Feel it, it is here. KE NAKO!!!

normally i hate the sound of vuvuzelas blaring in the afternoon sun, but today i shall make an exception and perhaps join in on some blowing ;) the world cup, she is finally here. all that hard work that people have put into pulling off one of, if not, the biggest sporting event in the world, is finally paying off. feel it, it is here.

i remember when i was a kid, waaay back when my folks were still married (circa 1996), my mom worked for the 2004 olympic bid. she worked crazy long hours and was rarely in the country. i hardly ever saw her, because she and her team were working on this crazy campaign to bring the olympics to south africa. and when the day came for the announcement as to who the host city would be, Athens came out top. all that hard work, and nothing.

next, in about 2000, she was commissioned to work for the 2006 fifa world cup bid. she moved to jhb for a few months which i absolutely hated, but i took solace in the fact that we would get this world cup which would mean that i would score mad free tickets. once again, when they announced the host city,germany came out top.

then came 2004, another bid to get the world cup to south africa (we really are a persistent bunch). i sort of remember the day they announced it. i remember not believing that the world cup would actually come here, so i wasnt phased. then we got it!!!! crazy, right? but like most south africans im sure, i thought, 'really? can we pull this off? i'll believe that when i see it'.

and 6 years later, here it is. the fifa world cup is finally in south africa. we have been counting down for 500 days, and yesterday at the airport the countdown clock had a big '0'! a big '0'!!! i mean, really?? we are actually doing this, and the energy and electricity that its in the air, is something thats indescribable and incomprehensible. everyone is literally joining together to celebrate the spirit that is truly south african. black, white, blue, green, tall, short, left and right, they are all the same right now, and its the most beautiful thing i have ever had the priviledge of experiencing. this is different to the rugby 1995 world cup a) i was young and dont remember much of it, and b) there are no politics behind it. its just a world cup for the sake of being a world cup. a celebrating of soccer, and of nations.

working at the airport, and seeing people all over the world coming into OUR country, onto OUR turf to experience the same kind of magic is something out of the world, and it would be my dream to put that energy into a bottle and sell it for millions. i hope that all our foreign visitors leave here with the south african stamp tattooed on their lower backs. this country is some other kind of fucked up special, and i have never been so proud to be a south african, and to be a part of this memorable moment in our history. a moment of pure celebration. unity.

as that castle/black label said waaay back in the day (with some other world cup. maybe japan?), 'one nation, one soul. one beer, one goal'. i believe it. i stand by it. and i know we will all live it.

FEEL IT. IT IS HERE. KE NAKO!!!!!

rabi