USA - England Pictures

What a great game! We tied the Englanders (I guess it's not Brits, but from now on, I will refer to them as the Brits) and we have a really strong chance of winning our group. If we do, watch out for us! Pictures of the event follow. There's quite a few. I won't comment on all, but I will give some flavor to them.


Here we are waiting for our bus to take us to the game. The guys, not sure who they were but the girl on the left is Molly. She helped me getting the ticket for the game. Thanks Molly!

And here are the England fans. Don't they look happy beforehand?
These guys were from England on our bus. They started drinking (like the rest of the Brits) just as soon as we left.
And this is Amy. Teresa's is turned around so all you see is her hair.
And this is Teresa. Hello!
We're ready to go to the game!
This is the Magaliesburg Mountain range. That's Magaliesburg (prounounced Ma-ha-lee-s-burg).
Sunset on the African plains.


I told you the Brits started drinking after we left. We had to take a bathroom break for them. So all the Brits went to piss on the other side of a hill. All the American fans stayed on and took pictures.


Lots of Brits. Go USA!!!
Leading up to the stadium.


And here's the inside of the stadium.


Some of the many fans that were at the game. This was a small stadium - 38,000 people could fit inside.

More fans. Notice all the England flags!

Just about to start.


During My Country Tis of Thee. Oh sorry God Save the Queen. I read reports that the Brits sang their national anthem stronger than the Americans. That's not true - the Brits sang their version, the Americans sang My Country Tis of Thee even louder - so the whole stadium was singing during that song. The Brits - they don't know our song, so that's why it wasn't loud. Also? More Brits in the stands than Americans.



And this is during our National Anthem.



That was after England's goal, 4 minutes into the game.















Ok hope you enjoyed the pics!!!! More coming for Slovenia vs. USA!

My Open Letter to South Africa

Hi there, Thanks for having me. It's been wonderful so far, but apparently I haven't been harsh enough on you. Maybe because your people are fabulous and your wine is divine. Or maybe because it really does remind me of California. But I've been told to be blunt with you, so here goes:

1. Your crime isn't that bad. Oh sure it might be bad to a wussy Canuck or Brit. Maybe I caught you at a good time. Maybe I'll see what happens after the World Cup. But I went through your "seedy" Yeoville district. Must I remind you of North Richmond again? I can get a hooker and crack combo for 5 rand (12 cents) there!!! Your Yeoville reminds me of Fruitvale back in Oakland. I don't know if it's this "tough guy" act you're trying to impose, but stop. Really. I've seen much, much worse. And take down the electric fences and barbed wire. You have a beautiful city and that stuff is tacky.

2. Dude, emissions. Look into it. We might not be the shining pillar of environmentalism, but holy hell, you have to come into the 19th century at least when it comes to that. I keep my car on recycled air because I can't take being stuck behind one of your trucks belching out black, BLACK smoke in front of my P.O.S. car. And while we're on vehicles, I highly recommend you drop the Renault. We in the modern world have already done so.

3. Share the wine. Seriously, you have good stuff. Just drop that pinotage shit. What is that? Why did you invent that? That is nasty, nasty stuff. Look into zinfandels instead. Just bring the rest of it please. Look Argentina gave us malbec, which is mighty tasty. You should think about opening up to the rest of the world.

4. Create a decent radio station. Look, I know you all listen to the radio. I really do. We do too, we just don't like to admit it. But for the love of god, I'm sick of listening to Adam Lambert. There's only so much Nickelback I can take (I lost a bit of respect for you when you said Nickelback was cool). I know my taste in music might be strange to some, but at least we have variety. And no, playing Sting does not count for variety.

5. Come into the 21st century in terms of technology. I know you have grand plans - I've heard them. Come to it faster. You know how seriously cool you would be if you were the next generation of technology? You know you already have products here that we haven't seen in the Western World? Instead of talking about how large banks must be in Nigeria, we'd be talking about setting up the next Silicon Valley!

6. Come up to speed with your traffic reports. I watch the Morning Show on SABC2 every morning and I used to get a kick out of your traffic report. Now, it's just pathetic. Here you have a guy that loves to hear himself talk ramble on and on for 5 minutes and you're posting random traffic pictures. Sometimes it isn't even of traffic, it's of buildings!!!!! Look - if I'm hearing about traffic problems, I either want a skycopter hovering over the situation or I want a map of the area that I should avoid. I don't need stock footage of a police car on the median of the road. How hard is that?! Look at this. I use this constantly back home. It can't be that hard to bring it to SA.

6a. While we're on the subject of Morning Live (apparently, my favorite SABC2 show), get a better producer. I can tell your on-air talent is sick of the mistakes that happen. I learned this in school, it's easy to get over the gaffes you have.

7. Grow a set of balls. Again, going back to point 1. Maybe you're overcompensating for your supposed "crime". You are too generous of a country. Trust me, you don't want to wind up like the French and surrender yourself. Do not come down from the energy you've created for this World Cup. I hope that the rest of the world sees this place for what it is and will invest time, money and resources into you to develop you into your full potential. You really do deserve it.

Sincerely,
Derrik

Cheese Farm Time!

Woo woo, I went to a cheese farm over the weekend (thanks, Annie!) I have to say that it is the closest it has felt like California. Wait till you see the pics. Oh yes, I have better pics this time, thank you very much!

Really, this whole place boils down to one big California. Except you don't have the fake people of L.A. (haha, Angelites, who none of you are. Except AJ. So I can say, suck it!) But really, where I'm staying at reminds me of the Grand Lake area of Oakland, Hillbrow reminds me of Fruitvale, and Ormonde reminds me of Santa Clara + San Jose landfill. So Milpitas :)

The cheese farm was about an hour and a half away and it was just breathtaking. You come down this road and all of a sudden you see the Magaliesburg (Ma-ha-lees-berg) Mountain range and in front, a lake (they call it a dam, but if they wiki it up, they'll find that a damn is actually a structure built to hold back the water. The water behind it is either a reservoir or a lake. Just FYI, you Afrikaans! :) )

Hey, I'm heading to Rustenburg for the weekend. Why, you might ask? England - USA baby. That's right, I will be taking pictures and blogging after the game. Go USA!

PS, The previous contest is still running. Don't make me threaten another vuvuzela on you.

Ok picture time!!!!

Here's the cheese farm. See? Much better pics this week, now that I'm not 100 feet into the ground. A little disappointed that the place wasn't made of cheese. But I digress. . .


And this is the view looking out from the cheese farm. Now without the vineyards, can't you imagine yourself in Sonoma County?


Getting the boring non-people pictures out of the way first.


Ahhh here we are. These are Annie's friends. Oh, Annie is a coworker of mine. A very wonderful girl who's extremely smart and funny (Annie you can pay me the 100 rand tomorrow). This is Tonya and Nasreen (and I know I'm going to have to edit this).


This is Annie. She's showing off her NEW TATTOO!!! I feel like I should be on The Price is Right every time I say NEW TATTOO! COME ON DOWN!!!!! Yay, it's a snowmobile! Just what I needed for my cottage at Lake Havasu City.


Yep, here I am, enjoying the sunshine.


So they had quite a few lazy goats on the farm. I'm guessing they milk these goats to make the cheese. The cheese, by the way, was scrumptious.


So the goat finally decided to get up, but only after some girl started feeding it lettuce. God, that reminds me of Will. Lazy until you have food. Then all bets are off.


And here are the pigs. Not quite sure what they do with them. None of their food items had bacon on it. Mmmmmm, bacon.


Here I am chasing after a cock.


And here's this kid of the farm that Annie told me to take a picture of. I think it's because of his South African face paintings. I still cannot understate this enough. This is one crazy patriotic nation right now.

So that's it from this weekend. Enjoy the week and I'll be back with you later if anything exciting happens.

Jozi Week 3 - Part A

For some reason my computer has decided to crap out on me tonight. The pictures were coming SLLLLLLOOOOOW, so it gave me time to reflect on questions I have pre-World Cup vs. post-World Cup. More of a serious post, so if you're wanting something funny then I suggest you watch this instead. This post will be updated a few weeks after the World Cup (duh.)

1. Police seems to be at an all-time high. Is this because the volume of tourists that will be here in the next few weeks?

2. The support for South Africa - also at an all-time high? Again, because they believe Bafana Bafana will do well? What if the soccer team goes 0-3 in the first round (sorry coworkers)?

3. There seems to be something hollow here. Construction projects are not completed in time for the World Cup. Many residencies and hotels have vacancies (such as mine, I've been the only person here for the last couple of weeks and it's weird). Will this signal the start of a recession in SA?

4. I guess this leads to a larger question. What happens after the World Cup? Everything is so hyped up about it. I cannot stress this enough: EVERYTHING is World Cup related here. Advertisements, billboards, television stations, people, stores, EVERYTHING is World Cup. What happens to life afterwards?

5. Will the government keep the riches of the World Cup to themselves, or will they distribute across the nation. Right now the unemployment rate here is 25% officially (26% unofficially). Will this rise or fall?

6. How will the world view this country afterwards? They have played host to the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and the Confederations Cup last year. But let's be honest - most people's impression of South Africa (and Johannesburg in particular) comes from District 9. Will Cape Town become the next Silicon Valley? Will people view South Africa as a vacation destination (which is what the government is hoping for)?

7. Why is my computer running so slow? Seriously - I've checked for viruses, got rid of unneeded space and it's still agonizingly slow? Ok, I'll figure out that one.

Jozi - Week 3 (Part B) but was really Part A when I wrote it

Oh hi! How's it? You missed me, didn't you? Come on, you can admit it. I won't tell.

So some housekeeping to start off with:

1. Yes, I'm lazy. I didn't do my text-only post for the week. But rest assured, I will do it at some point and it will probably be a sappy posting on what life lessons I have learned so far. Trust me, there are some you will miss. Starting with, and I cannot stress this enough, just chill. If you're mad busy all the time and working your ass off, you're going to miss life. And life is a beautiful thing and should be cherished. Just relax. I know it's easier said than done, but you will be much better off in the long run.

2. I'm busted!!!! People at work now know about this blog. I wasn't necessarily trying to keep it secret, but to my coworkers, I'll leave it at no-holds barred. Just be prepared. But to all of them, I say, "Hallo! Wie geht's?"

3. Speaking of Afrikaans, the direction labels are "Nord" for north, "Wes" for west, "Suid" for south, and "oos" for East. Except it's not "oos" as in ooze but more like "ees" as in vest. And definitely do not put a "p" before the "oos". I learned the hard way that that is an Afrikaans curse word.

4. The winner of the MSPaint/Photoshop challenge is. . .(drum roll). . .Matt, because he was the only entrant. So congrats, Matt, you win the grand prize!! Since it was on the wooden giraffe level of an entry, but you were the only entrant, I've decided to beef up the prize a little bit. So congrats! You win a vuvuzela! And yes, I noticed the link url.

5. Going back to Afrikaans - I have discovered the absolute worst show. It's called 7 de Laan and it is a horrific soap opera. Really dull. I watch it while I work out, but I know it's in Afrikaans because a) I had the unfortunate time of watching it once and b) my coworkers who speak Afrikaans (Hallo!) all told me. But good news! There's English subtitles to follow along. The bad part is is that when it is mute, you see an actor talk for 10-20 seconds and the subtitle says "Really!" Come on - I know you're probably saying something like "oos" with the "p" in front of it and they don't want to translate!!! So that brings up this weeks challenge. I'll make it easier so more of you can participate. What is the absolute worst show on television right now and why? The best entrant will receive a prize! Not a wooden giraffe either. I promise.

6. I am apparently mistaken - there are no wild peacocks here in South Africa. Frankly? I'm disappointed. I was led to believe that all of God's creatures can be found here.

OK PICTURE TIME!!!

Preface: I'm still working on my photography skills. Hopefully they will improve greatly over time.


Did I tell you I was going to the World Cup? Oh yeah, three times baby!



After picking up my tickets, I went to this mall called Melrose Arch. People are very friendly here!


Sunday I went to the caves. I wanted to show more people in these photos, which is why I chose this one. I'll keep looking - you might see a stock photo of a cave here in the not too distant future.


Ok after the caves, I went to a museum called Maropeng. Inside it, you go on this mini-boat ride that shows how volcanoes work. It was kind of lame.


Here I am enjoying the boat ride. I found taking pictures of myself much more amusing than the ride.


Hey!! It's rural Africa!!! If you squint hard enough, you can see the wild peacocks!!