Here we go again

Monday, June 14, 2010 

Match 9
Netherlands 2 – 0 Denmark
Soccer City Stadium – Johannesburg
Location watched:  Soccer City Stadium – Johannesburg, South Africa

Monday dawned crisp and cool.  I woke up earlier than expected and took my laptop down to the common area of the guest house.  While setting up, I met Latitia, the owner of the guest house.  I introduced myself and she asked how we would be covering the rest of the money owed for our stay.  I said my friend had paid half as a down payment and I would cover the rest.  She took me to the back and printed out a receipt.  It was many times what I expected to pay.  This is where things started to go pear-shaped…

We discovered that our itinerary had been out of order and we had stayed at the wrong guest house.  Latitia called the place we were supposed to have stayed and said that Ina from Sunrock would be over shortly to pick us up.  We scrambled back to our room to hastily reassemble our baggage and get ready to leave.  Ina was there quickly and we rushed out to her waiting vehicle.  We explained our confusion and thought all was well when we had been checked into the flat at Morulana.  She said that she had dropped some Dutch fans off at the airport to get their match tickets at the FIFA kiosks.  We told her we had to do the same thing, so when she picked them up, we leaped out of her van and hurried to get our tickets.  She returned to pick us up and we rushed back to the guest house where there was transport waiting to take us to the match.

All the rushing around paid off.  We easily made it to the match and had time to soak up the atmosphere before the match began.


Match 10
Japan 1 – 0 Cameroon
Mangaung / Bloemfontein
Location watched:  Periodic Blackberry updates on our way from the match to the guest house

When Ina’s husband Arthur had dropped us off at the match, he told us to meet him at a Shell gas station about 3 miles from the stadium 2 hours after the match ended.  We trekked up the hill and waited for him in the fading daylight.  Sometimes it is easy to forget that Africa is rapidly approaching winter.  This was not one of those times.  Sitting on a rock on top of a hill as the wind picked up and the sun was going down proved to be quite chilly.  Feeling somewhat apprehensive about finding our meeting place, my friend and I had not wasted anytime leaving the match, so we had about an hour to wait for the ride back to the guest house.

Arthur eventually showed up and our group piled into the transport van for the return journey.  Three of our companions on this part of the adventure were from Japan.  They took turns dialing into the match report to follow their home country.  When it was announced that the match was final, they whooped it up the rest of the way to the guest house, chanting and celebrating.


Match 11
Italy 1 – 1 Paraguay
Capetown
Location watched:  Common area in the Sunrock Guesthouse

After arriving back at the guest house, my friend and I had about an hour to kill before dinner would be served.  We fired up our laptops looking for internet service.  Here, like almost everywhere on our trip, the service was not free.  It was also not cheap.  He paid for another block of time to finish some work-related duties, while I remained offline to chronicle the trip so far.  Then I saved a text document to a flash drive and uploaded it from his machine.  In other words, if you have sent me a message, I have not been able to access my email or Facebook since leaving Minneapolis on Thursday afternoon.  I am so sorry for not getting back to you.

We soon ventured back out into the cold to make our way to the common area of the guest house.  It was beautiful!  There were flags of the 32 World Cup countries lining the walls and ceilings.  The game trophies on the wall were of animals not common in North America.  There was a full bar and food service area along one wall and a huge projection television on the other.  There were plenty of seats and I would estimate room for around 50 people in this building.

The food they had prepared for us was delicious, and we finished dinner in time to see the last match of the day on the big T.V.  When Paraguay scored first, the room erupted.  Apparently there is quite a bit of resentment towards Italy around the world.  The Dutch fans were high-fiving the Chilean contingent.  The group from Japan hugged the guys from El Salvador.  It was massively joyous in the room.

Italy equalized midway through the second half, but it did not dampen the mood, but there was definitely no celebrating as with the first goal.  When the match ended in a draw, everyone seemed quite happy with the result.

We were leaving for Capetown early the next morning so we secured our ride to the airport and made our way back to our room.  As we did so, we discussed the heavy rains we had witnessed during the match which took place in Capetown.  If the bad weather continued, It would be the first inclement conditions we would experience while in South Africa.

Stay tuned to this channel to see how it turns out!