The City of Soccer

Sunday I deemed "Jo'burg Day". Since we had all had such a rough night before we started late, around 11:30am. I had made reservations at this restaurant I really wanted to try called Moyo and Amy made a great recommendation to go to the outdoor one at Zoo Lake, which was a picturesque setting with trees and open fields and lovely lake in the background. Moyo is traditional African cuisine and we all had excellent lunches. you can get your face painted in traditional style, which I did, and they also have musicians and entertainment while you eat. It's not at all obtrusive or annoying though. It's very nice. We all enjoyed our food and the warm,sunny afternoon in the park. After that we went to the rooftop craft market at Rosebank mall. It's more of a gigantic flea market but everyone enjoyed it. Almost everyone bought a vuvuzela too. After that we headed to Newtown for what turned out to be the highlight of my day, the SAB World of Beer tour.

Only three of us did the tour, the other three went to the Fan Zone just a block away to watch the Germany v England match. Boy did they miss out. The tour starts off with a movie with a full two minutes of just rain sounds and then another guy who pretends to be Indiana Jones and who talks about the elements of life as they relate to beer. We missed most of this because we joined the tour already in progress. Next we were taken to another scene which was supposedly out in the African bush. We sat on log stumps and watched the screen which showed a full two minutes of bamboo sticks and blowing wind before the real film started. We learned how the African tribes make Sorghum beer and how it works into traditional tribal cultures. The video had lots of mostly naked women in it, so needless to say, the guys on the tour loved it. Women are the keepers of the beer in Africa. A woman can add greatly to her value and reputation as a good wife by brewing a good beer. Men do not brew the beer, only consume. When in a gathering, everyone drinks from the same vessel (usually a hollowed out gourd) and the men drink first, starting with the oldest man. Then the women are allowed to drink and it is disrespectful to refuse the beer. It is passed from person to person in the proper order until all the beer is consumed. At the end of the movie about making the beer, we got to drink sorghum beer in the way I've just described.

Next we went through a sort of history of the existence of beer in Africa, which was complete with poorly fashioned animatronic miners, more videos of the important people in beer history (made even better by the fact that they pretend they can see you and talk to you and talk in overly dramatic voices), and some fake dynamite explosions. We also walked through a replica of a township shebeen (bar) which we later learned was incredibly accurate. We got lots of free beer and I felt that my R30 was very well spent. I also think that South Africa beer is pretty dang good.

After that it was time to head to Soccer City, the flagship stadium of the 2010 World Cup. It seats 94,000 people and is a really great piece of architecture. We parked at Wits and rode a shuttle bus to the stadium. The logic that went behind the shuttle system is still a mystery to me. I had heard that it was pretty strange but not until I experienced it did I really see what I was up against. The shuttle bus approached the gigantic stadium only to drive PAST it, as well as two perfectly nice bus stations. It then drives about a mile and drops you off in a field and you start your very long walk to the stadium from there. It took longer for us to park and get to the match than the actual match itself. It was completely worth it again though because Soccer City really brough the World Cup spirit home for me. The stadium was almost completely full, Argentina fans were dominant over Mexico by a long way. Deafening roar of vuvuzelas and the excitement of the match for all the loyal supporters was really the thing I wanted to see. And Soccer City did that. It really was incredible walking into the stadium to our seats and hearing and seeing just how huge and loud everything was. Argentina made short work of Mexico. They are an incredible team. Their skill level, the way they handle the ball, they way they use all their touches effectively astounds me. Seeing it in person is a whole different ball game. You can see just how fast they are running, just how precise their passes are, how they see the field, how the team moves up and down the field looking for outlets and plays. It really is a beautiful game. And Soccer City is a phenomenal frame for it. I hope that the stadium won't fall to ruin in the wake of this World Cup as so may do. I'm thinking more of the Olympic Villages that I've seen in France and other countries where they turn into slums after the event. I have to wonder also about the vaccuum that World Cup 2010 will leave in South Africa. All this excitement and hope have been built around this event, and now more than halfway through, people say that it's hard to imagine life after it.

As it turns out, some of us, myself included, got a little bit soccered out. Though I love watching the games and I wouldn't trade the games I went to for anything, I think four in a row was really ambitious. We should have spread them out more. So after two really late nights and lots of driving, I had to throw in the towel. I sold my tickets to Brazil v. Chile and Paraguay v. Japan. I hope that doesn't make me a weenie and I did second guess my decision a bit, but I have been going non-stop and I think four games in four nights was a bit much. So while my World Cup watching is not at an end, I will not be sitting in any more stadiums, fighting any more traffic, being deafened by more vuvuzelas, nor getting pushed around trying to leave the stadium.

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