This time for Africa!!

The World Cup being in South Africa is an experience on it’s own. Things are quite different now that the World Cup is finally here. There are a lot more foreigners no matter where you go, prices have shot up, and excitement is always in the air.

The week of the opening match of the World Cup was a lot of fun. Vuvuzela’s were blowing NON-STOP out on the streets outside of our office windows in town. At first it was really annoying, but once you buy your own vuvuzela and join in it becomes a lot more fun. At noon on the day before the opening ceremony, everyone ran out on to the streets in their Bafana Bafana gear, dancing, screaming, cheering, and blowing vuvuzelas. That was when all the excitement really started. There is a FanFest (a public viewing area that holds 25,000 people for all the matches) right outside of our office. Whenever a game is on, we go onto the roof of our building and watch the match with a perfect view of the giant screen and the entire crowd below. It’s been so much fun getting together with friends to watch all the matches.

It’s been even more exciting being able to actually go to two matches in Cape Town. I had tickets to Italy vs. Paraguay and England vs. Algeria. Although both of those matches sucked and ended in draws, the atmosphere was still phenomenal. It was really weird to actually be at a World Cup match, at night, in one of the most beautiful soccer stadiums. It’s so much fun to be able to cheer for a World Cup game live at the stadium while everyone else is watching it on TV. Oh, and apparently I was on TV for a split-second as the camera panned across the crowd.

Since the start of the Cup, it seems as though some of the excitement has died down. I’m not sure if that’s really the case or if it’s just the way I feel since I’ve been really busy for the past two weeks. Or maybe it’s because I’m still depressed because Bafana Bafana didn’t make it out of the group stage. Either way, it’s still constantly exciting to have the World Cup here. Even now, as I sit in bed writing this blog at 11:50 pm, I here someone walk by my house every so often blowing a vuvuzela or playing the Waka Waka song by Shakira.