Unity in Diversity: The Netherlands

Today the Netherlands are playing Demark in Johannesburg.

This is their flag

I’m going to tell you a little bit about the Dutch soccer supporters and what has been going on over there during the build up to the Soccer World Cup.

They are absolutely crazy about soccer! They call it voetbal (football) over there and over the past five weeks, Holland has slowly, but not quietly transformed to bright orange!

Multi-storey buildings that were once grey and drab have now undergone a metamorphosis, houses and shops are all orange!

Like us, they have flags hanging from their cars and school children have been sporting the soccer uniform for weeks!

Every advert on TV has something to do with soccer. Shops that don’t ordinarily sell any form of fan gear are now selling orange hats, horns and flags. Some stores are running promotions whereby fans can collect 32 mini soccer balls, each one bearing the flag of all the participating nations. There are also mini badges with the participating county’s soccer jersey on it.  Soccer fever has spread far and wide!

The Waka Waka song by Shakiera and Freshly Ground has got Hollander’s dancing and bopping. The Coca Cola song “Just like the wavin’ flag” by artist K’naan is also a big hit.

The Dutch soccer Mascot is a mighty lion.

He has also been featured in nearly every TV advert and you will find him on all the fan gear.  The Hollander’s have a new saying that, the land of the big five (One of the Big Five is the lion) is the land of the champion. Meaning, they are champions because their mascot is a lion and he lives in Africa and that is where their team will be playing.  

Some of their favourite match time snacks are platters of cheese and sausages made from various meats, cut into small pieces. Another favourite is Bitter ballen. It’s a small ball with meat inside and that is deep fried in oil for a couple of minutes. Then, once it has cooled down, it is dipped in mustard.  These platters are selling like hot cakes at the local grocery stores as fans are stocking up on match time munchies!

The Hollander’s are pretty patriotic and they support their team 100%. They want the World to know that they may be a small country, but they have BIG team spirit!

 

Go Holland!

Soccer Friday! It's here!

Greetings from a very cold South Africa! Today is the day we have been waiting for, for six years! All eyes are on South Africa! Welcome World! We are so excited! Last night was the kick of concert at Orlando stadium in Soweto. Although I did not get to go, I watched at home and cheered! The spirit shown at the concert was amazing! Here are some pictures from last night. Sorry, they are bad quality, but I took photos of the TV.

Shakiera singing the official Word Cup song "Waka Waka"

K'naan singing the Coca Cola Word Cup Song "Just like the wavin' flag"

My favourite South African Band The Parlotones

Many South African fans as well as fans from other nations

The crowd was fantastic!

That was a few of the images. Among the artists were, the Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys a few African artists and a band from South America. It was a fantastic display of unity! 

I will keep you posted. 

Go Bafana Bafana! Go South Africa! Wahoo!

Wordless Wednesday

World Cup Fever!

On our travels around Johannesburg last Saturday, we came across this guy. 

Of all the World Cup madness, I have never seen this. He poses as a statue (we have a number of them in and around the city), but this is the first one I have seen who has taken the World Cup spirit to a new level and added it to his routine. His "traditional dress" is made up of our flag instead of animal skins. I thought this was very cool and took a few pictures as he struck different poses!

We have a few days to go and the excitement is mounting! For six years, it seemed as though the day would never arrive and here we are! I am extremely excited, especially since my bosses have decided to close early so that we can watch the opening ceremony and match! Yahoo!

How to do the Diski Dance

Hello everyone,

With less than a week to go before the Soccer World Cup starts, there much excitement here in South Africa. We have a dance for the World Cup called the Diski Dance. Here is a video on how to do it. If you look closely, you will see some soccer moves in the dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fML326GXJPY

Enjoy!

What's for dinner?

Well, the copious amounts of vitamin C tablets didn't work and I have spent the weekend in bed coughing and sneezing. Boy am I grateful for my laptop and the Internet to pass the weary hours in bed. 

Tonight, Rich is cooking up a culinary feast! We are making it a past time to have a potjie every Sunday night. Us South Africans enjoy what we call a potjie (pronounced poykee). It is a round cast iron pot on three legs. Usually we cook a stew in it over a bed of coals. Tonight we are having beef shin, with veggies and dumplings. Yum! We are also having potbrood (potbread). Its bread baked in a flat bottomed cast iron pot over the coals. Tonight we are having a special steamed melkbrood (milk bread). 

There is an art to making a successful potjie. You don't just throw in all the ingredients and hope for the best. No, no! Once the temperature of the coals is right, you heat some cooking oil in the pot and brown the meat. Then you take the meat out and brown the onions. Put the meat back in the pot, prepare the stock and spices, and add that the meat and onions. Cook for an hour or two. Then add your veg in layers according to how long they take to cook. For example potatoes go in first because they take longer. Then the carrots and so on. Leave that to cook for another hour or two. The longer the better. Keep an hour on the temperature and the level of the liquid. You don't want it to catch. If you are going to add dumplings to it, prepare the mixture and gently spoon in the dumplings 15-20 minutes before you serve. DON’T lift the lid while the dumplings are cooking or they will flop!

And there you have it. 

Starting off

Greetings here from sunny South Africa!

Welcome to my blog. In it I will attempt to keep you all posted on my news and include lots of photos on what we get up to. I will also show you pictures of all the beautiful places we have visited and hope to visit in our amazing country.

It's a beautiful Autumn day here in Gauteng! I am fighting off a bit of a cold and I think the copious amounts of chewy vitamin C tablets are working!

That is all for now. Please bear with me as I am new at this and may make a few mistakes.

Look out for my next post.

All the best
Dom