Last weekend I had the absolutely amazing opportunity to go to the World Cup in South Africa. How I swung this on a fellow's stipend has mostly to do with my awesome friend Kate's willingness to turn her apartment into a make-shift hostel for her football-lovin' friends from around the world. Kate is currently living in Johannesburg working on HIV/AIDS outreach and prevention around the World Cup, which you can read all about here.
So on Friday morning, Andrew and I arrived in Jo'burg, were picked up by Kate in her spirited little car, known as "The Tazz", and met up with the rest of Kate's friends in town for the World Cup to make our way to Ellis Park for the USA vs Slovenia game. Video 1 below is right before the game and Video 2 is right after the US's second goal against Slovenia (sorry for the bad videography skills...some snarky Slovenians were trying to get by me RIGHT AFTER THE GOAL. Hello, a little respect please!)
Now, there is much I could say about the awesome-ness of being in South Africa...the feeling of being cold, the availability of cheese, the presence of stop lights. But, I won't. Besides the relative luxuries of being in a developed (or at least partly developed) country, what was most amazing about being in South Africa, was simply the chance to be at the World Cup. People from all over the world, coming together to paint their faces, dress up in ridiculous outfits, blow on vuvuzelas (which I was informed on my flight home by South African Airways, are illegal to blow on a plane. fyi.), and live and die cheering for their team in a 90 minute game. On a continent that sees so much suffering and hardship, getting to see people cheer for something, anything, is pretty special. But getting to see Africans cheer for their teams, in their favorite sport, on their soil, for the first time ever...that was once in a lifetime.
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