The Farm, the Road, the Radio and the Friendly

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Irene Country Lodge

After a few days in South Africa, I now know what it's like to be an exchange student in the U.S. With limited public transportation options, the suburbs become a sort of prison in spite of the comforts they offer. Fortunately for me, my hosts and I have been able to arrange trips and rides to the Irene Country Lodge where the U.S. team is staying. Now a rustic resort, the farmstead provides a relaxing atmosphere for the Americans as they amusingly watch scrawny chickens scurry past, and all the while ponder how they are going to shut down England's Wayne Rooney. There's also a functioning dairy farm, a shop with specialty goods, and a grill that sells greasy but good sandwiches with names like 'The Kerouac' and 'Mr. Jones' for less than 40 Rand (4€).

Oddly enough, this is the first establishment on this planet I have encountered... that does not accept cash. Rampant counterfeiting of the 200 Rand notes has basically rendered them obsolete. I suppose the farm just gave up on the concept of paper currency... a sign of things to come?

For the Australia friendly on Saturday, I managed to rent a car from for two days at a reasonable price (600 Rand, $80). Could have been cheaper but they wanted a 10,000 Rand deposit (!!! you do the math).
I was given a sporty Chevy which I carefully drove like a granny on the left side of the road onto the main motorway. I adjusted surprisingly quickly to driving on the left side and shifting gears with my left hand as well to the point where I could fiddle with the radio dial and explore the FM.

Only a fifth of the stations are in English, with mostly news, talk, sport and some mainstream pop. The Afrikaans stations seem to focus on Dutch pop music that has a hint of the Bavarian oom-pah 'Schlager' music. The rest are in one of the nine official African languages, the difference between I have yet to distinguish, I have to admit. Basically there are the clicking ones (Zulu, Xhosa) and the others including the Nguni languages of Ndebele, Swati or Swazi; N. Sotho, Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga and Venda. I found myself back and forth between the contemporary African language music on 99.7 or the traditional chants on 100.1. Of course, while surfing the dial, Istopped on REM's “The One I Love” as well. Here's a site with a few SA stations.
http://www.surfmusic.de/country/south+africa.html
http://www.southafrica.info/abroad/streamingradio.htm

Listen to Radio 2000 for live game commentary (which is not interesting for it's description of play, but just to hear the voices of South Africa.)
http://www.radio2000.co.za

The U.S. friendly with Australia was held in modest Ruimsig stadium with not more than 10,000 seats. In fact, the stands were all on one side of the field and looked out across the field at semi-developed suburban land. Tickets for the public were all hard to come by because they had been distributed for free to schoolkids. The idea was a good one because each one came out in their colors and with their vuvuzela horns. Also, it was a great opportunity for kids of poor backgrounds to get a chance to watch the World Cup participants.

Such 'free' public events are required, but not organized, by FIFA. So typical. The following day a friendly organized by the Nigerians turned sour when too many (mostly Nigerian) members of the general public showed up for free entrance to a friendly against North Korea, resulting in a stampede that injured more than a few.

That same day (Sun. 6th), I returned to Pretoria to attend the U.S. open training at Pilditch Stadium on the eastern poorer side of the city. Mainly attended by another large contingent of school children all wearing red shirts, attendees also included the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa and Olympic Gold Medalist ('76, '84) Edwin Moses. While the players went through various training exercises (including basketball), the kids blew their vuvuzelas as loud as possible and chanted rehearsed lines to the enjoyment of all. After training, the players greeted the kids, signed autographs and posed for snapshots. The kids surfaced from the sea of red with black scribbles on their shirts, white smiles across their faces, and for one boy a cleted shoe to put on the mantle.

A similar scene took place the day after and a few kilometers further west, into the 'temporary settlement' of Atteridgeville, which used to be a downright dangerous slum. The Germans had just arrived that Monday morning and had their own practice session the same evening before school children from the local Deutsche Schule. Although the players were less interactive with the public, the crowd was fully decked out in black, red, and yellow and boisterous in their support of their team even if they admittedly didn't know many of the players. Without the staple word of 'Ballack' to belt out, the local Germans switched to Schweinsteiger, (one kept calling him Schwannsteiger), or the endearing 'Schweini' (which sounds nice only in German).

Speaking of which, my experience so far has been a decidedly German one, given the fact that host families and friends are all descendants from Germany and intent upon preserving their language and culture. As with all things South African, the culture closely resembles that of their English, Dutch and German ancestors, but also resonates with many elements of American culture. To finish this blog entry, I'll leave you with a still-growing list of comparisons.

Way in Which South Africans resemble Europeans
-the quality of food in general. Not only large cuts of meat, but excellent sausages as well.
-they drive fuel-efficient mid-to-small size cars
-their tastes in beer, namely Windhoek.
-their efforts to preserve their traditions, culture and language

Ways in which South Africans resemble Americans
-they have a passion for grilling (braai) that surpasses Americans
-they eat peanut butter, as already mentioned. So refined!
-their public transportation system that makes even the U.S. proud
-their tastes in beer, namely Castle Lager
-It's nice to meet Germans who are not 'Putzteufels'. For example, you don't have to take your shoes off when you go into someone's house (what a relief!!)
-a general 'whatever-works' approach to things, not one, time-tested way of going about things
-a weekend trip to Durban that involves a six-hour drive is normal.

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