I even talked to some native South Africans and they have literally zero optimism and hope for their national team to even score a goal…all the natives want is to not have the team embarrass themselves…they may get embarrassed. Anyways, I talked to some of the fans at the game and I made friends with these two little kids and their father. The two kids, about 8 and 7 years of age respectively, took an interest in me. They really liked to pet my hairy legs for some reason, a little weird, but I let it happen. But during half-time, they asked me if I could take them to go get some hotdogs at the concession stand, so of course I said yes. I took them by the hand, and went down the stairs to buy the food. Buying food at a concession stand in Africa is not like doing it in America, it is a super dangerous process. They do not believe in waiting in line. Its pretty much a free for all to see who can squeeze up closest to the counter, and they don’t care who they have to push to get their food.
So imagine me holding two little kids hands in a rabid crowd of people trying to protect the kids from getting squashed and hit in the face, while at the same time making sure nobody was trying to pick-pocket me from behind. It sucked! I finally was able to pass the kids off to my friend who was outside the crazy mob, and I alone struggled to squeeze in to buy the food. I finally got the hot dogs, watched the rest of the game with the kids and my friends, and 20 of us actually got a ride back to our house from the two kids’ dad who owned a large minibus.
That same day/night, we cooked a taco dinner for our security guard Farakhai. He is a really nice man from Zimbabwe, and we really enjoyed his stories and company at the dinner.
2) I spent the weekend hanging out with Corey, Allen, and their friends Phil and Chris from Grassroot Soccer. I have joined at men’s league soccer team that practices and plays their games in Camps Bay. If you forgot, Camps Bay is probably one of the most beautiful beaches that I have been to. And the team is sponsored by Café Caprice, which is this really posh and expensive bar on the beach…so I think the bar will be hosting a couple of team parties for us…YEBO!! (this is South African for “YAHHH BUDDY!”). Anyway, since I just joined, I had to play for the third and second team this past Saturday, before I get a chance to play for the first team squad. I had a chance to join the UCT first team, but the coach informed us that we had to practice at 7am three days a week…when I heard that, I was the first person to leave the field. You must be kidding? Anyway, I am very glad I have joined the Camps Bay team because it is a good way for me to meet local South Africans, and it allows me to experience something other than the UCT scene. So the games went well, even though I played centerback for the third team, and LEFT MIDFIELD for the second team. Those of you who know me, know that I am not the outside midfield type…I’m more of a chiller in the back that barely runs. So being that I have centerback and party fitness syndrome, it was very difficult for me to maintain pace the whole game. The coach started making fun of me because I was asking for water every time the ball went out of bounds. He yelled out to me in front of all of the fans and players “Welcome to AFRICA! It’s hot here!” Thanks coach. Next Thursday the Camps Bay team actually plays against UCT at UCT Field, which is 5 minutes from my house.
3) The next day, with the same group of people, we drove about 40 minutes outside of Cape Town to go hiking up to these fresh water pools called “Crystal Pools.” It was one of the best hikes I have done so far in Cape Town.
We were told that some hikers usually come across gigantic baboons on the trail, so when that happens, we were told not to smile because that is a sign of aggression. Also, the whole time I was hiking, I was thinking what moves I could do to best protect myself from a baboon. Every situation I imagined, resulted in my demise. So let's just hope we don't see any baboons.
Anywho, there were about 4-5 different fresh water pools with waterfalls and cliffs around them. It was not very touristy or crowded at all, so it was definitely a nice place to be on a Sunday afternoon. The water temperature was perfect, and it was deep enough so we were able to jump off of the cliffs around the pool.
The highest cliff we did was about 55 feet! Holy shite that is high. We had to climb up the water fall, to this ledge that lay right above the deepest point in the pool. We followed this local who had done it before, and we also followed this American Bro who was on vacation and literally reminded me of “Sac,” the deusch bag boyfriend from the movie Wedding Crashers.
He kept telling us how he had jumped off cliffs all over the world, and had no problem yelling to us from across the pool, with many other people around us, to “HOLD YOUR BALLS! DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR BALLS ARE???” Anyway, it took me a lil while to convince myself to jump off a cliff….I have not been nice to my body lately.
The technique to jump off a cliff into water is to pencil dive into the water, with your legs and arms tucked in. If you open your legs, your lower region is not gonna be happy with you. And if you spread out your arms, say good bye to your bones. Okay, I was ready to go. I started to jump, and then pulled back...
I did this for about 15 minutes. So after I finally made the plunge into the water with no injuries, I immediately wanted to do it again. The second time I jumped, I bruised my tush.
Here is a nice picture of me pondering about the consequences of this life decision.
There were also these crazy girl and guy gymnasts at the pools who were doing this crazy trick where one of the girls was able to balance on one another, and also on a wooden raft floating in the water, but only on one persons hands….me and Allen tried to replicate this position with little to no success…I fell on my face. Check out the photos!
harrison, this is absurdly hilarious. we miss you big fella.
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thanks brotha. i'll see you soon out here. miss your face too
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