World Cup Fever

Being a foreigner to any country and I think more so in America, you generally get asked random questions apon sharing the information of your home country. For me, the question has recently changed from, "what are you doing in America?" to "Are you excited about the World Cup?"

Now I've been a little unsure of how to answer this - well no, not really because I'm not there. Or No, not really, I know how chaos its going to be. Or no, not really I don't think the country can support the influx of people.

But as it draws closer to kick off, I find myself a little jealous that i'm not going to be in the glorious city of Cape Town to join in the festivities. This is a once in a lifetime chance for South Africa and I really do hope that we can pull it off and in a small way I wish I could be there to witness it.

But now, even as my excitement builds from far away, I find myself slightly concerned, especially when I open the newspaper in Washington DC and see reports of stampedes at stadiums because of people trying to get free tickets. I mean what is that about? That's just a little embarrassing, Come on people, the cup has not even started yet and there are already incidents like this going on? All I can say is that it doesn't make me optimistic.

And while I'm on the subject I simply have to bring up the vuvuzela. Now for those who have not been tormented by the sound of these in the recent past, this is an "instrument" which has become a fan favorite at any SA soccer match.

Really it is a plastic tube about 1 meter long which when blown sounds more like a fog horn or an impaled elephant calling for help.

Needless to say that there has been much controversy about this "instrument of torture" and whether it should be allowed in the stadiums during cup games. Bafana Bafana are of course used to the racket and fully support them being used but the lesser accustomed teams have said that it can be a distraction. Experts have also advised that it poses a potentail risk to damage peoples hearing...

As a Cape Townian, I have hated this thing for a very long time but still the sound of it haunts me. Again, I open a Washington DC newspaper and read reports about this blasted instrument being kept in the game.

All in all I do wish I could be there, if not to just bitch and complain about the tourists with my people. I also wish everyone well and hope that we can prove all the sceptics (including myself) wrong.

But most of all, when it's all over with I hope that we can maintain whatever momentum was gathered by the cup. I hope that not too many people loose their jobs ad that this world cup can bring about some changes and promising things for our beautiful country.

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