My Life in Burundi: 2010-04-04

For Easter, I had 3 days off work, which gave me a five-day weekend. I ended up needing to go to work on Monday and Tuesday but it still made for a nice and relaxing weekend. I stayed in Bujumbura except for Saturday when I went on a day trip to a beach about 1 hour outside of the city. I thought it was a very pretty beach with lots of open space a la Burundi (undiscovered by tourists.)

This Friday, we will be receiving our visitors from Australia and they will be with us for a week. In preparing for them and finally trying to get our annual report printed, I ‘ve been a bit busy at work

Last week, I was in Ruyigi once again and it was quite interesting. Up to this point, every time I stayed in Ruyigi, I lodged in the UNHRC guesthouse. I had become very accustomed to that guesthouse, and it had started to feel like a second home. However, now LWF has a rented house, and I stayed there two nights. It was a relatively decent house but nowhere near as nice as the guesthouse. Then I stayed in this convent in the middle of nowhere, and it was very nice. The view was stunning and it felt like an ideal place to go camping. We ate all our meals with the nuns and they were very friendly. I barely talked to them since everyone at the table was speaking in Kirundi (even though they all speak French.) During one of our meals, I heard them say “...muzungu…,” and knowing that they were talking to me I smiled. Then, my co-worker told me that they were saying that I should learn Kirundi so that when I find my Burundian husband I will be able to speak to my in-laws. Ironic that nuns who decided to never marry were telling me that I should learn Kirundi for my future Burundian in-laws.

Here are some pics of Ruyigi, Gisuru and Blue Bay (the beach 1 hour outside of Buj.)