Soccer City

We visited Soccer City, the stadium where the 2010 world soccer cup was held. It is huge! It holds 90,000 people! It is built to look like a pumpkin, inside and out, to represent a traditional South African beverage - drinking beer out of a pumpkin. We entered the stadium through the media tunnel. Someone had rented out the entire stadium to shoot promotional videos so we had to steer clear of a large portion on the stadium. Our guide told us that someone had recently rented the stadium for a wedding. They must have been big soccer fans. The ceremony was in a VIP box, they are very particular about letting people walk on the pitch. The pitch is raised three steps from the ground. I hope the ball boys don't trip! The grey lines in the seats seem random at first but they point in the direction of other stadiums that were involved in the tournament- other South African stadiums and to Germany where the previous world cup was held.

National Youth Development Agency NYDA

This morning we visited the NYDA. We learned about what the agency does and a number of interesting facts about SA. SA is a country of contrast. We are staying in Sandton, a very nice place but there is another city very close called Alexandria which is one of the worst slums. This is interesting to us because the roads we have been taking out of town have been through very nice areas and it isn't until we get outside the city when we start seeing the shanty towns.

The agency was formed from two existing agencies on June 16, 2009 in remembrance of the June 16, 1976 youth uprising. Youth is defined as ages 14-35. The age goes so high because the agency wants to help those who didn't have opportunity prior to 1994 during apartheid. The agency provides business mentors, job training, micro loans for entrepreneurs and much more. One of the challenges they is they face is youth heads of households due to disease and other social factors. Check out their Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Youth-Development-Agency/177619079111

We also stopped by a market and loaded up on souvenirs. We thought we did a great job haggling until we got to the bus where there were a few more experienced hagglers that really got deals.

We are back at the hotel now but are leaving in a few minutes to a theatrical African show.


This is a picture of us on the way to the NYDA. We have been spending a lot of time at the front of the bus. You can see more from that seat! The other picture is of Prof Bunker telling jokes to entertain students on the long bus rides.

Pilansberg pics

Pilansburg Game Reserve
 
Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, Rhinos, Hippos, Warthogs, Impala, Springboks, Ostrich, Jackal, Oh My!!!
These are some of the animals we saw today and more.  We were lucky enough to witness an elephant family reunion.  Per our Tour guide, elephants usual roam in smaller packs, but occasionally the Matriarch will gather the family together and that was what we witnessed today.

Tidbits from our tour guide

There is a protest coming up on the 30th. How the people protest is to stay away from work and block the roads so others can't get to work. Government listens more to business than individuals so the purpose of the protest is to get business involved.

So to the important stuff. The people will be protesting a toll road. In preparation for the 2010 soccer world cup tournament the government built lots of new roads and didn't let the people know that the government was borrowing all this money from China. So now in order to pay China back they have placed tolls on the road for next 99 years and the people are not happy. They are also disabling alternative routes so people have to use the toll road. ~ Since we heard this from our tour guide we have had heard many other opinions about the protest.

Our tour guide described him and his girlfriend as an ant and an elephant. He said if a man marries a thin woman his first job is to add some weight to her! He mentioned this fact because he saw some ladies in our group working out early in the morning ( not us!) and he said that is very much not encouraged! Also, although many people in the cities are becoming westernized polygamy is still common in the villages and the president recently married his fifth wife.

Lions!

Well, we survived the long flight from NYC to Jo'Burg.  I think my bum went numb after about the 7th hour on the plane.  Actually, the plane and service was quite nice- good leg space, good food, they even provided a travel toothbrush & toothpaste. :)

We got checked into the hotel, very nice hotel.  I love the bathroom!  We went this afternoon to a Lion park and got up close and personal with some lions.

What a great day.