What a great time I had in the State visiting friends and family. But it is also great to be back in Burundi!!!
Flew into the DC airport with no trouble. Spent 24 hours with Sister Sarah and her Husband. It was great spending time with her. On the way out of DC the computer system was down and all flights were delayed, I stood in line for 3 hours with really nice people. Took the flight and rushed for the transfer in Brussels Belgium. Made it with time for a 10 min cat nap. The plane was all ready to go and the car to push the plane back from the terminal was broken, waited for a new machine and then we were off.
While on the plane I met a lady from Portland, Oregon area. Her name is Kate. She will be in Burundi for 18 months. Today I got to show her around the city. Please pray that the door will be open to sharing the gospel. She is very open about her lack of belief and "respecting" people with no belief (sounds very NorthWest of her).
Arriving in Burundi late plus making sure Kate was settled with her bags made our departure from the airport an hour or so later than planned. Isaac was there to greet me and my boss from The King's School were there to drive me home.
I was informed not to unpack because I was maybe moving the next day.
The night was full of "welcome back" realities.
No mosquito net meant I was chasing mosquitoes every 5 minutes. I would have been fine if I had only remained beneath my sheet and quit (thanks mom) but the heat was just too much after about 3 minutes. So I would uncover to let my body cool back down to a reasonable temperature. Then cover again when the dreadful whine of the mosquitoes came back out. After about 2 hours and 20 mosquito bites later I gave up and fell into a shallow sleep. Finally at around 5am I fell into a deep exhausted sleep.
It was a great drum beat when I think back to on it but at the time waking up to Burundian Drummers right outside my window was just too much of an alarm clock for me. The primary school has a troupe of Burundi traditional drummers (think of a little league team but with drums instead of bat and ball). Practice was at 10-11am. I knew sleep was over for me but continued in a sleepy closed eyes state trying to avoid the day. Then the phone rang. My boss informing I was moving and needed to be ready by 2.
I was ready by 2 but the transportation didn't come until 7pm! That evening I was just so excited to move into the new house with my new roommate that I had to unpack, even though it was pushing 10pm.
Liz is great! She is new to Burundi and will also be teaching at the primary school. I'm looking forward to learning more than just a British accent from her, being that she has been teaching for a while.
Today, as I said earlier, was a day to wonder the city with these two new residents of Burundi. I did my best not to overwhelm them with the sights, sounds, and smells of this crazy city I call home.
Church tomorrow and then staff meetings start Monday morning early.
Thanks for your prayers. Please lift up this next week as I set up my classroom, sit in staff meetings learning protocol for teaching in the British system, and as I lesson plan for the FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL! I'm just a little excited :)
Flew into the DC airport with no trouble. Spent 24 hours with Sister Sarah and her Husband. It was great spending time with her. On the way out of DC the computer system was down and all flights were delayed, I stood in line for 3 hours with really nice people. Took the flight and rushed for the transfer in Brussels Belgium. Made it with time for a 10 min cat nap. The plane was all ready to go and the car to push the plane back from the terminal was broken, waited for a new machine and then we were off.
While on the plane I met a lady from Portland, Oregon area. Her name is Kate. She will be in Burundi for 18 months. Today I got to show her around the city. Please pray that the door will be open to sharing the gospel. She is very open about her lack of belief and "respecting" people with no belief (sounds very NorthWest of her).
Arriving in Burundi late plus making sure Kate was settled with her bags made our departure from the airport an hour or so later than planned. Isaac was there to greet me and my boss from The King's School were there to drive me home.
I was informed not to unpack because I was maybe moving the next day.
The night was full of "welcome back" realities.
No mosquito net meant I was chasing mosquitoes every 5 minutes. I would have been fine if I had only remained beneath my sheet and quit (thanks mom) but the heat was just too much after about 3 minutes. So I would uncover to let my body cool back down to a reasonable temperature. Then cover again when the dreadful whine of the mosquitoes came back out. After about 2 hours and 20 mosquito bites later I gave up and fell into a shallow sleep. Finally at around 5am I fell into a deep exhausted sleep.
It was a great drum beat when I think back to on it but at the time waking up to Burundian Drummers right outside my window was just too much of an alarm clock for me. The primary school has a troupe of Burundi traditional drummers (think of a little league team but with drums instead of bat and ball). Practice was at 10-11am. I knew sleep was over for me but continued in a sleepy closed eyes state trying to avoid the day. Then the phone rang. My boss informing I was moving and needed to be ready by 2.
I was ready by 2 but the transportation didn't come until 7pm! That evening I was just so excited to move into the new house with my new roommate that I had to unpack, even though it was pushing 10pm.
Liz is great! She is new to Burundi and will also be teaching at the primary school. I'm looking forward to learning more than just a British accent from her, being that she has been teaching for a while.
Today, as I said earlier, was a day to wonder the city with these two new residents of Burundi. I did my best not to overwhelm them with the sights, sounds, and smells of this crazy city I call home.
Church tomorrow and then staff meetings start Monday morning early.
Thanks for your prayers. Please lift up this next week as I set up my classroom, sit in staff meetings learning protocol for teaching in the British system, and as I lesson plan for the FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL! I'm just a little excited :)
Rachel, sounds great!! Glad to hear you are happy to be "home" despite the mosquitoes. I have had a few job leads, but nothing decided on yet. I'll keep you posted! :)
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