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Published: July 19th 2010
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Ready for the game
Me and Daddy, Brasil V Ivory Coast After an overnight flight from Cairo, we arrived to the country where we would spend the next 3 weeks - South Africa, my 30th country. My dad had hyped up the World Cup for almost a year, so it was great to finally arrive. I was supporting 3 teams....USA for my daddy, Brasil for my mommy, and Italy, because that is where I was born. Besides soccer, we were going to see lots of wildlife as well, so I was really excited.
After picking up the tickets to our 5 matches at the airport, daddy picked up our rental car. It was kinda strange as he was driving on the opposite side of the car. We stayed at the Purple Palms hostel in Kempton Park, outside of Johannesburg, which was really close to the airport. I liked this place a lot....it had a really cool outside area with a pool, a big kitchen, and most importantly, lots of cool travellers for me to hang out with....I made lots of friend.
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The day after we arrived was time for our first game....USA V SLovenia. We got all dressed up, including daddy's crazy pants and
Me and Zakumi
Soccer City, Brasil V Ivory Coast hat, put on our tatoos, grabbed our flag and we were ready. It was a lot colder than daddy had thought it would be as it was winter time in South Africa, so we put on lots of layers of clothes. Daddy actually had to buy me more clothes to keep me warm. It was a little crazy getting to the game (took a few hours with local transportation, which daddy promised he would drive from now on), but we arrived over an hour earlier. I had fun getting on stage and dancing to K'naans "wave your flag" song. I know most of the words by heart, and had a blast, sometimes on daddy's shoulders other times on my own. I would even go up on stage by myself and start waving a flag and singing. I also loved the World Cup's mascot, Zakumi.
Besides "waving my flag" I especially liked the Vuvuzelas. They were sold out of them when we arrived, but some locals gave us theirs and I struggled with it on the first few times, but I quickly became and expert....so good, that I became better than many SOuth Africans. Daddy bought me ear phones for
the game as it could get very loud..I didnt care though, because it was so much fun. Despite all the excitement and noise, I fell asleep before halftime. Daddy told me it was an incredible game as we were losing 2-0 and then came back to tie it 2-2. We should have actually won the game, but our 3rd goal was ruled off sides thought it was clearly not (see attached video)
The following day we just relaxed, watched matches on TV, and hung out with other travelers. But the next day was our second match, Brasil v Ivory Coast. THis time, daddy drove to the game with a couple from the hostel. JP was from Brasil and his girlfriend, Tracey, was from Ireland. They were both very nice. We got all dressed up once again, but this time in Brasil's green, yellow and blue. We got to the game at Soccer City 4 hours prior to the match. I thought the stadium looked like a bagel. We watched a little of the Italy v. New Zealand game, and even brought an Italian flag. Once again, they did not play well, and only tied.
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In the 4 hours in the stadium before the game started, I had sooooo much fun. From dancing to Wave Your Flag and Waka Waka, to face painting, eating, and playing the Vuvuzela, I had a blast. So many people asked to take my picture or video tape me and I gladly posed for them. Daddy also met up with some brasilians he had met at the World Cup in South Korea in 2002. They had crazy instruments and played great music. Our seats to this game were awesome...we sat second row just about mid field. We were eye level with the players. I got to see my favorite, Kaka', pretty up close. However, he got in trouble in the game and was kicked out. Brasil played well and won 3-1.
The following day it was time to leave early for Kruger National Park to see some wilidlife....I was very excited!
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denidax
Deni, Dax and Ella
This photo is brilliant, you guys looks very cute together!