Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A Whirlwind Start!
We have seen three games in the last 48 hours (and been at four venues since we arrived). Internet access and time to write has been extremely limited so far, but we are headed to the orphanage tonight for the Loskop World Cup, and should hopefully have time to catch up with detailed posts. For now, here is our first 36 hours in South Africa!
THE PRETORIA SCAMPER - SPAIN VS. CHILE
A few weeks before we left Brian and Mark realized that Spain and Chile were playing in Pretoria 3 hours after our plane touches down in Johannesburg.... Spain is our favorite team, so the wheels started turning in our heads - if we have the energy when we land. . .
We touched down in Joburg at 5:30 pm, got our luggage, went through customs, rented the cars, feared for our life driving to the hotel totally jet lagged on the left side of the road in a car with the steering wheel on the right side. Our plan was to give the Spain match a try if we made it to the hotel and it looked like it could work. Of course, we didn't have tickets but we figured we'd just show up and see if we could find them on the street.
We jumped out of the cab in Pretoria at 8:30, the exact time the match started. Brian had a moment of euphoria when he thought he found three tickets and was close to handing over the money until he saw the words "South Korea" on the ticket. South Korea had played a group game in Pretoria the previous week. Nice try buddy... Then a South African guy asked him to give him the Spain jersey he was wearing (#6 Iniesta on the back...). An even nicer try...but wait! "You can have this jersey but I'm gonna need a ticket to the game", Brian said. He says, "Just a minute" and takes off towards some friends. Now Jared and Nainoa are freaking out...why would Brian trade his Iniesta jersey for a ticket? Simple. $80 jersey that he can replace for a $200 ticket to watch Spain under pressure of going out of the World Cup at the group stage. In the end the guy couldn't deliver so he still has his jersey. Oh well...
So we were unsuccessful at getting tickets and instead watched the match on an outdoor big screen TV a few blocks from the stadium. It was a bit painful being so close to the match that the vuvuzelas were louder than our voices and not being able to see the match live. At least Spain won 2-1 to go through so there is still a chance for us to see them play in the Durban semi-final.
OUR SOUTH AFRICAN SWEAR WORD: RUSTENBERG
The day before we left for South Africa, Landon Donovan scored a stoppage time goal against Algeria to put the USA through to the Round of 16. Where and when would they play? 24 hours after we arrive in Joburg and about 75 miles northwest. Perfect!
So Mark checked on the FIFA website and was able to purchase tickets for all of us about 4 hours before we got on the plane in Seattle. Awesome! We were going to get to see the USA play Ghana in the Round of 16! Hadn't planned that!
Let us get this out of the way now: It bewilders us why FIFA would choose Rustenberg as a venue for the world's marquee soccer event. More later.
The morning of the match at our hotel we met a Brit named Glenn. Glen is from Ipswich and is a huge Aston Villa fan. Like most UK football fans he lives and breathes English football. A bad pass or a missed chance at goal requires a trip to his bottle of anti-depressant medication. Kidding. Glenn had purchased tickets to the Rustenberg match because England were favored to win Group C (which the USA ended up winning) and he needed a ride. It must have taken a bit of pride swallowing to ask for a ride to the match from a couple "Yanks", but he did and we had room with us (Brian and Mark - LeiMomi, Dianne and the boys were in the other car) in the car to Rustenberg.
Brian has had a bit of interaction with a few Brits in the last couple years and one thing he can say: they are not shy about sharing their opinion on everything football. We had a lot of fun chatting with Glenn on the car ride to and from Rustenberg...we just didn't realize it would be a nearly 10 hours worth.
Yes. 10 hours for a round trip of 150 miles...check this out.
We pull into Rustenberg and can see the stadium lights 3 hours prior to match start. We follow the parking officials directions to a large field that is still a good mile or two from the stadium. We see that there are charter buses waiting to take fans to the stadium. Shuttles to a stadium that only holds a little over 40,000fans? OK, whatever. FIFA has put on 19 World Cups, they should know what they are doing...
So we stand in line for a shuttle for a few minutes, and we are 3 hours early. The thought crosses our minds. We had to wait and we are early. There aren't very many buses here. When the game ends there won't be a trickle of fans needing a ride, there will be ALL the fans wanting a ride. Hmm...could be interesting....
The bus then takes us to another field about a half mile from the stadium where we get out and walk the rest of the way. Looking at this field we wonder, "Now why are we not parking in this field instead of the one several miles away?" FIFA has put on 19 World Cups, there must be a reason.
So we get into the stadium and have our first World Cup experience. Lots of Americans, lots of English, lots of Africans rooting for Ghana whether they were actually from Ghana or not. Exciting match that the US should have won, even though they played sub-par. It was sad to see the US players just laying on the field when the final whistle blew and their World Cup run was over.
Then the real fun began.
There were only 34,000 people at this match. Less than the average Sounders game.
We backtrack to the bus lot with EVERY other fan (as we expected). The only sign giving us direction is one with the name of the lot we parked in: South. The other lot: North. So, probably 17,000 or so people are all wanting to get to the same lot at the same time on too few buses. Not good.
Lines? Workers to direct us where to go? Nope. Fend f
or youself. Even if you are 55 pound nine-year old Nainoa...
The only mechanism for directing fans to buses? 8 foot tall snow-fencing that funnels to about 6 feet wide where the bus stops. It's 11 pm and 17,000 fans are trying to funnel through 3 of these structures to get back to the parking lot...
Ever wonder why you hear about trampling deaths at soccer matches?
Imagine standing jam-packed for an hour with a slowly moving mob that mo
ved forward by 50-60 people every time a bus filled. Nainoa told Brian later that he just kept trying to follow his bright yellow shoes. Brian knew they had a purpose!
To make matters even more interesting, we were pressed hard (literally) against a group of very vocal Ghana fans the entire time. Chants of "the big elephant (USA) is dead" and other more derogatory statements went on the entire time.
So we finally get on the bus, after midnight, and make the 2 mile trip back to the field that is the South parking lot. Are there parking officials and police directing traffic back to the ONE LANE road leading back to the highway? Not a one in sight.
So now we have the exact same situation we had after the game at the stadium. Everyone converging to a common spot, except this time in cars. Whatever you imagine, it was worse. But hey, FIFA has put on 19 World Cups, they know what they are doing. Right?
An hour later we finally get out of the parking lot and turn onto the one lane road back to the highway. The one lane road with everyone else...
I won't bore you wtih more details, but it took another 4 hours to drive the 75 miles back to Johannesburg. We arrived back at the hotel at 4:45 am, almost 6 hours after the match let out 75 miles away. But hey, FIFA has put on 19 World Cups. They know what they are doing. Right?
We had a fun time with our English friend Glenn on the drive back. We even prodded him into singing some English football songs for us.
NEXT UP: COMPLETION OF OUR THREE MATCHES IN 48 HOURS WITH SOCCER CITY (ARGENTINA/MEXICO) AND DURBAN (NETHERLANDS/SLOVAKIA).
So it Begins - The Flight to South Africa
Posted by Brian for Mark
After getting 1.5 hours of sleep on Wednesday night (6/23 - which also happens to be our 16th wedding anniversary - we had a 13 minute lunch to celibrate before we signed our Last Will and Testiment - for real!) we left the house at 4:30 a.m. to catch our flight to Atlanta. Getting everything together for the Loskop Mini World Cup we are running here in South Africa felt like we were preparing for an Everest expedition. Dianne had three very large plastic shipping crates which we filled with items for the mini cup (thanks to Soccer West for the great discount on the World Cup balls and practice vests!). It was a relief to finally get on the plane and not have to do anything. To make things even better, our Delta flight had TV screens on the back of every headrest with live (and free!) access to ESPN and ESPN2! I have to give credit to my 11 year old son Kekoa - it took him about five minutes after take off to have figured this out and have the Italy/Slovakia and New Zealand/Paraguay games on adjoining headrests. Within a few minutes most Kekoa's entire section was watching World Cup soccer! It felt so good to kick back and watch two games at the same time with nothing to do. We were pulling for a Netherlands/Italy Round of 16 game, as we have tickets for both R16 games that Groups E and F roll into, but Italy failed to hold up its end of the bargain. Netherlands/Slovakia and Paraguay/Japan. I guess these -pairings are proof as to why they need to play the games.
The first leg of the flight from Seattle to Atlanta went pretty quickly, and before we knew it, we were off on our 17 hour direct flight from Atlanta to Joburg. The three boys were fantastic the entire way, with all of us pretty much alternating between being up for two hours and sleeping for two hours. Unfortunately the live TV feature was not enabled, so we missed the Portugal/Brasil game - the sacrifices one has to make when traveling to the World Cup!
We landed just a little late and sailed through customs and baggage claim. The rental car was another matter - while Avis was really slow in processing us, the real trick was getting 10 pieces of luggage (including the three large tournament crates) and seven people into two Toyota Corollas. OK, the really really tricky part was driving the full ten minutes from the airport to the Airport Inn Bed and Breakfast. The whole right hand drive thing is much worse than we thought it would be, and we were thinking it would be pretty bad. Windsheild wipers turned on and off ten times or so (instead of the turn signals), driving down wrong sider of thre road (multiple times), and one full on locked breaks on the highway later, and we were there.
TICKET TIME
We landed just a little late and sailed through customs and baggage claim. Then there was the big moment - getting our tickets from the FIFA kiosk at the airport. The whole ticket process is a bit nerve wracking, as we obtained (and paid for) most of our tickets in the initial FIFA lottery in March of 2009. Do they send the winners the tickets they paid for? NO! You have to pick them up in South Africa by inserting you credit card into a machine. So, we spent thousands of dollars over a year ago, find the kiosks in the airport, and stick our cards in - and the machines indicate they are "Having Difficulty" reading my card and Brian's card (Dianne's went through right away). After a tense minute or two of repeatedly putting our cards in different machines, bang, our games pop up on the screen and start printing out - including the seven USA/Ghana R16 tickets I snagged on the FIFA website at 12:30 a.m. in the morning on Thursday, just a few hours before leaving for SeaTac.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Holland vs. Slovakia, dominated by the Dutch. 2-1 but Slovakia scored in stoppage time on a penalty. With Brazil's win vs. Chile that sets up a Netherlands vs. Brazil quarterfinal. Uruguay vs. Ghana and Argentina vs. Germany make up 2 of the other quarterfinals. The last quarterfinal match up will be the winner of Paraguay/Japan and Spain/Portugal.
We still have a chance to see Spain here in the Durban semi-final if they can beat Portugal and then win their quarterfinal. Fingers crossed!
We are spending the day in Durban tomorrow rather than heading back to Joburg/Pretoria to see Paraguay vs. Japan. Another 6 hour drive and a 4th match in 4 days was too much for everyone. We'll head to Loskop tomorrow night and start prepping for the tournament!
Hope to be able to find internet tomorrow to post pictures, etc.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
How to fit 7 people and 10 bags into 2 Toyota Corollas? It worked...
Now the real fun: driving to hotel on the left side of the road in a car with a sterring wheel on the right side, the gear shift on the left, at night and totally jetlagged. It worked, but was exciting...
Now it's 7:40 and Spain is playing Chile in Pretoria 30 miles away. We didn't have tickets but didn't care...6 of us (sans Dianne) piled into a cab to see if we could get lucky finding tickets on the street.
Got there at gAme start but no luck. We ended up watching it outside on the big screen with a bunch of people. Spain still alive! We still have the chance to see them in the semi-finals!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Soccer Fan Density Increase
Mark
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Our home for the next 17 hours...
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"Ponch" Loschky
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Watching Games on the Fly
Picture of Brian is in Atlanta with the second pair of games on in the background! We will be able watch thru the end before our 17 hour flight to Joburg.
Mark
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Lunch in Atlanta
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Just because I can...
Just watched Italy lose to Slovakia...they should get together with the French next week and have a rematch of the 2006 WC Final...just because they can...both on their way home from South Africa after finishing LAST in their groups.
Brian
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We are off...almost
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Go USA!
Before the World Cup began, we were rooting for Spain, Germany, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, and Argentina. The USA wasn't even on our radar. We want to watch world class soccer teams and players. Then...the denied USA goal. Foul, what foul?! An injustice against the Americans. No way. Suddenly, we are USA fans. Suddenly, American non-soccer fans everywhere are USA fans.
We watched today's game from the edge of our seats. Another denied goal?! How can that be? The replays showed NO offside. ANOTHER injustice against the Americans. At the end of regulation time, the score was still 0-0. It looked like the Americans are going home...again! Landon Donovan to the rescue. He scored in stoppage time. We love that guy! We jumped, we screamed, we danced, and Mommy cried!
We have tickets to one semi-final game. That is the only possibility of our World Cup paths crossing. We'll cheer for the Team USA all the way there!
From Kekoa, Nainoa and LeiMomi
Sunday, June 20, 2010
By Jared...
While we are in South Africa we are going to visit a village called Loskop. My mom’s friend Dianne knows people there. My dad and Mark Loschky are having a soccer tournament there for all the kids and me and Nainoa and Kekoa get to play too. My team is Spain and my coach`s name is Zwelakhe Mdakane. My teammates names are Sibusiso, Thobelani, Melusi, and Senzo. Cool names, huh?
After the soccer tournament we are going on a safari. Maybe we'll see a lion. After that we get to go to the World Cup semifinal in Durban. That will be amazing!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
How it all started...
At this time one week from now we’ll all be more than ready to touch-down in Johannesburg, South Africa to take in the FIFA 2010 World Cup Finals – and more.
How did this all come about?
Was it in 1978 when I first touched a soccer ball playing for my first soccer team, the Miwok Indians?
Was it in the 1980’s when I had a mullet and was playing premier soccer in northern California?
Was it in 2005 when I coached my first practice with my, then Boys U6, team the Jedi Booters? 5 years and over 100 games later these boys have rekindled my love for the “beautiful game”.
Was it New Years Eve 2008? That night I was at Mike and Dana Sherstad’s house and was talking with Dana’s brother-in-law Dan Moyer. Dan is a missionary in Tanzania and we were talking a lot about “football” and World Cup 2010 in South Africa. I had heard Dan tell stories about African kids playing “sandlot” soccer with beat-up balls and barefoot.
After a glass of wine, maybe two, I got the bug…wouldn’t it be awesome to go to South Africa for the World Cup?
And could we go to the World Cup and somehow also invest in the kids there who love soccer?
Hmmm…
So it definitely started New Years Eve 2008. But…New Years Eve 2008 would not have happened without 1978, the 1980’s, and the five years coaching the awesome Jedi Booters.
One thing led to another.
I talked with Dan Moyer about coming to Tanzania and heading down to South Africa for the World Cup. Logistically tough. Countries pretty far apart and just didn’t seem feasible.
Enter Dianne Uplinger. Dianne has been friends with my wife Stacia since they were in diapers. I knew she had been to several countries in Africa including South Africa. I mentioned it to Dianne and boom…we were off. She was “all over it” as they say. Dianne had a ton of ideas and was very excited.
At this point it was pretty much gonna happen.
But who else would come along?
Shortly after this at an Indoor soccer game I was coaching with the Jedi Booters I mentioned the possibility of a World Cup trip to South Africa to my friends Mark and Leimomi Loschky. Their son Nainoa is on my Jedi Booter team (and the best two-footed 9 year-old I have seen…).
Mark’s eyes lit up like a 5 year-old on Christmas morning. He told me he and Leimomi had planned a trip to South Africa in the past but couldn’t make it work. They had always wanted to go.
One week later, at the next Jedi Booter game, Mark walked up to me and said, “We’re in”.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what he was referring to, so I asked him. “In for what?” “South Africa and the World Cup”, he said. “We have the money all set aside and all four of us want to go.”
Well alright then! We are on!
Since then we have entered the World Cup ticket lottery and were able to purchase tickets for 3 Round of 16 games and the World Cup semi-final match in Durban. We have planned a “World Cup” tournament in Loskop, KwaZulu-Natal at a school and orphanage Dianne has worked with in the past. The tournament will be 5-a-side over 3 days, involve 360 kids, 72 teams and 150 matches. Mark has done an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING job organizing the structure of the tournament and Dianne has done all the logistical legwork in South Africa to make sure we have the resources we need. She is our “Tour Guide” and leader. Many of you have generously contributed to the cost of the tournament through our fundraiser.
THANK YOU!
Honestly, I feel like I am just along for the ride…I could not have asked for a greater and more talented group of people to go with. I am sure we will have some challenging moments while we are away, but those are the things we remember most in life, are they not?
Why are we doing this? Because we dig soccer? Yes, that’s a big part of it.
Because we want to bring some fun and joy to a community in a small town at the foot of the mountains in KwaZulu Natal? Sure.
Because we want our kids to experience another culture besides our “comfortable” way of life in America. Yes, that too.
Because we ourselves yearn for that same experience? Yes, in my case, that probably most of all.
As the late John Wooden said, “Happiness begins where selfishness ends.” My prayer is that this trip, especially the one to Loskop, help me remember that.
Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting us. We’ll do our best to keep everyone updated with photos, etc. while we are there.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Itinerary
June 24: depart Seattle for Johannesburg, via Atlanta
June 25: arrive Johannesburg in evening. Possible soccer game in Pretoria...if the boys are up to it!
June 26: rest day in Johannesburg; getting last minute supplies for soccer camp
June 27: 1st game in Johannesburg for the group
June 28: Drive 6 hours (or so) to Durban for 2nd game, spend nite
June 29: Drive 6 hours BACK to Joberg by way of Pretoria for game 3...the girls (Leimomi and Dianne) have a few free hours! Spa anyone?
June 30: Drive 4+ hours to Loskop and arrive at orphanage
July 1: At orphanage, opening ceremonies for soccer camp
July 2: Day 1 of soccer camp 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
July 3: Day 2 of soccer camp
July 4: Independence day! Church, soccer championships/carnival, fall over from exhaustion. (Dianne most likely to crash first!)
July 5: Depart Loskop and head to Ithala for safari
July 6: See animals, rest, hopefully don't get eaten by any animals!
July 7: Drive to Durban for Semi-final game...the boys will be at the stadium while Leimomi and I and Nainoa rough it at the beach watching the game on a big screen and drinking something fruity with some of my african friends!
July 8: Drive back to Johannesburg to catch flight home to Seattle
July 9: Arrive back in Seattle
July 10: We all sleep for the next 48 hours straight! LOL
And that my friends, is a jam packed itinerary! Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it!
Dianne
Monday, June 14, 2010
The World Cup is underway
360 kids
60+ team managers
20+ Refs
7 - 10 security personnel
Many volunteers including a group of kids from Durban
7 Soccer mad americans
1 amazing woman named Barb Borgman who's in RSA and helping us immensely to pull of this camp!
Teachers and principal at Mjwayeli Primary School - our wonderful hosts
A community excited about having their own "World Cup"
What does that equal? An event for kids that we hope they will never forget!
We've also been busy getting supplies for this shindig. But we couldn't have done it without the generosity of our own community here in Seattle...Thanks everyone for donating to this amazing endeavor. You have helped us get the following:
Size 3/4/5 soccer balls
Prizes for the all the players, team managers, and refs
Food/beverages
Field supplies
Booklets about the World Cup with an evangelical message (which the kids love!)
Pennies (vests)
All of the remaining money will go towards Kwethu Children's Village...the orphanage that Dianne works with. We are so thankful for your support and enthusiasm for this event. It's been a huge undertaking and it's fun to be done with the planning, and to move on to the executing!!!
Dianne
Friday, June 11, 2010
It Begins Today!
Just two weeks til we depart and the packing portion of the preparations has begun...heading over to the Loschky's today to see how much stuff Mark wants to bring! He doesn't know that I'm ruthless when it comes to packing! :-) I think he'd bring the kitchen sink if he thought it would fit! We are all antsy now to leave. I'm done with the travel prep, the final camp details have been nailed down, and now we wait for June 24th to get here!
Dianne
Thursday, June 3, 2010
3 Weeks to Go
Dianne