Chez Vaya Bujumbura

Gegroet sensatiebeluste lezer!



Twas te denken, dat foto's zoals de deze je aandacht zouden trekken. What the f*** spookt dieë Jef daar na een week uit met granaatwerpers, rebellen en kindsoldaten? Een blitscarrière in de locale rebellen beweging? Een coup d'état aant beramen? Of net aangapapt met de legeroverste?

Tijd om een paar kleine geheimpjes te onthullen....

De eerste twee weken na mijn langverwachte aankomst ...

Ik weet dat jullie allemaal
watertandend aan het wachten zijn op verhalen vanuit het onbekende,
wilde, gevaarlijke, prachtige middenafrikaanse heuvellandschap.



Niet echt iets meegemaakt, niks
interssant tegengekomen, niks te vertellen eigenlijk...



Dus niet!! laat ik misschien beginnen
met er een stukje copy-paste tekst tegenaan te smijten: een mailtje
dat ik al had gestuurd naar de gelukkigen waarvan ik nog ...

Le pays est calme. On peut le visiter sans crainte. Je pensais faire un
detour express, mais le visa rwandais est difficile a avoir pour les
francais. Pour la premiere j ai du faire demi tour devant la frontiere
rwandaise, les fonctionnaires n ayant pas voulu me faire le visa a la
frontiere. Et au consulat je fais rigoler quand je montre mon passeport
francais. J attend donc mon visa rwandais, en visitant le burundi :
Pierre de Livingstone, musee vivant, sources du Nil,...

He had been seated, but now he stood, raising himself in front of me. His left hand slid down towards his waist, coming to rest of the handle of a gun I hadn't been able to see when he was behind the desk. It was the move of a bully, an implied threat of violence that most would shirk away from. By I was heated, and I knew I was in the right. My response was not subtle. I raised my eyes to his and continuing in French I spoke directly to his blazing eyes ...

In case those of you who began following my blog in July 2008 had wondered what happened to me, let me try to come up with a semblance of an excuse for why I haven't posted a single word on this blog at any point during the past 8 months. I did not have any unfortunate encounters with local wildlife, contract any of the infectious diseases that the mosquitoes here seem to be so adept at sharing, or get washed into Lake Tanganyika during one of the heavy ...

... which means that at least 3 times per week I get to eat something other than my own cooking and am thus assured of having fairly balanced meals at least on those occasions, which probably relieves my family to know. In addition to tutoring, I also spend two afternoons each week visiting 40 Batwa high school students from various villages throughout Burundi at the large house in which they have ...

... which last week included LOTS of hippos, birds, a little crocodile, and even a monkey, all at distances close enough to remind me I am truly in Africa but far enough away not to be frightening. So, for those of you wondering when I'd be posting photos of African wildlife, here it is at long last. Enjoy!

... dancing. My four American housemates and I were the only Muzungus in attendance and were considered the guests of honor, though most of us would have preferred to sit quietly in the background without gathering much attention. When we went out for fresh air, we were bombarded with requests from people wanting to have their pictures taken with us, which we laughingly obliged.

... but for some reason the messages were lost in cyberspace. "I'll come right over" he told me. He arrived about an hour later and we talked for quite a while about the situation in Burundi, progress in the Church group and plans for the next two days. The Sabbath tomorrow is a civil work day. Everyone is supposed to spend the whole morning working on various community improvement projects. The police and army put up roadblocks all the country to prevent people from ...

... opens up the classroom. There are still a few quirks to be worked on, such as figuring out why not all of the electrical outlets and lights work, repairing the hot water heater so that putting the kettle on to boil whenever I need to do dishes and taking chilly showers are no longer necessary, and repainting some of the walls to hide the mold that I can't seem to figure out how to get rid of. (If anyone ...