the world cup. so i can pretend i’m irish, and because they destroyed algeria.
we play slovenia too. their federation logo is bonkers!
first post, not too bad.
