Thursday, July 15, 2010

Spain is World Cup Champions 2010!

It wasn't the best world cup final ever but Spain beat Holland 1-0 with a goal in the 119th minute after a very physical match consisting of about a dozen yellow cards and one red card towards the end of the game. I'm glad Sapin won though because now I can say that I had the chance to personally witness the champions win their second round game against Portugal. I'm kind of sad that it is all over......should I start planning my trip to Brazil 2014??

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

NYC





NYC





NYC had it's high points and it's very low points but one thing is for sure it was amazing to be back in America and with my wife Joyce! Some high points of NYC were seeing Joyce, Wicked was freaking UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME, Statue of Liberty, and riding around Central Park. Some of the lows were, dealing with the 102 degree weather and added humidity, almost getting arrested at the 4th of July firework show(you will have to ask me...), putting up with the people of NYC and their rude/I'm better than you attitude, crowds, getting on the wrong subway trains, and having the taxi overheat in rush hour on the way to the airport in 100 degree weather. I'm SOOO happy to finally be home in SLC, Utah!!! Today I get to see my little boy Jack for the first time since June 18th. I'm so excited to see him!!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Uruguay vs Ghana





Even though I don't care about either of the these teams...this game was AWESOME!!! The stadium near Johannesburg was one of the coolest stadiums I've ever seen. It's called Soccer City and it is where the final will be played. Ghana scored in stoppage of the first half and this great player for Uruguay Fornal or something...scored a great free kick in the second half tying it up. Then it went overtime and in the 120th minute Ghana had a shot on goal which a Uruguay defender could only stop with his hands. So he was red carded and Ghana was given a PK with 0 minutes left. All Ghana had to do was make the PK and they would have won but he hit the crossbar and missed!! The hand ball by the defender of Uruguay was now WELL worth the red card...he saved them from going home because Uruguay went on to win the shootout. CRAZY!! The other crazy part was that 95% of the 85,000 people their were cheering for Ghana. It was quite the reaction when things took a turn for the worse for Ghana. So heartbreaking for them. It was a great world cup game to have personally witnessed. Good jog Uruguay.
Getting home from the game was quite an adventure. They set it up so there were only 2 gates about 4 feet wide for 85,000 people to squeeze through. I thought we were going to end up being those fans that get squashed and killed that I've heard about in the news from many years ago. It was a very poorly designed exit plan. Then we finally got on a bus an hour later to take a 45 minute shuttle ride back to Jo-burg with a bunch of crazy drunk and upset soccer hooligans. They were pushing, they were volgure, and even though Ghana lost they were still blowing their Vuvuzuela's like a bunch of retartds....seriously, I watch some of these people blowing their vuvuluela's and wonder if they are mentally handicapped. A lot of the people who are at these games I swear were only their to get drunk and blow their vuvuzuela. They didn't even pay much attention to the game. They were just there for a party I guess. But we eventually got home at about 1:30 am which in Jo-Burg is not a time you want to be out at night.
Today we did a little last minute shopping and now we are headed to the airport. We have a 3 hour layover in Paris and then we arrive in NYC on the morning of July 4th. My wife, sister and mom are already in NYC waiting for us where we will spend a few days. I can't wait to meet up with my beautiful wife Joyce. I have missed her so much!!! It will be soooo good to see her!! So excited to come back to AMERICA!!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday evening. Cape Town is a beautiful city, much nicer and safer than Jo-Burg. There was a lot of World Cup excitment in Cape Town especially at the wharf. It was a party there 24/7. Definitely the coolest world cup crowd we have encountered on our trip. You couldn't look 5 feet without seeing a soccer jersey. Tuesday morning we drove down the coast to first see the penguins at penguin beach and then to head to the Cape of Good Hope which is the southern most part of South Africa. It was terrible weather so we couldn't see much but that didn't stop us from taking the hike to the light house at the top of the mountain. It was worth it though...very pretty with the cliffs and a rainbow shining on them as a result of all the rain. We ate at a resturant there called Two Oceans which has a view of both the Atlantic and Indian oceans...but since the weather was bad we couldn't see much. That evening we headed back to Cape Town to see Portugal vs Spain in a round of 16 match. It was a great game!! The stadium was absulutly breath taking. I'm glad USA didn't have to play Spain...they are looking really good. Spain, Brazil, and Argentina are all playing great soccer and I believe one of them will win, probably Brazil.
Wednesday morning we took the gondola up the mountain to Table Top Mountain. Pictures do not do this place justice at all. It is so beautiful there. It was another bad weather day so we could only see off of the opposite side of the mountain from Cape Town but it was still very cool. After that we drove to the tip of Lions Head which has a great view of both Table Top and Cape Town. The rest of that day we hung out at the wharf where all of the action was and had a nice dinner on the peir.
Thursday morning we went out to Robben Island to see nelson Mendela's cell and the prison. It was cool but the boat ride was so slow and the waves were very high. I felt pretty see sick after the 45 minutes there and back. After that we had lunch and headed back to the airport to come back to Jo-burg.
Today is Friday and we went to the Apartheid Museum. It was very educational but very unorganized and way too long. We were there three hours reading the whole time and we only got through about half of it. Right now I am watching Brazil beating Netherlands 1-0 and in about an hour and a half we are headed to Soweto to see Uruguay vs Ghana play in Soccer City Stadium which holds 92,000 people. I wish it was USA playing though.... :(

Robben Island

Nelson Mendela's cell



Cape Town Wharf







Spain vs Portugal




This was a great game. Good to see two of the world's best teams play against each other in front of 63,000 fans in one of the worlds coolest stadiums.


Cape of Good Hope







Penguin Beach







Cape Town