Lebewohl deutschland, helden noch in meinen augen

Cape Town jou lekka ding - things heat up on the parade before the Spain - Germany Semi.

Brazilian men. in dresses. with funny underwear/
Saw one woman who wanted a picture of the well dressed boys, and when he whipped this lil fellow out she gasped and put her hand in front of her little girl's eyes;)

Yeah Baby.
The Grand Parade is your staduim, in Cape Town we dont Ole, we Ayoba...
SAPS on the look out.

Third place. again.

Captain Deutschland agrees with the Octapus when he says he had a bad feeling about the Spain - Germany game. I should have known, when he showed up without his hat, that this had stirred a slightly different gees in Germany's biggest fan.

The parade was a live and cooking, and like sussie said to me when we just arrived there

- i love how everyone is so happy -

We danced to the sound of klopse and shook our asses (mine draped in a Germany scarf) while singing "Stamp daai boude lam'' as the lights came on on the mountain and stunning city hall.

A Cape Town magic moment. I love this city.

The game was tense, but on the night Spain was the better team, and as heartbreaking as that goal and those last few minutes was,

the German dream was ended as the Spanish marched on 'to what A calls, the final of the virgins.'

Neither team has ever won it, so I will sit back and enjoy what is sure to be an entertaining final to this very successful world cup'.

Like the Times said today - South Africa is the real winner today, as we have proved all our critics wrong, showed all the pessimists on their noses and swept away all doubt that we can do anything we put our collective minds to.

Viva Mzansi, I am VERY proud.

And last night the German's also made me proud as they kicked some Uruguayan ass, and took bronze in a very entertaining 5 goal third place play off.

We watched at the Apartment (adidas 3 stories) after the Bin exhibition, but read more about that later.

Sad German fans at Kimberley Hotel after the game (love the ears love)

The day of the Germans.

This big day was well planned out. It too would run with German precision.

We assembled and started with breakfast (and a castle light – JUST because it was only R10 with any breakfast) at Beleza, after which we proceeded to park cars at my house and walk down to the fan park, like a well organised German army led by our kitted out captain. (except for the one named Adolf, ironically, who got delaed by an Argentinean fan and showed up later)

By the time we found our spot, “South African Lager” in hand there was still 2hours to go and the place was already PACKED>

So we got to watch the live entertainment. The build up to the game gave us theamazing Vuvuzela Orchestra (biiig fail, they can be glad they picked hits like Shosaloza and the SA National anthem (disgrace!) cause if the crowd wasn’t singing along enthusiastically I doubt you would have known what they wereplaying.

Other acts (slightly better) included Ice-cream and chocolate sticks (who opened with their hit MY CAPE TOWN – with the super cool, super local music video that my buddy My worked on...) as well as a speech by Danny Jordaan (what a legend) and other important people. Even the very popular Zakumi made an appearance (or 3), as we heard Waka Waka once again.

“Waka waka it’s time for Africa, oh oh oh oh oh - when i grow older I will be stronger...” seemed to be the constant sound track to the day...

And then the game kicked off, with nervous smiles on the painted faces around me. Never did we expect a four - null thumping.

After celebrating the 1^st goal, jumping up and down, spilling beer and taking out of focus pictures I saw this little boy was watching us with a sad face, i stopped in mid jump and smiled at him, and he gave me a sad smile back. Im sorry your team had to be so humiliated lil man. Stay strong ;)

The celebrations quickly got CRAZY and with every goal the men in black scored more German fans made their way over to our chaotic mosh pit part of the parade.

By the end of the game I was surrounded by Germans, and FIFA official photographers horded in to snap away at the magic celebrations...

What a game, what an outcome... My heart still pounded wildly by the time we settled in front of a friend’s TV with a glass of red wine to see who the opponent in the next game would be.

And all I have to say about that is that the Spanish will have to come with something a little more special if they want to beat the Deutsche Machine tonight.

Die Kaap is weer Hollands (an old Afrikaans saying, meaning the cape is Dutch again, referring to the early history of Cape Town when the Dutch and English took turns to rule the Cape) as last night my city was orange with Dutchies marching to the Final at Soccer City on Sunday.

A Dutch – German final would be a dream come true... touch wood, hold thumbs, and cheer your hearts out.

(i have some great images, just need to find a reliable internet connection... TIA... for now you can view them here)

BaGhana BaGhana...

Trying to blow them away...
Dancing for Ghana!
Let your light shine on!

GOOOOOAAAAAL!
Go Ghana, go ghana...
Beer in a bucket (still a rip off at R100 for 6 castles...)
Dirty dancemoves and fancy footwork... it had to happen!
GHANA> waka waka its time for Africa...
me and the wall of hope and dreams:)

Man this world cup is exciting.

In one weekend we said goodbye to everyone’s favourites (during Brazil's last game it sounded like the commentators had already GIVEN them the cup...), saw my Germans score FOUR goals in a game that everyone thought would be the tough one, and Spain marched on as predicted although they will have to pull up their socks if they want to get past the German efficiency tomorrow.

On Friday we postponed a planned sushi reunion dinner when we realised Africa's last hope was up against every South African's least favourite team - Uruguay.

So we marched into the dark smoky parking lot that doubles as the Mexican Shebeen. (Even though the Mexicans are long gone and the place was very much Dutch on Friday...)

What happened in the dark corners of the parking lot is where it gets interesting...

From girls in red, green and white cheerleading outfits, to R20 a castle (can!!!), to the greasy old man who asked me if i wanted another boyfriend, apparently I am so tall there is enough for two men...

I arrived JUST as the final whistle went and the crazy orange crowd started to celebrate. I had missed this historical match as I spent most of Friday in bed nursing a headache, and since i HAD to be at the Ghana game, i sacrificed the Dutch for an afternoon nap. When i got to Engen though, every petrol attendant and man on the street was gathered around the TV they have put up for the duration of the Cup. It was 2 – 1 to Holland, and my first sight of the game.

Of cause I immediately sms-ed H “looks like your team has 10mins to score or go home...”

But back at the shebeen, where everyone was getting ready to cheer on Ghana. Waka Waka – it’s time for Africa... And when the black stars scored on the call of the half time whistle we were all on the tables dancing.

(and i spilled my R20 beer in my lap...)

My Canadian couchsurfer must think these white African girls are crazy.

But what can we say – Ghana had it and they dropped it. Missing a penalty in the last seconds of the game is a give away, and while Kingson proved to be another WALL in defence, and everyone was on the edge of their seats...


but their penalty kicking just wasn’t good enough and the damn cheating Uruguayans marched on to a Semi with the Dutch.

The shebeen quickly ran empty as we raced through the streets looking for a midnight snack...

we had to get ready for THE BIG ONE>