In South Africa, surprisingly, there are few major differences when compared to the United States. People act the same, dress the same, have similar humor, listen to similar music, and, in general, have similar aspirations. Streets are named Florida, Orlando, and Orange, and the landscape and climate are similar to what you’d fine in the United States. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘travel’
21 Jun
An Introduction, 4 Days Late…
This was intended to be posted upon arrival in South Africa on Friday night, but as things worked out, we had no access to Internet until tonight. So here, late, is that intended post, with a vow to follow with further updates, more regularly, from here on, as we are supposed to be internet-capable from [...]
13 Jun
Sorry, No ‘Green’ Jokes Here
If you’ve come to this blog post expecting for me to pile it on Robert Green, to add yet another witty headline bashing the ridiculed English keeper, to talk about Dempsey’s “Hand of Clod” goal, then you’ve come to the wrong place. That’s the easy path, the proverbial bandwagon choice, the road most travelled, and while I relish the USA draw with [...]
9 Jun
Pre-Game Warm-Up (1995)
Make no mistake, when we leave for South Africa in 8 days and subsequently attend 3 World Cup matches beginning on June 23, it will be by far the biggest stage in which any of us have ever witnessed a professional soccer match, or any sporting event for that matter. It will not, however, be the first professional soccer match we [...]
19 May
Epilogue/Prologue
The conclusion of one event leads to the commencement of another. As I wrapped things up in Chicago, I knew that I could fully turn my focus from preparing a talk on new approaches to address-based sampling at the Freqs and Geeks conference to preparing for a south-of-the-equator trip to watch the world’s biggest sporting event. Even [...]
18 May
The Magical World of Chicago, Part Due
The Night at Wrigley (see Part Uno) , I thought, would be the end of spontaneous adventures in Chicago. No more solitary travels through the famed Second City without backup. Too many things that should have gone wrong went right, better off quitting while I was in the lead. This idea, however, fell to the wayside this [...]
17 May
The Magical World of Chicago, Part Uno
The time away from my blog has been spent working, and travelling, actually travelling for work. My destination was to the city of Chicago, to which I dedicate this post, as a tribute to the good fortunes I have found there. This 2-part post, and my recent business trip with a twist of pleasure, has little to [...]
3 May
The Unintended Consequences of A Florida Soccer Camp
Ironically, my first experience playing soccer in Florida wasn’t when I moved here in my late twenties, wasn’t as a member of Nielsen United. Actually, my first time playing soccer in the Sunshine State was in the Summer of 1994, when, after having seen an ad for the Lanzera National Select Soccer Camp, I ever-so-gently twisted my parents’ [...]
23 Mar
Experimental Travel Part II: A-B-C, (Not Quite As) Easy as 1-2-3
Soon after three “random trips”, I decided to step up my experimentation, be more ambitious, really push the envelope on the scope of travel. One catalyst for this heightened desire was the Lonely Planet published Experimental Travel, a book full of short travels with the goal of travelling “with constraints, that at the same time liberates you [...]
16 Mar
To The Edge of the World And Back With No Sign of Zakumi The Leopard
After nearly a month of deliberating, scouring the Internet for deals and info, petitioning the help of travel agents dubbed as “South African experts”, and conducting late night conference calls with our travel companions Mike and Regina to sift through the details, we finally, finally wrote our last check in anticipation of the trip. The [...]
