First (FIFA-Filled) Weekend in South Africa

I had a pretty packed, exciting and exhausting weekend. On Friday, I got the day off, so I slept in (‘till 8:30am). I wasted most of my morning in my room, but later in the day I headed to the SunCoast Casino, to pick up my Ghana v USA tickets and get head to the Brazil v Portugal match. The build-up to the match on the way to the stadium and at the stadium probably ended up being more exciting than the soccer itself. Though people were excited for the Nigeria v South Korea match earlier in the week, that didn’t compare to Brazil – Portugal. The entire walk along the beach from the Casino to the Stadium (about 1km or slightly more) was full of Brazil and Portugal supporters. Whereas the majority of spectators at Nigeria v South Korea were wearing Bafana Bafana (South Africa) shirts or jerseys, everyone at Brazil-Portugal was clearly supporting one team or another. There was some trash talking between supporters; I even got “red-carded” by a Brazil fan when walking around the food court of the casino (I was wearing a Portugal tshirt).

A devoted Brazil fan.

The stadium was completely full, even twenty minutes prior to kick-off. It looked like a sea of yellow and red, and the vuvuzelas were much, much louder than at my first experience at the stadium. For the most anticipated match to date, the 90 minutes of playing were somewhat disappointing. Any time the final score is 0-0, fans and spectators are bound to be disappointed, but in this case especially. Rivals definitely wanted an outcome to prove one or the other the superior team, and those not as committed, like myself, just wanted to see a more exciting match. Ultimately, the match didn’t matter too much for either team, as they were both already guaranteed to go to the next round (Round of 16). Brazil crushed Mexico last night to move on the quarters, and Portugal takes on Spain tonight. This time, I won’t be rooting for Portugal.

After the match, I headed to dinner at a chain restaurant, Circus Circus, at the Casino. I was immediately drawn to Circus Circus thanks to their ad outside the restaurant:

I was disappointed that it was a Friday, so I decided to train for when I eventually would undertake the challenge, and got a 500g rump to eat in 22 minutes or less. Those who know my eating habits won’t be surprised to hear that the endeavour was hardly challenging. I will have to talk to the management before going for the 1kg though, as I don’t drink Coke. I hope that doesn’t disqualify me automatically.

After a quick stop at home after dinner, I headed to the Durban bus station to board an overnight bus to Johannesburg. It was a Greyhound bus, and much, much nicer than any Greyhound I’ve seen or been on in the States: it was double-decker, with big, comfortable seats and even had a hostess who served coffee, tea and biscuits. Apparently they played movies on the bus (at 10:30pm and 1:30am) with the volume at full blast (the bus wasn’t nice enough to have headphone jacks). I took some Tylenol PM right as I sat down, so had no knowledge of the movies until after the fact; I slept the entire way. We arrived at Jo’burg at 5:30 am. We had originally planned on a bus to Rustenburg that left the Jo’burg bus station at 3:30 pm (I didn’t see any others online), but the bus station is pretty unbearable and getting to Rustenburg as early as possible (to sleep) was desirable. After inquiring at every bus ticket stand, we soon realized that no bus companies went to Rustenburg until 3:30 or later. We were pointed in the direction of the minibus taxis (small, 12-16 pasenger vans that most white South Africans stay away from), and were told it would cost R70 per person to get to Rustenburg. This was a pleasant surprise, as the hotel had informed us that a minibus would cost R900 to get from Jo’burg to Rustenburg. We found a minibus going to Rustenburg without much hassle, and after waiting for the minibus to fill up – they’re usually completely crammed, we started on the two-plus hour trip to Rustenburg.

Rustenburg, as it turns out, is not really a city. They’re city center is their mall (which is pretty big). After a nap, we headed to the mall to buy USA apparel. I bought a tshirt and jacket, which I’ll be wearing throughout my stay here, despite the loss against Ghana. The mall was full of people, and many of them were soccer fans. There were many, many England supporters at the mall (and at the match), because they all assumed that England would have taken the top spot in the group plays. They weren’t especially happy to see Americans. When I did run into other Americans though, I was greeted with many smiles, “USA!!”s, and other friendly gestures. We arrived at the match very early, about two and half hours in advance, because we thought there would be lots to do beforehand. At the stadium in Durban, before even entering, there is lots of entertainment, people selling flags, face-painting and general merriment. This was not the case at Rustenburg. The stadium itself was somewhat in the middle of nowhere, and it couldn’t even compare to the stadium at Durban. It was a stadium that existed before the World Cup, and was smaller than some high school football stadiums. There were no concessions inside the stadium, only food and drink at stands right outside (unlike the stadium at Durban, which has a food and drink stand next to the entrance of every seating section). We were a little bit bored for those hours before the game, but I became friends with a 14 year old American now living in Botswana, and a 15 year old living in London, who even gave me some of his face paint. I socialized with some of the older fans our seating section, one who graciously offered to paint my face. They had pretty awesome face paint on (see below) – I thought they would do something similar for me but, instead, I got “I LOVE FREEDOM" written across my face. I was fine with that.

Early Sunday morning, I got on a FIFA bus directly to OR Tambo, the airport at Johannesburg, and got on a plane back to Durban. I was home in time to watch the Germany – England game, which made me feel a lot better about USA’s loss (the English got decimated 4-1). I went to an Italian restaurant on Florida Rd with Jessie and a friend of mine who is stopping in Durban for a couple of days. We watched the Argentina – Mexico game, which was really exciting, but showed another display of the incompetence of this year’s FIFA refs when it comes to off-sides calls. (I still think Argentina would have won, but their first goal, which should have been nullified, really changed the pace of the game.)

Waking up for work on Monday was more difficult than usual, as the weekend was the first time I really went to bed any time after 9:30pm. Work has been great so far, I keep getting more interesting projects to work on. Everyone here has taken lots of time to explain to me the background behind all of the work I am doing, instead of just handing me something to do. I have learned a lot about the LRC and past work that they’ve done here in Durban. Right now I’m working on lots of education policy (funding, access to education, etc) but one subject matter extends to all different areas as well. Unfortunately, most problems don’t stand alone, but are interwoven with many others. I am also reading a book (technically a textbook, but doesn’t come off as one), Introduction to Human Rights Law. One of the lawyers here, Willene, wrote a section in the book on Property Law. Jessie and I are making plans to go hiking in the Drakensburg and Lesotho this weekend. There aren’t any more matches until Friday, so I think I’ll be able to catch up on some sleep, and finally do some cooking (on my hot plate) at home. Tomorrow evening, Willene (who is 30) and I are going to see the latest instalment of the Twilight series, along with her 12 year old family friend. I’m very excited to have found someone who is as excited to see the movie as I am.