End of Burundi Chapter 1

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Trip Start Jun 27, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 01, 2009

  Bujumbura, Burundi
Sunday, May 31, 2009

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 floods of the rainy season. I did however encounter innumerable technical difficulties after Christmas, including a digital camera charger that quit working, frequent power outages - one of them lasting 4 days straight, a lightning storm that rendered my computer charger 100% useless, and an internet connection that seemed to not work more often than it did. All of it became rather discouraging at times, and so I gave up on the blog altogether. So as not to leave this journal unfinished, however, let me give the condensed version of the end of my first year in Burundi.

Christmas : I had the very great honor to be welcomed as a member of the Johnson household, the ones for whom I was homeschooling, for Christmas Eve. The celebration included an enormous feast with foods not easily found in Burundi, including imported European cheese and crackers, apples, homemade dinner rolls, and sweets galore. After eating as much as we possibly could, we then gathered round the tree to read the Christmas story and distribute and open gifts. If you've never had the privilege of watching 10 children open presents simultaneously, I'd recommend it; it's enormously entertaining.

And if this weren't enough excitement, on the day after Christmas I flew home to Phoenix to surprise family and friends, according to a rather sneakily organized plan of my dad's. In spite of a few minor leaks of information, the surprise was for the most part a tremendous success.

Moving House: In March a friend from the UK went home to spend a couple of months with her family and allowed me to stay in her house during my final weeks in Bujumbura for this school year. As much as I had enjoyed the apartment, it had become rather noisy with increasing traffic on the street in front of it, a bit lonesome as the family who had originally lived in the rooms next to mine had moved out in December, and rather hot as nightly power outages prevented the use of a fan during prime sleeping hours. The new house was a very cozy cottage with a lovely garden and an unbelievable view of Lake Tanganyika and the Congolese mountains behind it.

Saying Goodbye...Temporarily: The remaining time between December and May saw the departure of old friends and arrival of new; birthday celebrations; hard work on the part of Sarah and Carly, my two students, to finish their studies for the year; days now and then spent at the beach; and the decision to turn my 10 month stay in Burundi into an indefinitely longer venture. I searched for a more permanent occupation and was offered a job teaching Year 4 (8-year-olds) at an English speaking Christian school beginning in September 2009. In May I bid adieu to Bujumbura and left Africa for a two month holiday to visit friends and family and scale back the number of my possessions stored in my parents' garage in Phoenix. Thus, my first adventure here has ended only to open the door for a new one to begin.

Thank you to those of you who have either intentionally or unintentionally stumbled across my story and have read it all the way through to its completion. I hope you've been able to catch a very small glimpse of life in this corner of the world.

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Christmas Feast	Zoo trip with the Johnsons	Cottage Living Room	The Cottage
Cottage Garden

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