Amakosi for Life!

When I got back for joburg the other day i was happy to hear that Kirk gave Tumie the go ahead to get tickets to the Vodacom Challenge match. Billed "the clash of Sowetan giants...in PE" the match was between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirates. Both Teams are from Soweto (actually the single township boasts three premiere league clubs while all of the Eastern Cape has not one since the dismantling of the East London Bush Dogs). PE might not have a team but its got fans; People have been going nuts all week flying their colors and talking about it incessantly. The game was held in Telkom Park, an ancient Rugby stadium that seats about 25,000. As early s 4 houors before the match there were live performers, some quite big on the radio, singing and dancing on the field. There were no elaborate stages assembled or special effects, the old fashion little man or woman with a mike dancing his or her ass off o n the field in front of the growing crowd. And the crowd was dancing too. Before the game started it had the feel of a nightclub actually, albeit on with a strange dress-code. Everyone was decked out in black and white or black and yellow. Many had red painted faces (don't know why) and tons of people had enourmous hats and flags. My favorite getup was the black and yellow graduation gown with yellow painted face. Actually its somewhat similar to the costume I wore in the surrealist circus at Bard. Except I had a 5 inch yellow high-top to go along with it.
The style of play was quick and hard-hitting in the first half. I couldn't believe the ref wasn't calling more fouls in the first couple minutes. I remember thinking if they keep this up, the last player standing will be able to dribbble the ball into the net passed all the injured and knocked out players. Before long people did start to get injured but it made for some good grudge match football while it lasted. How does that saying go? When in a Rugby Stadium...
There was one guy on the Pirates who had just been bought from the top club in Zimbabwe, Highlanders FC, the same team that my boss, Kirk, Ethan Zohn, and Methembe Ndlovu played on before founding GRS.
The pirates scored the only goal just before half-time on a nice sideways airborne volley. It was a great goal but for the wrong team. I had chosen sides before the game, randomly I guess, but I bought a big chiefs flag for memorabilia. Once you're Amakosi (chiefs fan), you're Amakosi for life, rain or shine, win or loss.
Some of the coaches were truly formidable fans. One coach in particular, Palesa, who is generally quiet and at times shy, was dancing the whole time, singing louder than I thought she was capable of, and reacting so dramatically to what happened on the pitch that I would have thought they were her kids playing. We all know watching soccer can cause some serious personality shifts, especially in tight-laced parent types. Some of the best cheering for soccer Ive ever seen in the states has been done by loving parents driven mad by the fast paced competitive smash-up of power and skill that is soccer. They just forget their image and their logic and they go for it. "I'm gonna help my kid win in any way possible. If that means screaming at other parents, the refs, or even other kids then so be it." We've all seen this type of fan. Now imagine 25000 of them and imagine instead of screaming haphazardly at whoever they thought was standing between their kid and glory, they were all screaming soccer songs in unison or at nice plays on the field. Yes, I was right in thinking beforehand that a soccer match in Africa would be nothing like a soccer match back in the states. Unfortunately the game was ruined a bit for all of us when, after one of the coaches had left with a panicked and ghostly face, I got a text saying that she just found out her mother died unexpectedly. It was a rough week for GRS as another coach, the translator for Lesotho, Refiloe, just found out that his brother died from AIDS and Titie, though she doesn't even know yet , just got a letter saying that her scholarship is not going to work out for this year because of bogus NCAA technicalities. Im especially upset about Titie's news because I feel guilty for getting her psyched about it and also telling some people about it. At least it came with a promise that if she goes back to school here she can get a free masters at VCU and play soccer on the team for a year but Im a little skeptical of what Tiffany Roberts says now. Granted she's new to the job but It was a mistake to promise that Titie would be able to come with out actually knowing the rules as well as she should have. I still have to give her the email today and Im not looking forward to it one single bit.
Im gonna go finish my book...
thanks for tuning in,
Noah

Billabong Pro at J-Bay

For all my surfer friends, if by chance I have any and they are reading my blog, Im sorry to tell you but I was at the Billabong Pro last week. I say Im sorry becauseyou would know I dont know jack squat about surfing and it seemed the real surf fans were elated to be there...er, sorry, I meant, they were wicked stoked to be there, dudes!
It was a gorgeous day with a nice head breeze but there wasn't too much action. Swarms of surfers, surfer photographers, surfer wannabes, surf afficionados, surfer babes, and surfer groupies, and then a couple sort of random ones like Kourtney and I flooded the beech and the bleachers on top of the dunes. Basically there wasn't all that much to do besides eat, shop and watch surfing; there was a music festival that ended the night I arrived but everyone was wiped out and wouldn't come with me. Billabong abso-fricken-lutely cleaned up with the merchandise. Everyone there had a t shirt, wind-breaker or a hoodie. Admittedly, they were kind of cool but they were also prohibitively expensive. Wherever I go now I see Billabong this and Billabong that and think about how much dough they're raking in. Whew!
The surfing itself was pretty awesome despite the mediocre conditions. For those of you who are as new to competitive surfing as I was, the format is a four round, single elimination tournament. Surfers go head to head on the same break in a 30 minute "heat". The one who has the two strongest individual wave scores moves on. I saw Kelly Slater, 8 time world champion do some cool stuff that I didn't even know was possible; "bodacious whips" and "gnarly floaters" I soon found out.
Watching the pros make it look so easy and fun inspired me to try surfing myself...bad idea. With my gimpy aching wrists, atrophied shoulders and complete lack of know-how and confidence, not to mention instruction, it added up to a little more than a couple hours of paddling around, wondering why the waves weren't breaking where I saw them break on the shore and how long before the sharks came to get me. Kourtney had even less success. I can see her now, dragging herself from the thunderous foamy shore-break with the massive yellow longboard precariously in tow and a head of hair full of shells. I did finally get to try a wetsuit for the first time in my life. They're nice. Kirk maintains they are the single greatest accomplishment of human invention.
Kourtney, whose response to my question, "so where do you want to go this weekend?" is without fail "I don't know...J-Bay!?", is about hooked as you're average junkie. If she doesn't get her fix every couple weekends, things start to get a ugly. So when we heard from Kirk, our esteemed boss, that his fiance was coming to visit and we were welcome to come down and meet her it was already a done deal. Little did we know that her two sisters were there, as well as 2 Argentinian high school rugby players and 2 french ones, their mom, and three of the four South African brothers who live there. With Kirk and the mom, Shuna, there were 15 people in that house! its always an adventure when we go down to J-Bay. we never know who will be there or what crazy kids will be hanging around. Thats part of why we love it so much...that and the perfect tubes, dolphin sunsets, beautiful beech at the edge of the deck, and the best cappuchino in the galaxy.

Hello all,
Im in Joburg at the moment at a chinese internet shop in a massive asian fleamarket just next to an even more massive shoppong center called East Gate. They tell me it's the largest mall in Africa. It seems like malls are such a big deal here because the city centers, where one would usually go to shop, go out to eat, nightclub and so on are all so dangerous. Port Elizabeth is like that to some extent but Joburg is on a whole different scale. Downtown Joburg is so dodgy that entire skyscrapers stand empty. The Carlton Hotel, the tallest solid concrete building, a testament to Arathied extravagance, has been abandoned for over 12 years. The remaining skyscrapers that are still being used have underground parking facilities so no one ever needs set foot on the sidewalk. The source of this information is the lady who runs my hostel, Stella.
Driving through the dowtown area yesterday gave me a glimpse at a fascinating metropolis. Rich with old buildings, interesting little streets, huge squares and amazing grafitti, I wish I could go explore the city but unfortunately that is not possible. Day or night, ofriegners are guaranteed to get mugged, so they say.
SO why am I in Joburg anyways? Three weeks ago I heard that our program up in Mussina, on the Zim border, basically the farthes possible location from PE within South Africa, needed a car and I volunteered to drive it up. It turned out that Kourtney also wanted to go up so the plan was for the two of us to do it over a day in a half and then bus back to Jbourg and fly to PE. Kourtney ended up making plans to stay up there for a week, her rowing friend from UVA is based up there, and an extra stop was added to the journey when we heard that we would need to pick up someone at the Lesotho border to serve as a translator for the Training of trainers that was happening in Mussina this week. It turned out there was no point in me going further than Joburg because Kourtney had a driving buddy and I would have to catch a bus 2 hours after I ot there in order to be back in time. So Kurtney and Refiloe, ther translator, dropped me at the airport. To complicate an already adventuous situation, I had fallen ill the night before and could barely stand or speak. Feeling a little better this morning I set off to the flea market in search of herbal tea and internet, not realizing this meant a 30minute treck through the blazing winter heat.
What else, what else. I convince Kourtney to switch off reading plays during the drive. Ambitiously we picked up 4, King Lear, Henry the IV, Alls well that ends well, and Pygmalion. The four cost us a combine two dollars. We made it through half of Pygmalion before she lost interest and my voice went.
Ill be back at home tonight and if my voices continues recovering I should have the energy to make a few calls.
Much Love.

I don't really know what to write anymore. After five weeks, the initial buzz of being in Africa and of having a blog has been scaled back to a more realistic proportions. Seemingly, with all that hot air went my ability to just sit down and tell you about my life and (mis)adventures.
I am still having a fantastic time; it's just that my tolerance has gone up. There's nothing more tragic than stale excitement, besides maybe stale cereal. Maybe if I write about what I've been doing I'll realize that I'm actually still soaring and maybe I'll even uncover whats got me feeling deflated.
So last week was the goals for girls, or G4G for short. It was kinda hectic, fun though. I didn't end up spending all that much time at the camp. I was running around all day doing all the behind the scenes kind for stuff that is necessary. I had to get water for everyone, pens, and snacks and print diplomas for graduation. You wouldn't think they'd be hard to find but believe me, in the township, they are. I was also responsible for chauffeuring Tiffany Roberts and Titie around the city to various institutions. Trying to get a south african with no passport and no birth certificate to the states in 4 weeks is a herculanean feat. As always, its all about friends in high places and lucky for us, for Titie, the coach of the team of American girls, Ian Oliver, is in with the folks at the embassy. The wind is at her back for sure because someone from Ubuntu also knows someone at the office of homeland affairs and will be able to minify the normal 6 week waiting period for passports. I'm gonna try to go to Titie's game at Hofstra. I say I am but really I'm not gonna have a minute of free time during soccer season. My courseload is gonna be crushing...there's no sunnier way to put it. Ive been thinking that soccer is not something I really want to do this year. It's great because it keeps you in shape and its fun but Im beginning to realize I'm not much of a competitive player. Just considering skills I'm not sure I have a starting spot on the team, even with all the spots opened by departing seniors. And with my fitness where it is, I'm not gonna be making up of lack of skills with exceptional speed or strength. I am also thinking I would like to enjoy what's left of the good weather and do all the things I have wished to to with friends from school. Do you believe Ive been in the Hudson Valley for 3 years now and I've never gone for hike in the catskills or explored all the nice little ponds and waterfalls in the area. Plus, because I spend so much time working, my social life and non-soccer friendships get moved to the back burner.
But on the other hand this is the last chance Ill get to play truly competitive 11v11 soccer on a beautiful pitch. And what better way is there to enjoy the last few days of summer and the fall than to be outside playing soccer? Being in shape has its obvious perks and playing sports always helps me manage my time and steer clear of bad habits. Plus I love the guys on the team. What do y'all think I should do? (stop being a dweeb and start training... and stop eating so much!) thanks, guys.
That was my coach's voice. Coach's voice is a key concept in GRS. Its a pretty simple concept but you have to remember the curriculum is designed for 12 to 14 year olds. THe idea is that everyone has life coach's who will give them good advice but the most important life coach is yourself and you have to learn to listen to your coach's voice. It's a concept that works best for kids who love sports.

I suppose I should stop apologizing for digressing because it seems to be what I do.
So I went on a Safari the other night. that was a trip. African elephants are HUGE!! I was arguing with someone as we left that an elephant would not be able to knock over the flatbed that we were all in. Is suppose a little background is in order. Citrus is banned form the park because it used to be a main component in the Elephants diet back in the seventies. THey used to dump a ton of oranges in one spot regularly to get a reliable herd of elephants for park visitors. Eventually some genius noticed that this unnatural food source was seriously disturbing the natural order among the 400 or so elephants. tHe elephants, usually scattered throughout the park in small groups stopped leaving the immediate vicinity of the orange dumping spot. They learned what the orange truck looked like so whenever they saw it there was a massive stampede of hundreds of elephants that wrecked havoc on the plant life and on the social structures within the herds. Elephants started exhibiting abnormal aggressive behavior in competition for the resource. Some started showing signs of serious stress. What kind of people were in charge of the park at that point, I wonder. So I was thinking about how great it would be if someone on the flatbed had accidentally brought along an juicy orange and herd of elephants got a whiff of it and started chasing us around the park. I said it would be worth being unseated when an elephant put a shoulder into the side of the flatbed to see the spectacle. She said that if an elephant had a mind to do it, it could topple the truck and trample us all to pulp. After I saw one I admitted being wrong.
We also saw about a zillion kudu, a bunch of eland (the biggest antelope in africa), some humping zebras, a bunch of pumbas (alas, no timones), some black backed jackals, some chubby little foxes, some scrub hairs (boring), a couple of paranoid porcupines, a springer, a spotted eagle owl (270 degrees of neck rotation!!), and we think we saw a black rhino in the distance. No cobras or lions but it was nice to see everyone from G4G one last time.
I went out in the township yesterday for the first time. Straight from the night safari, Kourtney, Tyler (another GRS field intern and friend of Kourtney from UVA) and I picked up Titie and went to a club called Eyethu in Zwide, just down the street from Ubuntu and the future site of the GRS headquarters. 5 rand (~75 cents) for guys and free for girls, not bad. The place was packed. it has a cool multilevel layout with two massive fires burning in open rectangular smoke stacks at the edge of the dancefloor. The place was massive; there were probably 400 people there last night and you could have squeezed 100 or so more. Strictly house all night long but good stuff. Everybody in the whole place was moving and more than half of the people were giving it all they had on the dance floor. dance circles are big here, really big. Its fun to test out all the different combinations of people or show everyone what you've got in a public forum but what happened to two people sharing a private moment on the dancefloor? The club had huge number of gays and guys in drag. There were a couple freaky 6 footer giving Tylerr a litle too much attention. In general we felt safe all night long, mostly because of Titie's relentless patrolling. There were only a few obnoxious drunks. It seemed like everyone was there to dance and believe you me, they knew what they were doing. I got schooled in the art of getting freaky. I think of myself as a pretty decent dancer when I'm feeling the music but I was humbled last night.
Tyler randomly bumped into an acquaintance from the bus ride down from Mussina, where he's working to get GRS established. This guy was a really interesting character. He was Zimbabwean and he and his three brothers were down seeing their mother. They are in the "imports and exports business" and apparently are doing quie wel for themselves. He invited me to a party he was throwing up in Zim in two weeks to celebrate his becoming a dollar millionaire. He's already a trillionaire in Zim. He kept flashing Benjamins all night as if I didn't believe him. It was pretty weird but I was glad we ran in to him because we'd been standing in the bar line for half-an-hour without moving when he told us to come have a seat while he sent someone to fetch us drinks, on him of course. A little shady but I had some funny conversations with his brothers and I felt safer that everyone saw they knew me. The only real problems we had all night were from drunk guys giving us too much attention because of our white skin. We were the only white people there that night and I don't think whites are a common sight there. The club is about a million times better than any white places on the upscale side of town.

Saw Die Hard 4.0 tonight. It was fantastic! at least it blew my expectations out of the water. Its so fun watching an aging Bruce Willis getting kicked here, exploded there, shot multiple times, and then finally utter the greatly anticipated phrase, Yippy-kye-yay motherfucker! some really good action sequence cinematography.
way passed my bedtime.
I also went down to cape recife, south of PE and climbed out onto the rocks where the absolutely massive waves were crashing. Found tons of nice shells. This coast, or what Ive seen of it between cape town and PE, is paradise and i hear the coast to the east, between PE and Durban, is even nicer.
I hope everyone is doing well. I feel a little out of touch.