Orientation: Day II

It was the second and final day of orientation, after some boring information session and a 90min workshop on AIDS and how to avoid it, we boarded the bus for another township named Langa. Langa is similar to Soweto in terms of economic standing-in fact, I have found that township usually refers to a poor area. We toured around the area and got to know this migrant worker township. At the end, we had our IES orientation welcome dinner where we met some families we would be living with for a weekend.
Today marked the opening of the World Cup. The first game to be played was no other than SA vs. Mexico. While the match took place in J0-burg, I traveled downtown to an event called fan fest, an area to watch the game on big screens. This was an experience! I boarded the train that runs into downtown, and it was standing room only in the trains. Every single person sported a yellow shirt and some sort of Vuvuzela (a cheap plastic horn that makes an impressively large noise). It was so crowded, people had pried open the doors of the train an were hanging out them. The whole train roared with cheers and their national anthem (which is probably one of the coolest I have ever heard). We got to the Fan Fest, and it had long ago filled up with 15,000 people and the were many, many more. More than 200,000 people flooded streets playing their vuvuzelas and cheering. The atmosphere was ecstatic and unlike anything I have ever experienced before. This game wasn't even in this city! Finally, I had to get back my flat for a run before the game, then watch the game (1-1 draw). I wonder if this goes on for a month or if this is just a one day celebration. I purchased tickets to a game: Netherlands vs. Cameroon. The tickets were more expensive than I had hoped, but I would definitely regret not taking advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.