Johannesburg, here we come

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Match 6
Algeria 0 - 1 Slovenia
Polokwane Stadium
Location watched: Listened on radio after leaving the guest house in Rustenburg

After the match, we struck out in search of a taxi. After searching in vain, we approached a police officer to ask where the taxis queued post-match. We were told that they stopped running at 9pm—30 minutes after the match kicked off. We asked how people were getting back to Rustenburg’s city center and were told that they would take the buses that dropped them off at the match. That didn’t sound good for those of us that had ridden a bus from Jo’burg, but were staying in Rustenburg. Again, I will save time here by jumping to the part where the traffic police officer, after dealing with hundreds of irate fans heaping abuse on her for the buses being full, offered to take us to our guest house.

When we pulled up in front of the guest house, lights flashing so she could get around the massive traffic jam, the wife of the guest house owner rushed out yelling “what did you do?” I am sure she was thinking she would have to bail out the drunk, violent Yanks she had agreed to let stay with her. Even after the officer left and we explained what had happened, she and her husband were still incredulous at what had happened. It was quite amazing…

Meanwhile, at the guest house, they had overbooked the rooms. They politely explained that my friend and I would be joining 2 English fans at a place they called "the farm." We smiled and nodded while thinking that they were shipping us off to heaven knows where, leaving the other guests in the spacious guest house. We could not have been more wrong. The farm was beautiful! Tommy and his wife Nicolene were very hospitable and had dinner waiting when my friend, Nick, Johnny, and I arrived about 1:30am. Not taking no for an answer, they fed us, made sure we had plenty to drink, then sent us each off to his individual room. The farm ended up being the better option of the two.

In the morning, Tommy took the four of us out onto his land which is home to many different types of deer, zebras, and an odd leopard. We did not see any predators, but took many pictures of other wildlife.  At one point, the 4-wheeler suddenly accelerated throwing us into a rock wall and tree.  It turned out that Nick, who was sitting in the middle of the front seat, had his foot slip off of its perch and onto the accelerator.  It was frightening, yet hilarious.

When we returned, Nicolene had an incredible breakfast waiting for us. We left well-fed. We gladly accepted and started off for Jo’burg.


Match 7
Serbia 0 - 1Ghana
Tshwane/Pretoria
Location watched: FIFA Fan Park – Pretoria

As we headed back to Jo’burg, we realized that we would not make it back in time for the mid-afternoon match. Approaching Pretoria, we decided to stop in to check out their fan park.

Inside was a festive atmosphere as we had come to expect during this trip. There were many Ghanan fans inside the park and when they scored to take the lead, dancing broke out all around us. One could not help but get caught up in the revelry.

After the match, Nick and Johnny dropped us off in Johannesburg at our guest house. We checked in and rushed upstairs in time for the evening match.


Match 8
Germany 3 – 0 Australia
Durban
Location watched: Morulana Guest House, Johannesburg, South Africa

Settled into our room, we watched the match and quickly went to sleep afterward. It had been a hectic schedule to this point and it was nice to just relax. We would be here for two nights, so we spread out the contents of our bags and made ourselves at home.