- We hired a car and got pulled over by a cop. Apparently, Paul was going 120 in an 80 zone and this is not allowed. Lucky for us, we were able to pay our fine, i.e. bribe him, for only 7 dollars and were on our way after five minutes.
- Tour operators and visitors to Africa are focused particularly on the Big Five: leopard, lion, elephant, cape buffalo and rhino. They carve wood curios of them, they talk about them, they promise you'll see them on their tours, etc... Those are the elusive big creatures that people want to see. So, we caught the Big Five Fever and recently hired a car and did a self drive safari day through the Kruger National Park. The trip was amazing, and one of us was fortunate enough to see the entire Big Five by 8:42am. I will not name names so as to not offend the others in this safari adventure, but suffice to say that the lucky individual has significant training in the art of snorkeling.
- Whilst celebrating the USA qualifying for the second round, I was befriended by two African males, one whom was dancing randomly next to me and one who was an armed special tactics officer at the stadium entrance. Both got my phone number, promised to call and hang out and celebrate with me. Neither did. The burn of rejection stings strong.
- I lost my only sweater. Or, rather, some girl that I lent it to lost it. Stories vary on the details of this incident, but, overall, we all agree that sometimes chivalry sucks.
- We're in Joburg again, paying too much money to stay in a circular room with 20 people. We have the Ghana match tonight, then fly to Cape Town tomorrow for more adventures. I've booked a white shark diving excursion and we are eagerly anticipating this event, except Sean, who's shitting his pants. High five.
- I decided to go local the other day and indulged in some South African delicacies. This included a 500g steak and some local starch thing called pup. Pup is awesome and I finished the steak. It was only the next day when I was feeling lazy that we calculated the steak was about one pound. Being cultural is tough work.
- Paul's nickname, as you know, is now Gogo, meaning Grandma in Zulu. This fits as he is a bit stressed and disproportionately more responsible than either Sean or myself. Whilst standing in line to get on a bus the other day, a local guy told us that a better name would be "Dooas", which he informed us means "jackass" or pack mule. This made us laugh immensely. Still later, someone else told us that this name is slang for "pussy". This made us laugh immensely.
- I bought a scarf and have fallen in love with it. I sleep with her. She keeps me warm. Henceforth, in my life, there shall only be the time before the scarf, and the time after. A new day dawns and hearts are warm.
- Life is good and all is well. We're laughing often, meeting great people, and enjoying our time in South Africa.
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