Saturday afternoon was quite a fun one indeed. Our entire group went to the Uganda Crane’s vs. Kenya futball game. In the days coming to the event, besides the terrorist threats coming from none other than the American embassy, the streets of Kampala were bustling with Crane’s fanatics. The guys who normally stand next to the taxi jam’s selling newspaper and airtime were now selling various Crane’s jerseys, whistles, Vuvuzela horns (loudest things in the world, especially when played strait in your ear), masks, visors, Safari hats, flags… the list goes on. After our 8:00am presentations we headed strait to the game. The game doesn’t actually start until 5, but apparently it takes forever to get in the later you go. So, as muzungu’s of course we left at 10. My friend Veronica and I went separately to the game to meet everyone else. The ride there was hilarious, and every Ugandan was so happy to see Muzungu’s like us supporting their team, and they lead us right in the direction of the stadium. Every bota bota (motorcycle) riding past our taxi was heading to the game blowing their horns and going crazy for the game, slightly like a parade. Sadly, Veronica and I had no idea where to go for our VIP seats, and it was so loud there that we couldn’t talk on the phone with our other SIT friends. So the nice Ugandan’s let us in the front of the line even though there were hundreds of people waiting for hours. Well, turns out we got in at the regular admissions gate, and when they took our ticket they never gave us a stub back that said we were in VIP, and therefore had no proof that we had VIP tickets. The next 2 hours were spent getting ourselves from stadium person to police man to another police man to another stadium person to listen to our story and let us in VIP. After some time and a little $1 bribe they let us in VIP. Good thing is that we wasted 2 hours! Bad thing was that now we weren’t allowed to leave the VIP section to get any food or drinks unless we borrowed someone else’s stub. So, we waited 3 more hours in the stadium while everyone else from our group was nicely seated outside the stadium eating and drinking and enjoying the lovely weather. Luckily, we got the fabulous experience of watching all the crazy Ugandans running around the field (some in traditional African attire, some ball handlers, and some naked man who I’m sure was not suppose to be part of the entertainment). Finally, the game started and we were reunited with our group and it was awesome! Compared to the wait and anticipation, the game did not last very long… The whole game was on the Kenyan side, and Uganda had soo many more shots on net. But, unfortunately the game ended with 0-0 and Kenya moved on to the Africa cup… But, I was impressed with the sportsmanship of the Ugandan’s, once the game was done it was done and never spoken of again.
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