This weekend, Jaspar and I went out of town to celebrate our third year wedding anniversary. We reserved a chalet on the Umzimkulu River, near the southern edge of the Drakensberg Mountains, and about 2 1/2 hours from Durban. It was very relaxing and beautiful, and good to get away from the World Cup chaos for a little while.
…But I was able to go to a World Cup match a week ago, and thought I should share a few pictures. In a week’s time, it will all be over and most of us will resume our normal life. It’s funny…I had no interest in soccer before a few weeks ago, but these last few weeks, I’ve repeatedly found myself passionately breaking down the nuances of games with the most unlikely people.
Every Friday afternoon at work for the last few months we've all worn our SA soccer jerseys. For the first game against Mexico, Jaspar came to my work and joined in the fun.
The city really did a great job of developing the city beach front to make it a place people actually wanted to go to. For the past month, it has been the place to be, with much entertainment and activities to go with the soccer madness.
The game I went to a week ago saw the Dutch defeat Slovakia 2-1. I didn’t wear any team colours or costumes, but because I wasn’t wearing any branded clothing of a company not sponsoring the World Cup, they let me in. (FIFA runs a tight ship)
To say the atmosphere and energy was impressive would be a huge understatement. The stadium, the sounds, the fans, the costumes…who cares about the game anyway?
…well, we do, actually. It’s been fun.
