Are you a foreigner?

The lads carry a net

Happy fan at the training

The medically unsound vuvuzela

June 8

Last night I took a look at the night sky, my first real look at the southern sky. Lots of unfamiliar constellations, plus a few I know that are only seen in the north for a few months. The sky is pretty dark here, but you can see the glow from greater Johannesburg. The Milky Way is faint, but still visible, which seems to be amazing. People complain of smog, which I think is the smoke from fires being burned on land and of trash.

On to Tuesday--Busy day. After a very full breakfast provided by Wendy at the Apricot Hill Farm, including oatmeal, cold cereal with soy milk, toast aired out in those British metal toast holders and various hot items, I set out on a walk of 5 km down the dirt road. The weather has been extremely good, sunny days in the 60’s, cold at night but clear.

After the walk I drive to a nearby big intersection where I’ve seen vendors selling large flags of the World Cup countries. They are a bit wary at first, then enjoy having their pictures taken. Two high school boys in uniforms come up and ask if I’m a foreigner. I say, definitely yes. They welcome me to South Africa and are pleased I’m here. One has visited New York. Both are rooting for the SA soccer team, but admit they aren’t very good.

Returning to the farm I see people blowing the vuvuzela horns, a long plastic tube producing a very loud noise. Apparently a health hazard as AFP reports: Football fans attending the World Cup risk permanent damage to their hearing from the vuvuzela horns which are the must-have accessory at the tournament in South Africa, a study said Monday.

Later in the afternoon I head to St. Stithius College in Sandton for the Australian training, a different venue than normal. I’ve looked at a map and it seemed fairly easy but thought I would use the GPS since it’s in another town. I had put in the gps coordinates listed on the St. Stithius web site, but I may have made a mistake. The GPS had me driving around the area with no college in sight. Made a turn into a small shopping mall into the right lane, in my attempt to make a u-turn. Eventually I stop and ask a school boy in a uniform, and I found it. Used the original directions to head back to the farm and it was better.

I think I might be the only non-Aussie photographer to cover ‘the lads’. Big contingent of Australian press in general, including the AFP correspondent who, thankfully, knows a lot about the team. Training went well, we all shoot a lot since tomorrows session is closed to the media.

Where I’m staying seems to be a fairly mixed area, at least in the shops and on the roads. The shopping center I’ve been to has a mix of people, all fairly middle class. Though almost all the the workers, such as checkout women at the grocery store, the help around the Apricot Hill Farm, police, cleaning people etc appear to be black. Owners, managers look to be white. Not sure where people live or what the neighborhoods are like.