18 March 2010

I Was on TV

You can't get away with anything in such a small country. When I arrived at my French lesson this morning, full of my apology for missing class yesterday, my tutor announced that he knew where'd I'd been -- he saw it on the news last night. I was surprised, since I'd been hiding under a tent the whole time, in the middle of a crowd, trying to avoid direct sunlight. But my tutor said the cameraman got a shot of everyone there. And it was an exciting event, so it was the biggest story of the week.

The event was the groundbreaking ceremony for the new American embassy. The ambassador was there, along with the mayor of the city, and representatives from several NGOs and American businesses. It was pretty exciting and many of my Burundian coworkers are happy that it shows a big commitment on the part of the United States to continue relations (and aid) with the country. Today my French lesson was a discussion on how building the new embassy will benefit the local economy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, how neat!

You're famous. :)

Stephanie said...

Well, I was somewhat famous before. Because of Mike's job, a lot of people know me. Plus I'm one of the palest people in town, so I'm highly recognizable.

Karen said...

Where is the new location? It doesn't say! I'm interested because I was the Consular Assistant in the late 90s. :) My friend Gina took over when I left Buja....

Karen said...

Where is the new Embassy located? The article doesn't say...I'm interested because I was the Consular Assistant in the late 90s (replaced by my fellow Brit Gina A). :)