Annalog

The World Cup comes to South Africa in just under a year. The media buzz has started. Tourists are getting ready to flood into the country still hurting from apartheid. How will visitors react to the still blatant disparities in this developing country? Concerns about xenophobic violence in townships around the country threatened the country’s prospects of hosting the games last year, but fears were quelled after the brief outbreak cooled. 

Last year, as my cab drove away from the airport in Cape Town and toward my new apartment, I passed an electronic sign counting down the days until the soccer tournament began. In the 700s then. And now, a year later, I think back wistfully to the days I spent galavanting around Cape Town covering stories and taking photographs.

I remember sitting in a friend’s apartment last year in an area of Cape Town called Greenpoint, looking out over the scaffolding of the soon-to-be World Cup stadium. “Winter” in this spectacular city is hardly what you would call unbearable—huge clouds grace the skies and though occasional showers fall, it felt as though I were back in the Bay Area on a summer’s day. Cape Town. Just like home.