akila

how about some vines wrapped around the face where the mouth should be. Or have a speech bubble and do something creative with that.

Hey, I'm excited about the World Cup, too! I think if the United States can get a good bracket...

Oh, ok, I'm an American, I know zip about the world cup...Except when Brazil won it in 1994 and I made the mistake of trying to drive through the neighboring town that's full of Brazilian immigrants! Everyone was out in the streets--it was fun to see, but it took forever to get where I was going.

I may be mistaken I thought all South Africans were rugby mad not football. All I know is America couldn't care less about it.

A bit. Even before the draw, which I am still smiling a little about (Slovenia and Algiria? Really?), there was not a lot of enthusiasm about South Africa. Concerns are more about crime and transportation.

Hi! ja ik kan je verstaan! alles goed?

ur not the only one!

but go for it. take a break, leave the country for a week... or life. lol

I checked with the Department of State. The website reported that few American tourists had problems at the Federations Cup, but that was only eight national teams, and one was South Africa. So the police did not have that much to do. With 32 nations, plus the fact that the hotels that should have built were not, when I called my friend at State, he said "straight up red light." Right now, State is advising Americans to stay home.

State will be coming out with an official report on the World Cup next month. The more rand Obama gets, the better South Africa will look.

That truly is disgusting.
I don't care what the end of that statement was ....kill the farmers, kill the straight people, whatever.
To have 3K people ready to go out and do it?

I am sorry that your government isn't actually doing anything to help bridge the gap between the races. And also that they aren't doing anything to stop the violence in that area.

The sad part is that all the violence and hatred is just going to slowly kill the country. Economy will get worse, violence and hatred will continue to grow, and education will decline.

Crime and violence needs to get under control in order for the society to progress at all. The government also knows the country is totally screwed without its white population. Stuff like this takes a long time to work out--we're still working on it in the states, 145 years after the end of slavery and 46 years after the major civil rights legislation of the 1960s. There's an inevitable backlash when overinflated hopes are dashed by reality.
Blaming the whites is going to be an easy answer for awhile. And 46 years of apartheid is a pretty heavy burden, even if your generation had nothing to do with it. Obama was two when King had his "I had a dream speech". It might take another 30 years for politicians who are truly "post-apartheid" to show up.

I don't blame you for feeling the way you do, though. It's a horrible situation. It's easy for me to take the long view thousands of miles away where no one is trying to carjack me.

I have had three friends offer me their World Cup tickets. The US is not close to selling out our ticket allocation; people are afraid to go there.

Also, there is not a great deal of trust in South Africa's leaders right now.

Crazy people are everywhere in the world, some places a bit more than others. SA from what I hear is not the safest place. Hope you and your friends recover and gtfo.

how about you? will you be alright? that's pretty traumatic!!!
I am glad to hear your friend is ok and I hope you both recover from that nightmare.

chilli flavoured peanuts??!!?? Wow, you've got weird customs there!!!

But... a president with almost 20 kids??? Are you serious??? That's crazy!!!

That doesn't look so bad compared to American politicians.

Blow off the acquaintance--a hippie braai sounds foolish whatever it is!

Will you be missed? Sometimes you gotta do stuff just 'cause, but on the flip-side, life's too short to waste time on "should"...