Close Encounters of the WORLD CUP Kind

Jess writes:

Last week was “World Cup Week” for me and Adam – with tickets to two matches in Nelspruit and plans to meet up with plenty of other PCVs for “Ayoba” madness!! And what an awesome week it was!! Ayoba!

Adam and I spent Monday and Tuesday packing, finalizing accommodation plans, and catching up on the latest scores so that we would be prepared for the final Group Round match-ups (we’ve continued to enjoy our matches on our hand-crank and solar-powered travel radio – what a little savior!!). On Wednesday, we left early for Nelspruit and met up with two SA19s (Nicole & Dave) at the taxi rank. With tent in hand, we headed to Funky Monkey Backpackers to set up camp – quite literally! Funky Monkey is a great backpacker on the outskirts of town, with the perfect backpacker vibe – flags hanging from every post, trinkets and knick-knacks in the every corner, and of course, a common-area with plenty of bean bags, overstuffed sofas, hostel bar, big screen and pool table. Also, with Nelspruit’s central location and it’s back-to-back games in town, every backpacker was crawling with fellow Americans, Aussies, and Brits, as well as a smattering of visitors from other Western European, African, and South American locations! What a great place to spend a few days enjoying everything World Cup!!

Wednesday night was Match #40 in Nelspruit – Australia v. Serbia – at 8:30p. But before the game, both the U.S. and England had uber-important matches in the 4:00p slots, so we headed to a local watching (and drinking!) venue, called O’Hagans Pub. We were met there by several other SA18s, 19s, and 20s, as well as hundreds of Americans and Aussies, all eager to see the final Group C scores before the Nelspruit game that night. While we all cheered loudly for the U.S., the Aussies enjoyed cheering boisterously for just about anyone else (including England), just to cause a ruckus – so, needless to say, songs, chants, and game-related and non-game-related bantering ensued… creating the perfect football-watching atmosphere!! (Crazy Aussies!) Luckily, England only won by two goals and the U.S. won by one, so before even seeing our own match that evening, we were able to celebrate wildly with the U.S. landing first place in their group!!! What a great start to the night!!!

Soon after the U.S. & England games, we were headed to the Nelspruit stadium. The Mbombela Stadium, built specifically for the 2010 World Cup, oozes with a Kruger Park theme. Riding up to the stadium, especially at night when it’s awash in flood lights, you can see the structural pillars of the stadium that are shaped like giraffes – with triangular tops for heads, and four separate structure beams below for legs – so great!! If you get there early enough, before the throngs of people arrive, you also get to see the awesomeness that is the actual seating, with seats painted black, white, and gray in purposeful stripes to look like a massive zebra skin around the whole field! Best of all, it’s a small enough stadium that there isn’t a bad seat in the house – so even the category four seats (in the upper levels), where we were seated, still offer great viewing!!

As soon as the Australian and Serbian national anthems had been sung, the vuvuzellas began buzzing and the game began!! Without much coaxing, the Aussie fans were wild within minutes, with two goals being scored by the Australian team in the first half. (As a side note: at halftime, Adam and I met a Serbian-South African Harley rider & tattoo artist that lives in Jo’burg and we now have contact info in case we get a chance to rent a motorcycle while serving here or need any ink before departing… how random… Ha ha!) The second half created quite a stir, with Serbia scoring a great goal, and then making an incredible, albeit offsides, attempt at a second… almost equalizing the game!! Regardless of their amazing final-minute efforts, Serbia did eventually concede to Australia, 2:1.

After the game, we got to experience the surprisingly organized manner in which Nelspruit handles its post-match transportation, with free busses, shuttles, and coombies that manage to get all the spectators to their respective corners of town in a matter of hours! Truly incredible!! Is it possible that this level of organization might actually endure after the World Cup ends?!?! …Well, one can hope!

We returned to the backpacker and enjoyed some post-game drinks with the victorious Aussies before we crammed our four bodies into the “3 to 4 Person” tent for the night. Even with all the body heat, it was a chilly… chilly… night!!!

Thursday morning came with sunshine and, after laying out long enough in that sunshine, we were able to thaw our bodies from the previous night’s sleep. After breakfast (and defrosting) Adam and I spent most of Thursday walking around Nelspruit, taking in some local sites: gawking at the enormous houses on the southside of town, meandering the streets downtown, grabbing lunch at the ever-popular Keg n’ Jock, and hitting the gigantic Riverside Mall for a matinee movie and window-shopping!! Of course, we made it back to Funky’s in time for our free dinner (ox tail, veggies, and pap – surprisingly tasty!!) and for viewing of the 8:30p matches. Before calling it a night, we “borrowed” seat cushions from the common area and lined the bottom of our tent, making for a much, MUCH cozier night outside!! Ahhhh!

Friday morning brought with it several of our own SA21s, for Match #46 at the Nelspruit stadium – Ivory Coast v. North Korea – at 4:00p. After grabbing a quick lunch, our growing group of now nine PCVs, made its way to the stadium to enjoy some pre-game happenings – on stages around the stadium there were singers and dancers, choreographing the crowd to the official 2010 World Cup theme song (“When I get older, I will be stronger…”) and Shakira’s butt-shaking, unofficial, World Cup anthem (“Waka, waka, hey, hey, it’s time for Africa!”). After we had our fill of dancing and mingling, we made our way to our seats – this time in the lower section, right on the corner… up close and personal!!

As you might have watched, Ivory Coast crushed North Korea, with a final score of 3:0 (YAY!!). Almost as entertaining as the action-packed game, were the Ivorian fans – hundreds of them, dressed from head to toe in orange, banging drums and dancing in sync with one another in the upper tiers – awesome!! But best of all was our front-row seats to see Didier Drogba (considered to be “Africa’s best footballer”) do some unbelievable footwork in the first half – wriggling away from two North Korean defenders in the corner and helping to score two goals in the first half!! Sadly, I never did get to poke "a real North Korean" as I had so desperately hoped... but, all in all, it was a great match, from start to finish!! :-)

Before heading back to Funky’s, we took advantage of Nelspruit’s celebration of its last World Cup match, and headed to “Fan Mile”, a city-sponsored block party with DJ’s, dancing, and plenty of food and drink! While our pizzas and beer were mighty tasty, the most enjoyable part of the evening was seeing so many South Africans, side by side with the thousands of foreign visitors, enjoying World Cup fever together!! It was a pretty awesome end to our World Cup Week!

Whew! We’re back to Huntington now… but no worries, we’re making plans for some upcoming trips to see other PCVs, catch the last remaining World Cup games, and experience some more Ayoba madness before World Cup 2010 comes to a close! So keep in touch and, as always, we’ll keep you posted!! Ayoba!!