Good-bye South Africa

(Originally published June 24 on freep.com)

It was tough to find sleep last night, just as it’s tough to find words now.

How do you summarize Wednesday? How do you summarize this trip?

In many ways, they were the same. Moments of angst and frustration. Moments of wonder and joy.

Let’s start with Wednesday's big game.

In the four years since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, we have been the craziest of soccer fans. We’ve traveled to nearly every game played on U.S. soil, logging thousands of frequent-flier miles. Between the two of us, we’ve now watched this team in seven countries.

It would be an understatement to say we love this team. We’ve celebrated every goal and suffered mightily after every loss. The World Cup is our Super Bowl.

In Germany, we suffered through two losses and a feisty draw with Italy.

At this World Cup, we had a team that had shown tremendous heart, battling back against England and Slovenia and against some horrible officiating. We hadn’t lost yet, but we needed a win.

In Pretoria for the USA’s last group game versus Algeria, it was the hottest day of our trip. The sun was beating down. We’d learned to dress in layers in Africa. It can go from warm to cold in a matter of hours as the sun sets.

We stripped off our coats and sipped beer in the courtyard next to the stadium. Three hours before kickoff, the area was packed with Americans and Algerians. Both groups mingled pleasantly, often taking pictures with each other. A loud band made up of Algerians with horns and drums marched by.

The Americans chatted nervously. We all expected a win, but there’s the nagging doubt. The memories of 2006 linger.

When they played the "Star Spangled Banner" before the game, we couldn’t help but get a little misty-eyed. The camera panned to Clint Dempsey, one of our favorites, who was tearing up and looking toward the sky.

The game itself was grueling, stressful, intense.

The U.S. squandered chance after chance. “Oh, Jozy, how did you miss that?”

Sixty minutes, 70 minutes, 80 minutes … the time was slipping away.
90 minutes. The fourth official lifted his board. Just four minutes left.

We needed someone to “be the hero,“ a mantra Amy mumbles mostly to herself whenever a sub comes on or someone takes a shot on goal. And this day, we had our hero. Landon Donovan, in the 91st minute, jumped on a rebound and hit a shot that will be remembered forever. The stadium erupted. And we got misty-eyed again. OK, we cried.

And we will be celebrating that goal for the next four years. We wish we could stay for the next game vs. Ghana in the round of 16 on Saturday, but will be back in the States, watching anxiously.

We will miss much of South Africa.

South Africa has been wonderful to us. The people have been so kind and generous, and they have an amazing pride in their country hosting the World Cup.

We will miss Cape Town, which has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The mountain that hovers above is breathtaking. The scenic drives around the city rival anything we have seen in Hawaii. Our time there was a true honeymoon.

We will miss the smiles. Everywhere we went, we were greeted by friendly faces and warm wishes. Everyone asked us where we were from and whether we were enjoying our stay.

We will miss the animals. We spent Wednesday at Pilanesburg National Reserve. Just outside our van, we saw giraffes, elephants, deer, rhinos and warthogs. In Cape Town, we saw lots of penguins, baboons, ostriches and seals. Away from the cities, the country has so much natural beauty.

There also is much we won’t miss.

There is so such deep poverty here, right alongside so much wealth. The shanty towns are everywhere. And until you see them in person, you can only imagine the circumstances in which people are living. No running water. No modern toilets. And there usually is one utility pole linked up to at least 10 shacks. Power outages are a problem, as we experienced many times during our stay. We were amazed, though, to see so many satellite dishes.

It does seem that a middle class is emerging. The mall near our final hotel in Midrand was much like Eastland Mall near our home in Detroit, but it was bustling with shoppers and activity from the locals and tourists. We can only hope the time and money we spend here will help this country build its future.

We won’t miss the Joburg traffic. It’s like Los Angeles. It’s at least an hour drive anywhere. Traffic goes at a frenetic pace. And accidents, which we passed by nightly, often have deadly consequences and snarl traffic for hours.

At night, fires are lit along the freeway to burn off the tall grass. It’s a crazy spectacle to witness. It is like the city is on fire. And the strange smell of burning grass and dry soil is something we will never forget.

But despite all this, we have had so much fun here. It’s a trip we won’t ever forget.

Is it too soon to start planning for Brazil?