Awesome "winter" weather once again...and I got to see this dog on a bike on a man's back and one of them was blowing a vuvuzela at the time while the other one was barking...
Today my father and I attended our first match here at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The game was at the brand new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, SA. The match up was not marquee, and the game did not sell out (Organisers-to-probe-no-shows ), however, it was a very entertaining match due to the play of the South Koreans...they looked good and showed some dazzling speed and skill while the Greeks were busy arguing and whining with each other...
I could try to put the sites, sounds, and emotions form the match into words, but you just gotta watch the video!
As I mentioned before, the game did not sell out, and we had two extra tickets. We arrived at the stadium early to try to sell them, and were even willing to discount the price, however, no one was interested. Every sporting event I've ever been too, even Boston University Basketball, I have seen scalpers outside, even at the other World Cups I have attended....however, not here. Gpop I wondered if it could be illegal and punishable by death here in SA, cause even in the US it isn't quite legal, however people always do it...
...regardless, before entering the gate, we scanned the crowd for worthy receivers...there were two brothers, 18 and 13, selling Vuvuplugs, or ear plugs to drown out the buzz of the constant Vuvuzelas during the match. My dad wanted to help support the anit-vuvu cause, and offered them the tickets. At first, they thought it must have been some hidden camera TV show, as the older one kept asking if my dad was for real...I sat with them for a half and it was a great pleasure...the older one played goalie, like my own brother Joey who will be joining us in SA with my mom in less than two weeks!
After the game we were in for an amazing and unexpected treat...before the game while we were in line at the parking lot and on the shuttle to the stadium we met four South Africans who lived in the area, who were attending the match as one of their daughters had purchased them tickets. After the game we ran into them once again. While searching for the shuttle back to the parking lot, I asked Jacq where a good place to watch the USA vs. England game tonight would be...and Jacq's response was amazing! He immediately invited us over to his home for a classic South African Braii (BBQ) and to watch the USA vs. England match at their home west of PE Sure! Of course we will come! Why not? We definitely made the right choice to accept the invitation. This is the exact South African kindness, friendliness, and good ole South African hospitality that I have been trying to explain to all of you!
Jacq, originally from Cape Town, is a Braii* master, a huge rugby fan and also one of the lead financial consultants for the construction of the 2,000 ton roof (only counting the steel structure) at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth...the steel was actually from Kuwait!
Keren, Jacq's wife, who combined have nine children spread across the globe from Australia to South Africa to Mali to Bermuda (i'm sure I missed a couple places : /). Keren also recently received her British Passport...making our viewing of the match exciting as we had supporters from both sides. Keren and Jacq kindly welcomed us into their beautiful home situated up on a hill just a couple 100 meters from the Indian Ocean.
Even more was that Liz, Keren's twin sister, was visiting on vacation from England, where she has lived for 20+ years, adding to the excitement! Liz and Keren grew up playing doubles tennis. From as much as we could pry out of her, we found out that Liz actually played professionally across the world and played on the Virginia Slim's Women's Tennis Association Tour in the United States. She actually played in both the U.S. Open and at Wimbledon!
The fourth man was a friend of theirs, Tony. Unfortunately he was unable to join us for dinner, however, I did get to learn that he was a big fan of the big bass speakers that were in all the local taxis, well maybe not, but deep down inside I knew he liked the hair moving sounds as he spent much of the taxi ride dancing...
The day and evening was full of great conversation over about the area, the history of SA, sports in SA and the USA, US Politics, how fat America is and how we are "slim for Americans!" : ) Gpop went on a rant about US's infatuation with war, Gpop discussed his fiddling career...it was awesome to get the opinion on BP's oil spill disaster from some actual British citizens...
Before dinner we had tea and discovered the magicalness of South African Rusks...I think we need to inject tea time into American culture...
After dinner my stomach was also full of some very tasty Braii BBQ. There were chicken Kabobs from the most popular butcher in PE that has people lining up outside of the door to get his flavored masterpieces and other chicken drumsticks/breats/wings that were marinated by Jacq himself that tasted just as amazing!
Dinner ended about half an hour before the USA vs. England game leaving just enough time for a crash course on Rugby from Jacq while watching the replay of the #1 in the world Springbok, the SA national team, trounce on the French rugby side. I also tried to explain the rules of American Football...hopefully it makes a little bit of sense to Jacq now - I never realized how hard it is to explain American Football (like why is it called a touch down if you don't have to touch the ball to the ground?)...Soccer is so much simpler, with a simple objective sp so many less rules...hence Soccer as South Africans and Americans call it, and futbol/football as the rest of the world calls it is the World Sport...and the reason why I, as well as so many other people from across the globe, have been inspired to visit this amazing country...or at least learn a little bit more about it...
The game, as all of you should have watched it, ended with a satisfying result for the the American side! Jacq was evening high-fiving us for USA goal, while Liz was not as pleased. We could all share the same feelings about the future of English goalie Robert Goalie who won't be going to any local English pubs anytime soon!
I'm rooting for a USA vs Bafana, Bafana match up in the finals...it would be lovely for both SA and USA and do wonders for both countries in various different ways!
Anyways...I hope my family will have the pleasure of showing Jacq and his family the same hospitality that they have shown us if he ever chooses to make his first visit to the United States...
Love to all and soccer balls for everyone,
Max
PS...if anyone has any material they would like to introduce onto the blog just let me know, shoot me an email, maxcondren@gmail.com, and we will make it happen!
Until tomorrow... Go Celtics, Kobe Bryant aint that good, USA - USA - USA, Bufana Bufana, It's Ayoba Time!
