Week 2

Our apologies for not blogging sooner, it has been problematic to get onto the internet for us. We have to go downtown to an internet café, quite a ways from our house in order to get access. I am sitting in the dark right now. We have lost power at least 3 times since we have been here so our headlamps come in handy!

On our first weekend we went to a reserve to see Hippos. We were able to see them from afar, it was quite thrilling to see them in their natural habitat. We then made our way to the Congo/Burundi border. It was very busy with people buying and selling items, there were also many people crossing the border. The kids were quite intrigued with a man cooking goat heads on a barbeque... As we drove to the Congo border we saw many bikes and it is very surprising to see the amount of cargo they are able to carry. Believe it or not they carry huge sacks of potatoes on bikes. I think the Burundians could give the Tour de France a run for its money.

After we visited the Congo border we sent to Lake Tanganyika. Many of the people here have had close calls with Hippos or Crocodiles and will no longer go in the water, which I can understand. The lake is beautiful. It is the second largest fresh water lake in the world According to the folks here. The kids had a great time building a sand castle with their new friend Arielle.

We have now almost completed our second week of school. We are starting to get the hang of it. The board members really want to focus on grammar, reading, and speaking so we are trying our best. I think people in Burundi feel an urgency to learn English. Currently they speak French and Kirundi but they are one of the last East African countries to adopt English as one of their core languages. Many Burundians feel that if English is adopted as one of their main languages it will help them in many areas including world trade.

Our family is adjusting to life in Burundi. Perhaps the Lessmeister that has adjusted the quickest is Miss Megan.  She has informed me that she now has 17 friends and she much prefers the antics in the Burundian classroom to the Canadian. When kids want to answer a question in Burundi schools, they snap their fingers and say me, me, me!!! Megan thinks this is much better than having to sit quietly with your hand up when you know the answer. She also likes to pretend that she is the teacher, she walks around the classroom of students who are at least 3 years older than her and she tries to check their work. The kids all laugh at this. Jordan has his good days and bad. He is not use to the enthusiastic play that goes on here and spends a lot of his time at recess hiding out in my class room. Erin and Hanna continue to be a big help in the classroom. As for Greg and I, we are finding it a challenge as many of the plans we came with are not really suitable for the students so we have had to start the planning all over. It does make for a busy day but we are seeing the children improve.

We have met some young Burundian teachers that have taken us under their wing and have shown us around a bit. Hanna, Erin and I went Downtown with 2 of the young teacher, Kenny and David. We toured an art gallery, we saw the market, and even went for a latte. The market was quite an experience. It is very large and you can buy just about anything there. It was very busy. Kenny and Dave are both Christians and they are quite an inspiration. They spoke to us about their lives have changed since they became a Christian and their stories are very inspiring. Both have lost their parents when they were very young and that is not uncommon here for people in their early twenties. They all speak about the evils of war and they are very thankful that they now have peace. We had great discussion about our faith and it is interesting to hear that they have the same challenges we do when it comes to having a unified church.

We want to thank all who are praying for us. The people here are really looking after us and we are falling in love with the people here.