So I’m chilling at my apartment here with Hillar and we’re getting amped for Celtics-Lakers, which will start at 3am here, while watching France v. Mexico. Actually Hillars asleep, but we’ll get to that later. The plan is to go the Grand West Casino with two of my other roommates from the Boston area, Mike and Keenan – our cab arrives at 2:15am. The casino is the only place we could find that’s going to be playing the game live that late and I really wish I could rock my Rondo jersey but I forgot to bring it which sucks. Fortunately, I got off from work tomorrow as my boss Dr. Laughton is awesome and I cannot wait for Donkey and Shrek (Nate Robinson and Big Baby) to win us the finals.
Hillar’s actually passed out next to me, still feeling the effects of jet lag and being a little crybaby so I thought this would be a good time to quickly update you guys on what I’ve been up to. Nothing really noteworthy happened on Monday, and on Tuesday a group of us went to a club called Chrome off of Long Street. It was a decent spot, but not worth the 60 rand cover. 60 rand converts to about 8 dollars ($1 equals around 7-7.5 SA Rand), but once you live in Cape Town for a little – that sounds like a ridiculous amount of money for anything. Dinner costs around 50 rand an entrée and drinks are less than 20 rand, which is awesome but it does add up quickly especially cause the money here looks like it was made for monopoly. I don’t understand why all money can’t look like American bills; its just so much more official.
After living here you also learn to argue about prices and try to drive down costs of things such as cab rides and things you’re trying to buy off the street. So far, I’ve been dominating this aspect of living here (probably my Indian roots) as I’ve learned to not get ripped off by the people here. A prime example is when I tried to buy a USA scarf off a guy who had a tent set up and he told me it would cost me 80 rand. I immediately offered him 20 rand to which he told me 70, and then when I walked away he started shouting at me and said 50. I came back and told him 30 was my final offer or I’d go to the guy down the street...finally he said 40 which I agreed to. If only everything worked this way and you could get 50% off everything, I might actually be a millionaire.
Yesterday, Hillar got in and I woke up to him telling me he had arrived in Cape Town and was wandering the streets here...Once he came to my apartment, we went and got all of our tickets to the World Cup games we’re going to. It was a really weird experience going to the ticket kiosk and just putting in my credit card, and the machine spitting out all our tickets. I was afraid to get mugged with our tickets so I immediately snuck the envelope into my jacket and we got back to our apartment as quickly as possible so I could stash them away. I’m just kidding...this place really isn’t as scary as people make it out to be – in fact Cape Town feels very European at the moment, maybe its just all the tourists. I’m interested to see what this place is really like once the World Cup is over, but so far I think South Africa has been a great host for the games.
We ended up going to the Waterfront and watching the second South African game at this outdoor beer garden at Ferryman’s Tavern that was absolutely packed. Eventually we made our way to Long Street (again...) and when the SA keeper got that red card, you could just feel the collective hearts of all South Africans drop as they were pretty much stunned. It’s looking like South Africa will become the first host to not advance past the first round and I feel quite bad for the people here as it would have been a great story for them to go through. Either way the people were still dancing and partying it up after, but we decided to call it an early night. As for the rest of the World Cup, I picked Argentina to win the entire thing and honestly they're looking pretty solid. Like an idiot, I wore my David Villa Spain jersey yesterday and then had to cover it up after that embarrassing loss to Switzerland - I should have realized as Spain just sucks when it comes to the World Cup - even though they are by far and away the most talented team.
Anyways, that’s what’s been going on as of late. In the meantime I suggest you look up the following South African hymn – “Shosholoza”, which is one of the main folk songs that people start singing here before the games. It gets me really pumped and it’s awesome to hear someone start singing it and then everyone joining in. I’m hoping we can stay up for this game tonight, and I’m positive we’re gonna crush those purple and gold pansies but if we don’t...I’ll probably be pretty pissed off at 6am.
Either way, USA plays Slovenia tomorrow and I’m gonna be decked out in all USA gear for sure. People here actually seem to like the USA the more I’ve noticed so that’s starting to help – it’s a bit unlike Europe where if you mention USA everyone hates you. Hillar and I head to our first soccer match tomorrow night at Green Point Stadium here in Cape Town to see England vs. Algeria as well, should be great as I get to see my boy Rooney tear shit up.
In the meantime, AYOBA ONE MORE TIME!!!
-PD
ps. I have a ton of pics/vids that I wish would upload, but for some reason it never seems to work. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out soon though so people can really get a feel for what the scene is like here and I'll update my posts. If only I could have American speed internet for like one hour..
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