Tickets in hand, we arrived at the England vs Algeria game about 10 minutes after it had started. The sound, as we approached the stadium, was unlike anything we'd ever heard before. England supporters were there in force, cheering and singing for their team. As we got closer to the stadium we could see white flags with red crosses hanging from the pavilions - it reminded me of a scene from a gladiator contest in medieval England. As we entered, amidst the roar of the crowd, I almost expected to see shining knights riding white horses!

Unfortunately for England, all the shouting, blowing of vuvuzelas, and singing wasn't enough. The "mighty" England team suffered a 0-0 draw against Algeria, a team ranked far lower than them. The mood after the match was a pretty sombre one and even though we decided to support Algeria in this match we felt genuinely sorry for the thousands of supporters who had high hopes of a spectacular win.

Match results aside, as we walked to meet friends at a local restaurant we stopped to take this photo from the edge of the lake. It really was the most beautiful of evenings - the air was warm and there was no wind to speak of. Isn't this just the most grandest stadium?

It's ironic that the oppression brought to our country by colonialism also gave South Africa a game that transgressed racial boundaries and became so ingrained into our black South African culture that to me (a fair-skinned South African) it seems as though football originated in Africa. Even though it never originates here, it really seems like an African sport!

More than 20 years ago, during the apartheid years, football was also segregated according to racial lines. Separate governing bodies existed and separate stadiums housed football events. Hell, football matches were even used by the ANC to hold "secret" political gatherings! Today our country's flag, shown in the photo, symbolises exactly what has happened to football over the past few years. The paths of different races and cultures have joined to unite in common support for our team, Bafana Bafana.

We thought it amazing when black South Africans joined in support of our mostly-white Springbok rugby team. I now find it even more amazing how white South Africa has joined with black in support of the mostly-black Bafana Bafana team.

Bafana Bafana, even though you lost the match on Wednesday evening, you've made your country proud. All the best for the next game! ===========<O "Paaaaaaaarrrrrp"

Many foreign visitors to South Africa have bought their own vuvuzelas to take along to matches, fan parks, and actually any place where football is being watched. An interesting thing that we noticed is that sometimes newbie vuvuzela-blowers don't know when it's appropriate to blow the instrument. Sometimes you'll find that the people not accustomed to the vuvuzela blow it when the opposing team scores a goal, or one of their star players is yellow-carded. It seemed as though these folk correlate the "paaaaaaarp" sound with a "booooooooo" when in fact the vuvuzela is intended to be blown when your team scores a goal, or plays particularly well. It's meant as a sound of encouragement.

Seasoned vuvuzela players play in rhythm with each other, producing different notes with rhythmic calls and call-backs. Kerry-Anne noticed that many people new to the instrument overwhelmingly blow single lonesome blasts that do in fact often sound like the noise that a depressed elephant would make. If you're one of these people, don't take this as negative criticism - I too class myself as a newbie and a learner vuvuzela-blower (although I do try to avoid playing the depressed elephant song). :)

Even my corporate employer has caught the World Cup football spirit. Elevator doors in this photo and on each floor in our building now feature silhouetted football players with a stadium full of fans in the background. The glass interior has been covered with photos of crowds in a stadium, and foosball tables have been offered as prizes to be won by a couple of lucky employees.

People all over our office are wearing their yellow Bafana Bafana tops, and casual corridor conversations inevitably include talk about some aspect of a match, the chance of one team winning over another, how well a particular team played, what games people have tickets to watch, and how best to get to and from the stadium.

If you know where I work and have an interest in the company, not to worry, you don't have to be alarmed. Real work is continuing at a breakneck speed - and in fact some of my colleagues are in the office as I write, at 10pm, developing software, fixing bugs and testing applications. Respect, guys, respect!

Due to it's "noisiness" the vuvuzela (voo-voo-zai[r]-la) was one of the the more contentious topics around the FIFA Football World Cup that was kicked off at about about 14h00. The vuvuzela is essentially a long plastic trumpet that you blow into while allowing your squished up lips to vibrate as the air passes between them. That folks is the buzzing sound that you keep hearing on your televisions while watching the matches!

This huge vuvuzela, obviously sponsored by Hyundai, was placed on the end of this unfinished bridge in Cape Town. Apparently the vuvuzela has a truck hooter horn attached to the end that will be activated each time a goal is scored in Cape Town Stadium. :)

Many locals previously complained bitterly about the noise created by the vuvuzelas, but now that the World Cup has arrived it seems like the complaints have died down and vuvuzela sales have gone up... drastically! Most of my colleagues at work arrived proudly wearing Bafana Bafana tshirts and/or South African flags, with many carrying their newly-bought vuvuzelas. The atmosphere in our offices was huge (almost like this vuvuzela ;) )!

In my next post I'll let you know how the opening ceremony and the game between Bafana Bafana and Mexico went; as well as our experience at the first match (France vs. Uruguay) in the Cape Town Stadium.

"Ke nako" is a Sotho phrase that forms part of the official 2010 Football World Cup slogan, "Ke Nako. Celebrate Africa's Humanity.".

Basically, the phrase means "it's time", and refers to the fact that it's time for Africa to be in the world's spotlight. It's time for Africa to host the Word Cup of a sport that's hugely important to millions of Africans. It's time for Africa to welcome the world to her shores. And it's time for the world to recognise that Africa can be the capable host of a world-class event.

Over the past few weeks, and increasingly over the past few days, we've seen people wearing our team's colours and cars driving with flags flying on their bonnets or roofs. We even have flags covering our cars' side mirrors! It seems like in the last week the vibe has escalated and our sleepy city has woken up and realised that it's time. Ke nako!

If you haven't picked up your tickets for the World Cup football matches in Cape Town, then best head on over to the FIFA ticket sales and collections office as soon as possible. We visited to collect our tickets for three of the matches. It was really a piece of cake - everyone was in a festive mood, the officials were friendly and we were in and out in a flash.

Check the ticketing page on FIFA's website if you're not sure where to find the office. If you prefer a map, I've marked it on this Google Maps map. :)

For the last few weeks construction work in the city has been going on like there's no tomorrow, and now with the start of the football world cup being only days away it's like the entire city has suddenly switched over from building-mode to cleaning-mode, making itself ready for our international guests to arrive.

We've seen huge road-cleaning machines sweeping gutters, workmen sweeping down pavements (side-walks), and structures getting a fresh coat of paint. Banners are going up, flags are flying, and excitement is brewing. Get ready South Africa, get ready Cape Town, our guests are about to arrive!