Wrote this rather quickly so apologies in advance for any missing words or misspellings....
I arrived Cape Town on 5 June, yes, my birthday for those of you that didnt know it. And yes, it was a big one, my 30th! With the 20s behind me I arrived customs with a sense of seniority, maturity and an abundance of grey hair on my chin. Luckily, the rest of my hair in more important areas is still dark brown. And what did I do with this new level maturity earned through 30 year of experience - I told the customs guy to 'fuck off' in Zulu (by accident). We were having normal Customs guy chit chat and then I was trying to say some proverbe but instead told him to fuck off by accident. I made the mistake of saying this before he had stamped my passport and officially welcomed me to the Republic of South Africa. He explained to me politely that he had 'absolute authority' to send me back to the UK at which point I realised something was not right. After a few mins of explanation, he laughed about it, taught me another way of telling a person to fuck off and stamped my passport.
The plan for the first weekend was spend a few days with a good friend of mine and his family in Cape Town. Saturday was a beautiful in Cape Town, so we played with his kids, made breakfast for everyone and then went out for a round of golf at the country club he had just joined. My buddy is Kenyan, and was basically the only 'black' face at the country club, that was amusing in itself. But we had great fun, despite me almost killing a 70 year old man with a drive that landed on the wrong fairway - which luckily grazed this man's shoulder and not head. We played with another member who my buddy did not know. He explained that the golf club was one of the oldest in Cape Town and that the owner, who was once a famous SA businessman had opened the club up to Blacks and Jews years ago when that sort of thing was unpopular. My buddy and I, a Black and a Jew, immediately laughed and upped our game from there.
The next couple of days were a littler quiet with my buddy having to go out of town last minute for work. So I assumed the 'father' responsibilities with the kids, although I didnt get the benefit of sharing the bedroom with his wife :-(
After a couple of days of fun and GREAT food, I made my way to Joburg.
Its important to point out that most of the new infrastructure built for the World Cup was not completed before I left SA last October. So even the airports were a treat for me. Cape Town airport is amazing and new and Joburg was the same way. I arrived Joburg and collected a rental car, disappointed that I was not taking the new Gautrain - which is this high-speed train that goes from the airport to Sandton, the main suburb of Joburg. The Gautrain had literally started operating that day, 8 June and has received amazing reviews. The only problem with it is that there are no signs in the brand new Joburg airport that show you were to go for the Gautrain. But of all things that could go wrong I guess this was a little one.
So anyway, I hopped in my little Kia, made sure I had some South African Rand ready to bribe a police officer if pulled over and headed to my good friends house (will call them the Smiths). The highways had all recently been refurbished and were lined with flags of all the countries competing in the World Cup. More striking that this however, were the SA rainbow flags that seemed to be on every car. Blacks, Whites, etc were all showing their patriotism with great pride. I'm not South African, but having lived there for a little bit and having read enough about apartheid and understanding the divide that still exists - this was really remarkable and emotional. More on this later.
So I got to my friends house (made up of a father, mother, son and daughter) and had dinner. It felt like old times. The father and mother are both US diplomats and the kids are 17 and 20. The son, who is the 17 year old, is sort of like a little brother and the family overall formed a surrogate family for me while living in South Africa. Nothing compares to seeing mom, dad and Margaux ofcourse!!!
We started slow, but the next few days were to get better and better.
Wednesday was a pretty quiet day filled with a lunch, some errands and just hanging out with friends and then dinner. The only thing not quiet about Wednesday was the parade for the SA soccer team that took place in Sandton. Thousands of people poured into the streets to see 'Bafana Bafana' (the SA team) roll through in an open top bus. What struck me most about this was seeing all of these white people (young and old) wearing the yellow/green national team jersey. Some of you will know this, but soccer is not a sport of the whites in South Africa. Traditionally, only Rugby and Cricket are played and supported by whites, while football is the sport of the blacks. Thus, seeing all of these white people wearing the jersey, knowing that none of them had probably ever been to a soccer match, was incredible. Perhaps not as significant as when Mandela wore the SA Rugby shirt in 1994, but still an important sign and step in the reconciliation and evolution of modern day South Africa.
Thursday kicked things up a notch. Thursday started with attending a launch of 'Pele Sport' which is a new clothing line being launched by guess who - yes you guessed it - Pele! Got to see the guy in action showing some moves with a few kids and then shook his hand as he went from a dirt soccer pitch to a tent for a proper press conference. He's a really sweet man and carries a great smile at all times. It was amazing seeing him with kidz who despite their youth were naturally aware of who and how great Pele was.
Following this I had lunch with my old team from Citi and then onto a few drinks with a good friend. Then onto dinner back at the Smiths house to enjoy homemade pizza and to watch the World Cup Opening Concert. The best part of the evening was watching Mr. Smith watch Shakira dance and sing. He had never seen or heard of her before and was completely mesmorised!
Friday morning kicked off with some bad news as Mandela's great grandaughter died in a car accident on her way back from the World Cup Opening Concert.
But, beyond this, it turned out to be a really wonderful day!
We started off at about 9am at US Consulate in Joburg (in Sandton to be precise). There, the US Vice President, Joe Biden, gave a fantastic little speech to about 75-100 of us. Then he decided to walk through the crowd and greet everyone personally. Everybody had a name tag on, so he would approach and greet you by your first name. When he got to me, it was "So Ari, whats your deal buddy?" We spoke briefly and then he was on to the next person. Regardless of your political views, I must say, the Veep was impressive and personable. He got right in your space and made you feel (if only for 10 seconds) that he care about you. Yes, this is the make of all good politicians, but whats more important to note is that this little impromptu meet and great was not planned. He just decided spur of the moment - I'm gonna meet these people and not just disappear for the opening match.
Shortly thereafter, I headed off for Soccer City with the Smiths. Soccer City is the new stadium built for the cup. It will host the final match and is the largest soccer stadium in the African continent, capable of housing 94,000 fans. Really impressive structure and great views from everywhere! The situation in the stadium was amazing. The opening match was South Africa vs Mexico. No 'Ole Ole' chants broke out as the vuvuzelas blown by the South African fans drowned out all noise. But there was harmony between all of the fans and no fights broke out after either goal was scored. The game was pretty exciting but ended in a 1-1 draw. The best part about the match however, came in the second half when I watched a South African boy teach a Mexican man how to blow the vuvuzela. A lovely site and what the World Cup is supposed to be all about!
After the game, we headed back to the Smiths house to clean up and change as we had a party to attend! The party was hosted by one of the 'it' couples in South Africa. The husband, a billionaire and generally considered the wealthiest man or at least the wealthiest black man in South Africa and his wife, a former doctor turned fashion icon. Over the course of the evening I met several celebs, greeted the Prince of Monaco and had a rather enjoyable conversation with a beautiful tall woman. After answering her questions about what I do, I politely asked her what she did in South Africa. She responded "I'm Miss South Africa" My jaw dropped even further than it already was...The party was great fun and after several chats with a varity of people, we headed home at 2am exhausted sans Miss South Africa unfortunately....
Saturday was a real nice day as well. Had my first hamburger in months, courtesy of the good people at McDonalds. More importantly, we had tix for the Eng v USA match in Rustenburg. Rustenberg sits about 70-80km or so from Joburg and is ruled by a tribe that's become quite rich due to the large deposit of platinum that was discovered to be running through the town. After a warm sunny day for the opening match, the Eng v USA match was played at night under much cooler conditions. And more importantly it included English fans which were sure to make things more interesting.
When we got in the stadium, it was clear that English fans outnumbered USA fans by at least 3-1, but by possibly as much as 4 or 5-1. The English flags and fans were everywhere and anywhere, especially in the large and disorganized lines for beer. But despite all of this and the concern of violence or hooliganism, things were pretty safe, fun and comfortable. Only three fights broke out around us. In one of them, two men started pushing each other until one of the dude's girlfriends took her vuvuzela (the horn) and started smacking it over the other guy's head. To be honest - I wasnt bothered by this at all, as at least it was one less person blowing a horn... The Smiths had not been around English football fans before, so for them it was quite an experience. They could not get over how a middle aged man with his 10 year old daughter sat next to him, could scream 'you fucking cunt' or 'you fucking twat' so many times during the game. Exciting game, and the US were a bit lucky - but hey we'll take a 1-1 draw.
We headed home, I made another McDonalds run and passed out.
Had brunch the next day with Smiths and some friends and then flew out in the evening.
It was a GREAT trip. Unfortunately, my bag was lost by British Airways and I'm still without many of my clothes, birthday gifts and World Cup mementos. I think the staff purposely lost my bag after discovering I was American. But then again we Americans do love a good conspiracy theory.
A
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