Paparazzi

So Whizzkids this week was really fun! We were placed in a township called Umlazi, and the scene of the football field was so picturesque. The dusty field had no trace of grass because of the constant trampling of footballers, and it sat atop a bluff that overlooked the surrounding neighborhoods. The kids were darling, they danced to hip-hop and sang any song related to the world cup. I was very impressed with their knowledge about HIV/AIDS, but us volunteers only knew this because we had zulu translators –a.k.a teachers from a local school. Yup, the kids’ English was pretty poor for the most part, and we had trouble getting them to understand us, so we had teachers and volunteers help with that. Today we went for a run down the street to pick up some “fat cooks” (AMAAAAZING pastry balls-just like dough boys) that were less than 20 cents a pop. Everything is so ridiculously cheap here, I could eat 2 of those, 2 cups of rooibos tea be satisfyingly full and score a meal for under a dollar. Crossing the street after getting the fat cooks I had my first really shocking encounter with African culture. Here citizens are allowed to carry guns for self-defense, and we saw an ordinary man carrying a pump-action shotgun with a device that rested on his shoulder. This gun was big enough to stop me in my tracks. I was later informed that he used it to secure the bus station that was right there because they once had an incident where there was a very violent drive-by shooting, and they had time to go by, go up the hill and come back without any safety interference for at least 5 minutes. I know its probably not what you want to hear while I’m here, but we take high safety precautions, so please understand that I am just expressing my disbelief to the reality of this country. The Dutch National Broadcasting company and their radio/TV crew showed up to the camp today, and it was kinda humorous because all I do is organize materials (balls, papers, kits, etc.) and when they showed up I was lugging things around with a stopwatch and whistle around my neck so I looked all official and in charge. They introduced themselves to me and started asking me questions and I played along until I couldn’t answer any more questions. I think they also lost faith in my importance when I said I had only been with Wizzkids for 4 days, haha. I am going to Joburg tomorrow for the Slovenia game, and I never thought I would have to buy winter clothing in Africa, but with a low of 23 degrees Fahrenheit outside and 2 cotton sweaters in my luggage, I find it necessary. Sunday we finally get to hang out as one big group again (we were separated into 2 different football camps this week) in South Beach, and are staying near a location where the movie Blood Diamond was filmed- should be fun!! Also, just in case you were hoping for an image of how awesome this experience is for me, check out #30 on this link. I’m pretty stoked, I WAS IN THE GLOBE!!! I’ll be signing autographs when I get home ;)