27 August 2009

I don't know which is grosser

That theres so much dust on my office wall the ants have cleared a bright white trail, through all the dust down to the paint.

That I have that many ants traveling through my office.

24 August 2009

There's no denying it.

Vicky’s been talking about the Shred. I recently got in touch with some old running friends. I was told I’m nearing high blood pressure territory. Watching the IAAF World Championships on television ignited a spark of what I used to feel like. I’ve been a slug and it seems like I have a completely different body than the one that climbed Kilimanjaro a few months ago.

It’s time to start running again.

Over the last couple of weeks (since the blood pressure announcement) I’ve made a conscious effort to reduce my alcohol consumption and increase my mileage. It was slow and painful at first. It’s still slow and painful, but slightly less so. I’m setting small goals. First, get up early to run after a night of too much food and drink. That first morning hurt. But I told myself that if I could get up and run under those conditions, I had no excuse not to get up and run under any other conditions. So that led to my second goal: Get up early and run two days in a row. What was that I said about under any conditions? I got up and did it.

Last December there was a marathon and half-marathon here in Bujumbura. I’ve been contacting everyone I can find to see if the races are being held again this year. I’m confident I can be in half-marathon shape in December if I have a race to look forward to. But I face a dry spell of not even a 5K race between now and then to keep me motivated. Bujumbura just doesn’t have organized races.

(But we do have a mountain, and boy am I feeling that mountain nearly every morning.)

22 August 2009

To the peeps

1. I've noticed some new followers and subscribers recently. Welcome and thanks for reading! Stay tuned, as in a few months we'll be finding out where we head to after Burundi.

2. We have a new little peeper-cheeper. We noticed that we had fewer fresh eggs than we should have and that we didn't see the hen outside of the coop for a few days. But we didn't really think much of it until two days ago when I saw a little speck of a critter following the hen around the yard. There's a chick! He's chirping and cheeping up a storm.

21 August 2009

Today's Forecast: Weird with a Chance of Rain

The weather has been doing weird things lately. In the midst of the dry season it’s suddenly become overcast and humid. And there’s a funny feeling hanging in the air. If we were on the East Coast or Gulf Coast of the United States I’d say it felt like a hurricane was coming. If we were in the Midwest I’d think it’s tornado season. But I don’t know what happens here when the weather goes berserk in the dry season.

Over the last few days we’ve actually heard a few rumbles of thunder and apparently it rained upcountry last Friday. Different Burundians will give you different reasons for the unseasonal mid-season rains and cloudiness. Many theories have to do with the Assumption on August 15. Not paying as close attention as I could have in Sunday School all those years ago, I finally asked my French teacher on Monday what the Assumption is and what it has to do with the weather. He explained the religious part to me – the rising of Mary to Heaven – but as for the rain, he didn’t know. A little research showed that rain is either good luck or bad luck on Assumption day, depending on where you live. And the best luck is apparently when it rains all day but then suddenly stops at church time. Today someone was finally able to tell me that the rain confirms Mary made it to Heaven.

Another dry-season rain theory has to do with cows. Apparently there’s always a mid-season rain that somehow helps out the cows. At first I couldn’t remember any rain after we arrived this time last year. But then I remembered that the night we landed it felt like it had just rained, so I guess we just missed the rain of the cow. It dried out quickly though; the weather was not like this last year until well into September.

The person who talked about the cow rain also told my friend with certainty that the real rains will begin between 15 and 20 September. On one hand, it’s fairly common knowledge that the short wet season starts during the second half of September so his prediction isn’t exactly earth shattering. On the other hand, I think it’s amusing that this fellow is so set on his specific dates, as if he consulted his Old Farmers’ Almanac, in a country where precision and specifics are virtually meaningless.

In general I don’t mind a warm, cloudy day giving me a break from the extreme sunshine. I don’t even mind the humidity because it’s the first time in weeks that I haven’t had a constant sore throat from the dryness and smoke. But I don’t like the look of the thunderheads that never materialize into storms, but never drift away either. It’s very yellow outside, which I always associate with a hurricane or severe thunderstorm. Part of the fun is the anticipation and then the storm actually arriving. But this storm never arrives. The weirdness in the air just hangs there.

15 August 2009

Have I Changed?

A friend asked me how I've changed in the year that I've lived in Burundi and it's something I've been thinking about all week. I've come to the conclusion that I don't think I have changed, but I've learned a lot and perhaps I'm an enhanced version of the person I was before we moved here.

I'm even more relaxed than I used to be. I've seen and heard so many weird things that it seems like nothing will shock me anymore. And there are so many things that you have no control over, you have no choice but to laugh or ignore them and continue about your business.

I've definitely learned what Americans take for granted and how wasteful even those of us who are conscious of it really are. I feel bad that we imported so much food that's in plastic bags, because so much of the garbage gets composted or burned here and we brought in all this plastic that can't be gotten rid of easily. But I'm afraid that once I'm back in the developed world I'll fall back into wasteful habits because it will be so easy.

I can't say I've had an awakenings about how cruel, or how beautiful, Africa can be, or how "ugly" Americans can be, or how true love or friendship conquer all difficulties. In one sense, I've always suspected all of those things could be the case under different circumstances. Also, life isn't that simple.

08 August 2009

It's been a heck of a year

This weekend marks our year anniversary in Burundi. What a year it's been. I distinctly remember my last trip to Dunkin Donuts on that Saturday morning before we went to the airport. We had quite a time getting the cats on the plane. But twenty-four hours later we were here, in Bujumbura, starting a new life.

I've been thinking about how to arrange this blog post. Some months not much of note happened, other than we lived in Burundi. But we had one of the highest high points of our lives--climbing Mount Kilimanjaro--and one of the lowest low points--Grendel's death--in the last year.

August 2008: Leaving Washington, D.C. and arriving in Burundi

September 2008: Settling in, road rage, first hippo sighting

October 2008: Trying to find fresh milk, the rainy season begins, a huge shipment of stuff from home arrives

November 2008: Being in Africa for Obama's election, struggling with French, adjusting to winter holidays in a tropical climate, making reservations for the Kilimanjaro trip

December 2008: We become obsessed with Kilimanjaro preparations; we also discover some local crafty goodness

January 2009: We have some American visitors, a new restaurant opens in town, and we discover a blue-headed agama lizard living in our yard

February 2009: Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti

March 2009: Some of my safari posts spill in to March; also, Grendel dies and we fall into a terrible funk

April 2009: Monkeys invade and we get chickens

May 2009: European vacation

June 2009: We finally get our luggage back after the vacation; the dry season sets in; rabies

July 2009: All sorts of critters invade; I think I've learned French now

All of our photos are up on flickr.

05 August 2009

DIY Tow Truck

Our truck does not appear to love us as much as we love it. It's a difficult relationship. Over the weekend we took it out to Rusizi park. It was sunny and breezy with the cap off. It was so much fun to drive through the brush and touch the leaves. 

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But it got stuck in the sand. As you leave the river and approach the lake, the road becomes soft sand in the dry season. Our truck isn't heavy enough to gain traction and at one point Mike heard a "ping" which he believes is the transfer case, aka, the thing that makes the 4-wheel drive work, busting. Luckily we were with another car full of people and through the magic of tow straps and planks we were able to dislodge from the sand after some very dusty work.

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Overall it was actually a good trip. We saw hippos sunbathing on a sandbar. A baby hippo who didn't want to nap with the others was antsy, nipping at his mother. I saw my first crocodile in the wild in Burundi. (It wasn't Gustave, though.) We also saw this amazing stretch of beach with a trail of hippo footprints, something else I hadn't seen in Burundi.

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And I saw how those tow straps that Mike insists on carrying around actually work. I'm glad he insists on that. If there's one thing that's driven home on a regular basis here, it's that there's no AAA to call for a tow.

01 August 2009

Let's go topless


We finally have our truck up and running. And there are a few weeks left in the dry season so we can drive around with the cap off. It's so much fun! We get a lot of stares on the road; I think Burundians are not used to seeing muzungus drive such a beat-up, open-air vehicle. We also get waves and smiles.

Having an open-air car is like being in San Diego again. We surprisingly saw a Cabriolet last weekend that looked to be about the same year as mine was, maybe even older. I had actual pangs of homesickness for San Diego at the sight of that little car. The guy driving it looked so happy. There are a handful of VW Golfs and GTIs here, but I haven't seen any other convertible car. (As much fun as a convertible is in the dry season, it's just not practical for the rainy season unless you have a garage or carport, and almost no one does.)

Now, we're not in a Cabriolet, but we think our truck has tons of character. We are so happy to drive in the sun and the wind.

I feel I should note that we keep pepper spray within easy reach, because there is the possibility that someone will try to jump in. We also never have anything valuable in the car unless it can be hidden under my feet while Mike's driving. However, given all that, there are neighborhoods in the United States that I wouldn't drive through with the top open, either, for the same safety concerns. We are fun loving, but we aren't stupid.