World Cup 2010

Well, it’s been a long time since I posted last, but I’m going to try to renew my commitment to keeping this blog updated more regularly.  Just a week ago we returned from a great trip to Swaziland and Kruger Park.  Unfortunately, we had a bit of bad luck this week with a small mishap with our Toyota Tazz, which is leaving us carless for a few weeks.  But we will creatively cope, and I’m even learning the art of catching the minibus taxis.

But the real thing I want to write about is 2010.  On January 1, naturally a new year began, but here in South Africa, “twenty-ten” has still not arrived.  Here, 2010 is synonymous with the World Cup and until now, has always been referred to as this upcoming event.  I’ve caught the fever myself; I wear my Bafana Bafana shirt every Friday, I fly a South African flag in my car window, and I am on the brink of buying a vuvuzela!

The vuvuzela will take the world by storm over the next month.  It is a long plastic trumpet that, when blown at you, will scramble your brain and make you wet yourself.  There had been talk about getting them banned for the World Cup because of the distraction they cause the players on the field, but throwing the players into a state of confusion is the only way the South African team has a chance of winning (or tying) a game at all.

I have been able to go to two games over the past several months at the beautiful new stadium, and they have been great experiences and very different than American sports games.

• Instead of hearing rally crys or an equivalent of the folksy “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” during breaks in action, they were instead filled with hip hop and techno music blaring from the speakers, bringing much of the audience to their feet to dance along.
• Any organic roar of the crowd was drowned out by the perpetuating buzz of vuvuzelas.
• A trip to the concession stand made me start to think that lines are a “Western” thing.  After 20 minutes in a mosh pit trying to reach the counter, I went back to my seat hungry, thirsty, and nearly without my wallet.

And if that wasn’t enough, we had another TIA (This Is Africa) moment when the power went down and most the lights went out for 20 minutes during the game.  But none of this is to say that there is any doubt on my part that the World Cup won’t be a tremendous success.  It’s going to be an exciting month.

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