June 20 - Apartheid Museum and Brazil v. Cote d'Ivoire

Today after getting a late start and making the near daily pilgrimage to Lulu Café in Parktown North (which has wireless internet), we headed out to the Apartheid Museum. The Apartheid Museum is situated not too far from Soccer City, where we later went to watch Brazil face Cote d'Ivoire (or Ivory Coast for you Francophobes).

When you arrive at the Apartheid Museum in a car, you are asked whether it is the Museum you are visiting or the Gold Reef Casino, which shares a parking lot with the Museum. After you park, you may enter the Museum for only 50 Rand.

the entrance to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg

We gave ourselves 4 hours for the Museum, and we used every second of that. It is one of the most present, relevant, thought-provoking, and exhaustive museums I have ever been to. There is a tremendous amount of detail in all of the history leading up to Apartheid and a wealth of artifacts and video footage from the recent history of Apartheid in South Africa. There was also a comprehensive temporary exhibit on the life and times of Nelson Mandela, who is a man I've decided I need to know more about. It was literally hard to get out of the musem in four hours.

After we left the museum at 5:50, we had to go maybe two miles as the crow flies to get to Soccer City. It inevitably took us around 45 minutes to get parked, as there was already traffic around Soccer City. I've been to Soccer City three times now, and I'm not going to miss it one bit. We stopped at some street vendors on the way in for some food. I myself had fried chicken, pab (sort of like grits), some salsa-like substance, and some beet salad. An interesting meal. I followed that up with an in -stadium boerewors and it was time to watch some football.

the view from our seats to watch Brazil face Cote d'Ivoire

After a slow-moving 25 minutes or so, Brazilian ace Luis Fabiano opened the scoring with one of the goals of the tournament, a top corner rocket from an acute angle to beat the Ivorian 'keeper. At the beginning of the second half, Fabiano doubled Brazil's advantage with a goal that looked like a really amazing piece of skill: bringing the ball down softly twice after looping it over Ivorian defenders both times and then smashing the ball left-footed past the netminder. On the replays, however (a couple of which were accidentally shown in the stadium), there looked to be handball on the play. That was not to be the end of the controversy on this night.

Later, Brazil's Kaká was sent off after it seemed there was some play-acting by one of the Ivorian players. It is a shame because Kaká (one of Brazil's top players) will miss their next match. In the end, Brazil won 3-1 and they probably do not need the services ok Kaká in the next match anyway, as they have secured passage to the knock-out stages with their two wins in two matches so far.

On the walk back to the car, I swapped scarves with a Brazilian man who was excited to get a USA scarf. Who says our country is hated all over the world?

after trading scarves with a Brazil fan

June 19 - Armed response

OK, so I've said before that our apartment is like a maximum security prison, right? Well, today, we met the guards.

On every home or business around in Johannesburg, there is barbed wire, electric fences, and signs that promise "armed response" in the event of a security breach. Our apartment is no different. Every day when the last of us leaves, that person arms the alarm system. Today, when I was the first person to get back to the apartment, I forgot the alarm system was on and just walked in like I owned the place.

What's funny about this is that the alarm did not go off straight away. It wasn't until Fawzi walked into the garden that the motion detectors out there were tripped and the alarm went off. At first, Fawzi and I did not realize our alarm was going off. The alarm itself was only sounding in the master bedroom, where Joe was taking a shower. As I sat in my room and Fawzi sat in the garden listening to what we thought was a far-off alarm, Joe was trying to shower through an air-raid siren in his ears. When I finally realized that our place was the one with the alarm issues, I frantically ran to the master bedroom to try to shut it off, further disturbing Joe's not-so peaceful shower. When I was finally able to turn the alarm off, the question was really when, not if, there would be an "armed response."

After about ten minutes, I heard the phone ring. There is no reason for anyone to call us, and in fact that phone is only there to control the gate on the street. They were here. I obligingly buzzed them in from the phone, but did not speak to anyone. I told Fawzi to brace himself, and we opened the door to meet our guardians. When I walked up the steps a bit, I was confronted with two burly black guys, both with what looked like automatic weapons. Each had their hands on the weapon in a ready position to open fire. They were very cordial, however, and believed my story about how we were renting the place from a guy named Graham and that we accidentally tripped the alarm. My biggest regret was that I did not get a photo with these gentlemen before they went on their way.

That was to be the most eventful moment of an otherwise uneventful day. Shortly thereafter, the apartment owner Graham stopped by. He stopped by so shortly after, in fact, that it seemed he had been alerted about the security breach and was stopping by to make sure everything was OK. In fact, he had no idea about our alarm-related issues and was only stopping by to clean up a bit. When I told him we needed a number of someone to help get the scratch out of the car that we put on it leaving the Worst Parking Spot Ever™ at Ellis Park, he simply produced some silver polish, and completely obliterated the scratch himself. Avis will never know. Heh heh.

Later, we visited the African Craft Market at Rosebank Mall. It is a classic bargaining market, where you can get discounts as much as 50% off the "original" price (nothing has a price tag). It reminded me a great deal of bargaining in Istanbul at the Grand Bazaar. I shopped for a while, making sure to pick up some lovely trinkets for each and every one of you reading this. One stall was run by a young man named Norman and his brother. I bought a stone rhino from Norman, who was unfortunately wearing a Mexico shirt, but was the artist who had produced the rhino.

Norman the stone-carving guy and I in the African Craft Market at Rosebank Mall - Johannesburg

All that was left to do was have a great dinner, and we went straight back to the Local Grill, which is walkable from our apartment. Another great steak dinner down, and just a few more days in Johannesburg. OK, gotta get rolling, until next time...

June 18 - USA v. Slovenia

Today we decided to set out early for Ellis Park to watch the USA in a critical match with Slovenia. Early meant leaving for a 4 o'clock game at around 12:30. When we arrived at the Park and Walk at Athlone Boys High School at around 1:30, we donned all of our ultra-patriotic gear and marched in to the stadium.

Most of the fans we saw at that point were USA supporters. We even saw such luminaries as George Washington, Elvis and Captain America on their way in to support the boys in Red, White, and Blue. One of the best parts of the walk in was getting lots of love from fellow San Francisco Giants fans as I was wearing my Giants hat.

While we were taking the 25-30 minute walk from the parking lot to the stadium, we stopped at what was either a nursery school or grade school where they were having a braai (or BBQ) to raise money. There were a great deal of USA supporters in there already, so we stopped in and had some Carling Black Label beer and boerewors to tide us over for the match. It's a bit strange to be in a preschool with barbed wire all over the perimeter, but the place had a right good atmosphere so we enjoyed our short stay there.

planting the US flag at a preschool in Johannesburg. Note the barbed wire

Having satisfied our appetites, we cruised in to the stadium. On the way in, we happened upon a group of little South African kids enthusiastically chanting "USA, USA, USA." People here have been very supportive of the United States, and the children we meet seem genuinely thrilled to see people from the USA. The kids were so cute that we had to stop and take a picture.

Joe with some young USA fans

Inside the gates to the stadium was pretty wild. There was a really good atmosphere for the match, with lots of energetic Americans and lots of really drunk Slovenians. The Slovenians we did encounter outside the stadium were nothing if not friendly (maybe overly so), so we expected a good time in the stadium.

outside Ellis Park pre-match with the US flag

Joe with some Slovenians that were ready to party

When we got to our seats, we had a much different experience with our Slovenian counterparts. There was a massive amount of Slovenian fans in our section, including some in all of our seats. At first, they were determined not to move from our seats, one even remarking to us "Why must you be so imperialistic?" when we asked for our seats back. When the four Slovenians in our seats finally relented, there were still a massive number of Slovenians in and around us, and most of them left their best manners at the gates to Ellis Park.

our seats at Ellis Park to watch USA/Slovenia

In the first half, not only did we have to deal with a row of angry Slovenians just in front of us who were the only people in our whole section that wouldn't sit down, we had to stomach the USA defending sloppily and being passed off the park by the Slovenians on their way to a 2-0 halftime deficit. It was a disheartening half, and one that only added fuel to the raging inferno that was our Slovenian buddies just in front of us.

Thankfully, the second half would prove to be much different. The USA came out with much greater intent, and almost immediately there was an excitement in the air that comes with the promise of an intense 45 minutes of football. When Landon Donovan took advantage of the Slovenian right back's mistake and went on to beat the 'keeper top shelf from right on the goal line, all the USA fans erupted. With plenty of game left and the momentum on our side, we were sure we would get an equalizer. And equalize we did, as Jozy Altidore headed down a long pass into the path of the onrushing Michael Bradley, who again beat the Slovenian 'keeper over his head. 2-2 and the celebrations were euphoric. In front of us, I saw one of our Slovenian nemeses go falling as if he were pushed, and braced myself for some sort of brawl. Luckily, that never materialized, but things were certainly edgy at this point.

As the USA were roaring back to life on the field, the USA fans in the stand were all anticipating a go-ahead goal. From a set-piece that took place away from our side of the field (while our seats were still good, all the goals were scored on the other side of the field), Jozy Altidore smashed one into the back of the net to give the USA an apparent 3-2 lead. We all went ballistic until I caught a glimpse of one of our Slovenian buddies in front of us waving his finger to let us know the goal had been disallowed. Upon seeing the replay on TV later that night, it's clear that the USA had a perfectly good goal disallowed and the referee will not say what he disallowed the goal for. There has been talk of a FIFA probe on the Malian referee, a man by the name of Coulibaly. In any case, he ended up costing the USA two points as the game would end in a 2-2 draw. The good news is that the USA control their destiny after a dismal England performance saw them draw 0-0 with Algeria in Cape Town. England were much maligned in the press for their performance. If the USA beat Algeria, then they are through to the knockout stages no matter what.

the England team was thrashed in the media for their dreadful performance against Algeria in Cape Town

After the match, I met up with Russ Lathrop, an EVS operator (like myself) who is here in Johannesburg working, but had time to catch the USA match in his time off. Russ is a great guy, and he is also blogging while here at the World Cup. You can read his blog at: randomrustyrambles.blogspot.com


On our way back to the car, we passed two young girls in the street chanting "USA." I stopped to give them high-fives, and one of the girls asked me for my flag. Knowing I didn't need the hassle of carrying my flag anymore as we were done attending USA matches, I obliged. The girls gleefully ran off into the night with the flag, continuing to chant "USA." I hope that little girl holds on to Old Glory and cherishes it for a long time, but another part of me figures she's already sold it for 50 Rand.

June 17 - Messi, Messi, Messi and a great dinner

After a day without live football, Lars, Fawzi, Joe and I set out early for Soccer City this morning to watch the great Lionel Messi and Argentina face South Korea. Our first order of business was to get a parking slip so we could park our car at Soccer City. In order to do this we had to go to a "Computicket" location. We were told by a casual acquaintance that Computicket could be found in pretty much any local grocery store. Don't believe everything you hear.

We stopped by the local Woolworth's (a store that I still can't quite figure out; there seem to be separate examples of it that sell either groceries or clothing), and were told to go to Rosebank Mall because they did not have Computicket. Losing time already, we went to Rosebank Mall and were once again denied as there was no Computicket in sight in a relatively large mall. They directed us to Hyde Park Mall, where we finally found Computicket and printed out our parking permit for Soccer City.

Under the gun time-wise, we rushed to Soccer City, again aided mostly by maps. Also, Fawzi's pay-as-you-go account with Vodacom started picking up 3G, so he had Google Maps helping us on his iPhone. At this point, we were all anticipating missing the kick-off, although nobody said that. When we approached the inevitable traffic jam surrounding Soccer City, Joe sprung into action again and directed us to another freeway with far less traffic that actually got us closer to our parking. With this piece of good fortune, some quick walking and a painless entry into the stadium, we were in our seats with minutes to spare.

the view from our awesome seats at Soccer City to watch Argentina face South Korea

Argentina put on the best display of football we have seen yet, with the amazing Lionel Messi and the tenacious Carlos Tevez leading the way. The title of this blog should have probably been "Higuain, Higuain, Higuain," because the Argentinean #9 scored a classy hat-trick, but Messi did everything besides put the ball in the back of the net. He is one of the greatest players I have ever seen, much in the same mold style-wise as his coach, the great Diego Maradona. Maradona may have been the best player ever, but the jury is still out on his effectiveness as a coach and he is in a fashion no-man's land with a crazy Karl Marx-ish beard and a suit that looks like it was purchased off the rack in the bargain section at the Men's Wearhouse. In any case, his team is looking the most dangerous in the World right now and we were treated to a match full of attacking flair and grit from the Argentines.

When we got back to the apartment, we were looking for some food. We decided to head for a place called Carnivore using the 3G on the iPhone to guide us there. If you've ever been led to the wrong place using the Google Maps search function, then you'll understand our frustration at being sent to a dead part of downtown Johannesburg at night looking for a renowned restaurant, only to find grit and grime everywhere we looked. For those of you from the Bay Area, imagine being on 6th and Market, then imagine that it's actually Johannesburg. To be fair, I never felt remotely threatened, but then again there is a reputation here, so we scooted back to our neighborhood pronto, where we found a place called the Local Grill.

If you're reading this and you're ever in Johannesburg and you don't eat at the Local Grill (www.localgrill.co.za), I will feel personally insulted. It was the best steak dinner I have ever had. I have never had more tender and delightfully seasoned meat, and the starters, sides, wine, and salads were all top-notch. To top that off, the service was fantastic, and we were given a full tour of the kitchen and the "meat aging room" by one of the owners of the place, a man named Llewy. He gave me a proper education on many of the cuts of meat they had and how they were aged to achieve maximum tenderness. Long live the Local Grill!

with Llewy in the meat aging room at the Local Grill in Parktown North, Johannesburg

While we were there, we watched the abominable France, with their outrageously awful coach Raymond Domenech, lose 2-0 to Mexico. Never has so much talent looked so bad in almost any sport. I cannot believe Domenech has persisted in his job as coach of France for this long. Shocking. I hope South Africa beat them like a rented mule in the final group stage match so they can move on. Tomorrow the USA's group is playing, and we will be off to see the Red, White and Blue boys at Ellis Park as they take on Slovenia. Until then...

June 16 - An official safari and heartbreak for Bafana Bafana

So after getting back late from Ellis Park, Joe Fawzi, and I set out the next morning to go to a place called Plumari Game Reserve, which was about an hour and fifteen minutes north of where we were staying in Johannesburg. The plan was to leave by 6:15AM so we could make the 8AM tour with some cushion room. Inevitably, we left closer to 6:40AM, so there was not to be any cushion room.

Once again we were using maps, but this time we had on our side the fact that this game reserve was located just off the road we had already traveled the other day on the way to Rustenburg for USA/England. There was only one turn that was different, and with Joe calling the safari outfit as we made that one different turn, we arrived just in time to grab a coffee at the lodge and pile into the truck for our animal viewing experience. Another victory for maps!

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm not that interested in looking at animals. I know it's de rigeur when you're in Africa to do so, but I wasn't convinced. However, I had a great time on this little tour. There were some other Americans with us, as well as some folks from New Zealand who were still brimming with pride from the fact that their team had played to a thrilling draw with Slovakia the day before. Our guide was a man who introduced himself as either Sanele or Benjamin (one was his more traditional tribal name and the other his English name). Sanele was very knowledgeable about the animals, earnest, and funny.

We got to see lions, kudu, impalas, wildebeest, hippos, giraffes and a whole host of other animals. It was much better for me than being at a zoo (also known as an animal prison). For my money, the most impressive animals were the lions (we only really got a good look at the females as the male we saw was obscured by brush) and the giraffes. Our guide also showed us some giant bones of 2 separate giraffes that had been struck and killed by lightning. Due to the high iron content in the rocks in the area, there is a lot of lightning, and giraffes are especially susceptible to strikes because of their height. According to our guide. when an animal is struck and killed, no other animal will eat it due to the stench of sulphur on the carcass.

the giraffes were very impressive in person

Joe with a lion in the near background

So, having had a good time on our safari, Joe, Fawzi and I headed back to the apartment in Johannesburg. While we passed through Magaliesburg, we saw a police escort helping the Portuguese team bus out of town. I'm a bit surprised that Portugal would stay in a smallish town like Magaliesburg, but with the police helping you get around, the lack of major freeway access is probably not as tough to swallow.

When we got back to our neighborhood, we grabbed some pizza at a small place called Jolly Roger in the Parkhurst suburb and watched everyone's tournament favorite Spain lose a thrilling 1-0 to Switzerland. The football is definitely starting to improve.

In the evening's match, Bafana Bafana (something they say in South Africa that means roughly "The Boys," a nickname for the national soccer team) played Uruguay in their second match of the World Cup. We watched on in a small restaurant called Espresso with a very patriotic group of South Africans as the national team played poorly and was beaten by a better Uruguay side 3-0. That result left South Africa's chances of qualifying for the knockout stages hanging by a thread, with them needing to beat France in their third match and needing help from the other teams in their group.

I will be disappointed if South Africa do not proceed. For as much as the games have been a major hassle to get in and out of, all the people we have met in South Africa have been fantastic, and a nice run for Bafana Bafana could be really uplifting to everyone here.

The good news was that while we watched the game, our cars were being guarded by none other than New York's finest, the NYPD! In the nicer neighborhoods, there is always someone watching your car while you park, and you should give them a small tip (I've been giving the equivalent of about ¢75). In Parkhurst, the car guards all wear NYPD vests. I took a photo with one of them much to his bafflement, and he had not heard of the New York Police Department. Until next time...

NY's finest guarding our wheels while we ate in Parkhurst

June 15 - Brazil v. North Korea

*This is the first of three installments worth of blogging that I am posting today, because we have a very bad relationship with the internet right now*

Today we woke up relatively late and made our way over to the local internet cafe in the morning. We are having to go there for our internet because our maximum security prison of an apartment has no internet.

After doing some research on the subject of game preserves (or safari locations), we decided the best course of action would be to rent a car today ahead of going to the Brazil/North Korea match at Johannesburg's Ellis Park. That way we could wake up the next morning and head for our safari adventure first thing in the morning. Plus, we are stuck out in the 'burbs a bit, so having a car will be helpful for the next week.

So, back on the wrong side of the road again (I'm from the USA and we rule the world, so dammit, we're on the RIGHT side) and with Joe navigating, we made our way to the FIFA Park and Walk location near Ellis Park. This particular Park and Walk was
located about 30 minutes from the stadium. When we got there, we were told that we had to have a ticket that we did not possess in order to park there. This is where the entrepreneurial spirit of South Africa comes in.

A young man named Lloyd arrived on the scene and told us that for 50 Rand (about $6.50) we could park in his backyard, located just down the block from the Park and Walk. I know a good deal when I see one, so we hopped on it. Lloyd and his friend Edward (the two of them were probably around 19-21 years old) helped us park in a really narrow space in a small dusty backyard right between a couple of tree stumps. More on this later.

On the walk to the stadium, we encountered various people using their homes as a location to make and sell braai - Afrikaans for roasted meat. Joe, Fawzi and I all had some boerewors, a sausage made from minced beef (and maybe pork or lamb or maybe ?).

After our tasty snack, we continued to approach the stadium, where we encountered some awesome Brazil fans.

a Brazilian leprechaun with his pot of gold

These guys are always good for some fun, and the atmosphere did not dampen as we got closer to Ellis Park. One thing that did threaten to dampen the atmosphere was the fact that shortly after we entered the stadium, the electronic gates stopped working to admit fans in as there were power outages that were evident all over Ellis Park. Soon, a huge crowd amassed behind the iron gates, and if it weren't for the fact that it was still 45 minutes to kick-off, there may have been some serious crowd unrest.

Luckily, that was sorted out by 30 minutes to the kick, and normal business was restored. When we got to our seats, we were pleased to be in the front row of the upper deck and close to the half-way line.

the view from our seats at Ellis Park to watch Brazil take on North Korea

Two things would blight an otherwise great experience, however. First, it was cold. It was really cold. It was bone-chillingly, let's play hockey on a frozen lake cold. Second, a die-hard Brazil fan placed a banner made of the lightest material directly in front of our seats. And it was flying in our faces incessantly for the first couple of minutes of the match until we all decided to shove the banner below some ad hoardings so we could see. While our incensed Brazilian friend tried to forcibly restore his lightweight banner, the best football of the match took place, as Robinho did about 100 stepovers and then nutmegged the North Korean defender. Not a goal, but the moment of the match for me, and we spent it yelling at an angry middle-aged Brazilian man to get out of our way.

Moving on, the football in this match was better than much in the tournament. Brazil played to their usual high standard, and the #9 for North Korea (I have no idea about the names of any of their players) was outstanding. The two Brazil goals were awesome, with Maicon unleashing a rocket from a nearly impossible angle to beat the North Korean keeper, and the tricky Robinho making a slide-rule pass to set up wispy Elano for Brazil's second. Even North Korea scored, on an excellent move which ended with my Man of the Match #9 for Korea Democratic People's Republic (never trust a country with "Democratic" in its title, Joe commented) heading down for nameless #8 to score a well-taken goal.

Brazil would run out winners, and so would we, as this match was hands-down the easiest to get in and out of for us, except for the fact that moving the right-hand drive car that Joe rented out of our space was one of the most harrowing experiences I've ever had behind a wheel. From an angle nearly as tight as the one Maicon beat the keeper from, I had to turn hard left, attempting to avoid a tree and a tree stump and fit into a driveway two credit cards wider than my car. Trust me, I'm not hamming it up, it was no mean task getting that car out. And as a consequence I put the tiniest of scratches into the rear fender. Oh well, that's Joe's problem with Avis in Johannesburg now (I kid). We did manage to get to our apartment quickly and we'll sort the car out later. Until next post...

June 14th - Holland v. Denmark and our first visit to Sandton

the impressive Soccer City, the premier venue of the 2010 World Cup

On June 14th, we made our way into downtown Johannesburg as we had to return our rental car and make our way over to the sparkling new Soccer City Stadium just outside Johannesburg. Downtown Johannesburg seemed a bit grim and dark compared to what we experienced in Cape Town, but I would like to go back soon as it looked like a big, bustling city, and that's my kind of place.

Finding ourselves without a car, we needed to get to Soccer City somehow. We found a cab in downtown Johannesburg. The driver spoke very little English, but he somehow got us to one of the Park and Ride locations near the stadium.

One of the most remarkable experiences of this World Cup for me has been the enormous hassle of getting to and from the games. Today, for instance, we got to downtown Johannesburg two and a half hours before our match started. We were only in our seats about a half hour before the match. Getting back would be worse.

Our seats were very good for the match. They were in the second deck, so high enough to get a good view, and close enough to midfield to get a balanced viewpoint of all the action. We were seated behind a real-life Viking.

the view from our seats for Holland/Denmark at Soccer City

The match itself was like many so far in this World Cup. Not very exciting. Holland went ahead via an own goal and neither side had much spark until the Dutch introduced Eljero Elia, who did a couple of street footbal style moves and was the best thing to happen to the game. In the end, Holland won, much to the delight of their bizarrely costumed fans.

the "Flying Dutchmen (and women)" with a foreign journalist

After the match, we set out for Sandton, an affluent suburb of Johannesburg. This journey was to take about 3 hours, as we walked for what must have been literally miles looking for a bus to take us to proper transit. I don't want to criticize too heavily the authorities who have set up transport here, but signage and information was not on a par with many other places I have been in my life. Finally, we grabbed a bus that took us to Wits College in Johannesburg, where we started walking aimlessly again until we hopped in a cab bound for Sandton.

When we arrived in Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, we found a bustling mall with upscale shops and restaurants. We soon found a Thai restaurant called Wangthai (I could eat Thai everyday), and stopped for some food and drink. While we were eating, we ran into a work colleague of ours from the Bay Area, Jason, and we chatted about our experiences so far here in South Africa. After moving to the bar, we watched the Italy/Paraguay game, which, in my humble opinion, was more crap football. I'm desperately hoping that this World Cup can start to offer more spectacle, as it has been a fairly drab one football-wise so far. OK, until next time...







Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton