it is here less

so it’s finally over

i remember when it was announced that south africa would be hosting the soccer world cup and countdowns of four years or more and then 300 days and finally a few weeks and then it was tomorrow…

we missed a large portion of the group games due to being on a namibia namrocking trip but we got to watch the opening ceremony and game in a restaurant called amazink in kayamandi township [where i used to live before i got married] with a completely diverse crowd with such spirit and life which was a complete vibe

we missed south africa/uruguay (namibia) but got back in time to watch a heartbreakingly close SA/french game which at half time looked headed towards the 4-0 we needed to progress – then my buddy dunc took me to watch netherlands/cameroon live at the cape town stadium, after watching slovakia take italy out at a packed quay 4 complete with orange saturated vibe in the afternoon before the game

and then tbV, Reegs, Muscle-John and myself did the fan walk which was a complete crazy exciting buzz (yes, and vibe|) and watched netherlands take out uruguay at on broadway

and finally back to amazink for the final with some okes from enGAGE for what i thort was a pretty awful game of soccer and reffing (and the third worst one i watched after france/uruguay and brazil/portugal) and afterwards really thort they should have given the cup to germany or just maybe kept it til the next cup – way too much acting on both sides, some questionable reffing decisions (netherlands missed out on two corners at least) and yellow carding and apart from a few exciting moments and a decent goal from spain, a pretty boring affair after some really quality games leading up to it

south africa proved we can host and did an incredible job which i think the whole world is pretty much agreed on

and so far no sounds of the feared xenophobia so hoping and praying that the hoping and praying has paid off – so much good in terms of unity, bringing people together and nation spirit has happened it would be tragic to lose that now

so well done south africa – brilliant job and bafana bafana you did us proud (agonising equalising goal from mexico on that first nite)

but, having enjoyed it quite a lot, and enjoyed hanging with people, i am relieved and ready for it to be done now

too much worship not directed at or near God – too much focus away from the things in life that count – way too much distraction

“it’s life Jim, but not as we know it” [dr bones, star trek]

aaaaaand….break.

sent to meet her from the world cup round two

five centimeters…

from a huge upset and a big chance of Bafana Bafana progressing to the second round of the world cup which no white person predicted (let’s be honest) – oh wait i mean expected cos i spent the whole week predicting a Bafana Bafana 2-1 win over Mexico and it was that close – just sent-to-meet-her’s past the post to deny what would have been an incredible victory

we decided to go watch in Kayamandi township where i used to live and found a restaurant (which was Amazink, no i mean that’s the name of it – it was pretty good though) and arrived early for the opening ceremony to find we were in a room slash courtyard/amphitheatre full of black-people wannabes (hey at least i lived there. ha ha. nah guilty as charged). and very few black people and were super bummed but fortunately we decided to stick it out and whe  the game started at 4 there was a brilliant mix of local (black and white) and foreign

and that’s how you gotta watch Bafana Bafana play. i remember watching England take on Germany in a pub in a London which is the way to do it, but for Bafana Bafana, that was the place – bunch of us from enGAGE (church) some with shirts, some (including me) with faces painted and many with vuvuzellas and just a complete vibe\

and when we scored! aw man. priceless. noise and chanting and singing and shouting and hugging and for the next twenty minutes absolute celebration (til they scored – man we came so close to holding them out – still think we gifted them that goal though by trying for offsides press – ai dangerous stuff, apparently) and it was really phenomenal

i would imagine the fan park would be number one prize (if you can’t make the actual game) but the thought of hours of travel and waiting and then hours of travel back does not do a lot for me – easy access toilet and drinks and a bunch of friends and new friends and a 5 minute trip home – i’ll take that

but ja, i think there is a lot more expectation now, especially watching how useless uruguay were against a not-much-better france – but sadly we will be in namibia namrocking and road tripping and so will probably have to come back to hear the results unless we can find a tv on the way… go team, you made us proud