TIA This is Africa.

There's nothing like the wind and dirt in your face...covering your white Muzungu skin with a nice "natural" tone that I like to call, a "subtle layer of dirt." All the while the sun's effect on your skin is amplified due to the doxycycline you take every day in hopes of warding off Malaria. This experience can be yours if only you have the opportunity to ride atop a land cruiser for hours through the bush.

Diesel trunks. Land cruisers. C'est la vie dans Afrique. There's something so African about Driving a diesel trunk through the streets of Kigali, or riding on top of a land cruiser hunting the trail of an elephant while on Safari... Enough said.

Or there's the blessing of a good starch. Blessing, I use that word lightly. I am REAL tired of starches. Rice, Beans, Fries, Potatoes, Bread, Fried Potatoes, Rice, Bread, and pasta. Good Lord, starches are like a brick, a brick lying for days in your stomach. Too much information. I know.

Languages. This is not something that I have mastered, but definitely something I get a lot of practice doing. A lot of practice for me and a lot of laughs for the French speaking Americans who stood by and watched me stumble through my mix of English, French, Kirundi, and sadly Spanish. Yes, I put some Spanish in there... that was a sad sad moment for me. But I will endure and am determined to return to the states with as much language skill I can gather. Sawa Cyane. Did I mention Swahili?

Motos. Seriously. Riding motos through the streets of Kigali. One of my favorite things to do. I can get a moto ride for a mere 400 FB. I've got skills. There's nothing like helmet hair from a loose helmet that doesn't clasp and the wind up your skirt, exposing ones knee. Scandalous. Je Sais.

Bucket baths. I can do bucket baths. But when you're upcountry sifting sand and putting together water filters, a bucket bath fine, Sawa. So be it. But when there's no water and five of you standing around covered in a sandy mud. The hunt for water must begin. Amazing that we managed to "steal" (I use that word lightly because we were in a guest house) 5 bucket worth's of water from one of the downstairs bathrooms, only to find out that when we had finished attempting to clean with a empty water bottle that the water was back on. Not only was it back on, but it was hot and had a lot of pressure.

TIA. This is Africa.

Beautiful.

Cant even describe the beauty of going upcountry and walking through the villages.

Clean Water, Cute newborn babies...what more could you ask for?

Creating clean water. Awesome.

Holding cute newborn babies named Iranzi. Totally beautiful.

Being called "Abuzungu" and being trampled by a herd of kids, slightly daunting.

Using my French. Priceless. Totally Jillianch!

Safari!!

Land cruisers...sitting on top of one is an awesome experience. There's nothing like the sun burning your skin and the dust giving you a nice coat of "natural tan." I maintain, land cruisers are by far the best part of a safari!!


Water Buffalos. Pretty awesome. However, my affection for them doesn't even compare to my new love of camels... sigh.

The Land of Milk and Honey...and Monkeys!

Until you move to a place like Africa, much less Burundi, honestly you have no idea how much you have. The little things go a really really long way.

For example, things that we (I mean you) have in the states, you have plenty of and probably don't think twice about....

Diet Coke

Diapers

Soda in plastic bottles

Desserts in general

Microwaves

Chocolate chips

Brown sugar

Meat that you can chew

Powered sugar

spices

chicken

Iced Mocha's

Hair Salons.

Justice. Think long and hard about this one...Whether you like it or not. We do have some goodness is our law system, imagine if you saw this around DC...

and

Normal Spiders... (Please the next time you breathe a sigh of annoyance as you squish the little piddly Daddy Long Leg that has placed itself in the corner of your living room. Take a moment, pause and thank the Lord that it isn't an African Rain spider that you are being forced to kill. And "kill", I use that lightly because they're so beastly, without a man (thank you Bob and Jon) to kill them, they remain alive and ugly as they sit on your wall staring down at you with a smug look on their hairy disgusting faces...)

Alright, let's refocus. Burundi is lacking in material goods, you're blessed and then I have discovered an amazing secret. Kenya. Kenya is seriously the "Land of Milk and Honey..." over here.

I cant tell you how many times I have said, "You have brown sugar?" or "Wow this meat is tender," or seriously, "you have a hair salon, I haven't had a haircut in 5 months." (Fear not, I have received a wonderful haircut in Nairobi and am looking fine FINE, fine!)

Some pleasant surprises for me while Visiting Kenya...

English. People speak English here! I cant tell you how many times I said "Madame, merci or oui..." and gotten a blank look...(I do appreciate my forming skill of French though;)

Or there's of course the food. So much western food... I've had iced mocha's, ice cream, pecan pie, turkey, enchiladas, Christmas cookies, and re fried beans...seriously canned re fried beans!

I am shocked by what I can find in Kenya's numerous Western-like stores...brown sugar, powdered sugar, and bread pans just to name a few. And not just any bread pans, bread pans that are only $7 instead of $40 (yes a bread pan in Burundi is $40 American Dollars). Cereal. I have had cereal on more than one occasion for breakfast...in Burundi a box of cornflakes is $24 American Dollars....think about that the next time you pour yourself a bowl of Special K.

The Internet. Man, most of you know how slow my Internet is in Burundi. Cant even get in a skype call. Here the Internet is so fast that I can actually download things and have a skype call without a delay. Amazing.

And Coke Light. I have had more than one Coke Light and even in a plastic bottle. MMMmmm...

Go ahead and have a cold diet coke right now. However when you're drinking that cold diet coke, remember that there are some people out there who are having to quench their thirst after killing a huge African rain spider by drinking a regular coke in a glass bottle...

However while they might be drinking a good old coke slightly warm in a 500 ml glass bottle, they might just be looking out at the moneys that live in their backyard...Kenya!

Out of Africa...Kenya that is...

Christmas in Kenya!

Christmas in Kenya. I know what you're thinking...what does one do for Christmas in Kenya? Well besides cutting down a Christmas shrub with a machete (which by the way was brown and dead in two days)...you can hand out food to the poorest of the poor...

On the day before Christmas Eve, Emily and I put on our long skirts, jumped on top of a landcruiser and headed down to the valley to a nearby UNHCR IDP camp to visit Kikuyu refugees.

We went there with bags of food, clothes, firewood and clean water. Once there we broke up into groups and handed out the items to the refugee families.

Seriously, seeing those refugees on Christmas like that. Thinking about how little they had, the things that they've been through. The stories they shared and the machete and spear scars that they showed. Humbling. I cant help but think so many people don't know, don't truly know what goes on in the world. Come visit me just for a week and I'll show you....it would change your life. For sure.

Anyway, so Emily and I spent the afternoon down there, completely, completely covered in dust. I have never been in a dustier place. I was caked in mud. I can't even imagine living down their in those UNHCR tents, no food, the dusty days in the dry season, and the cold cold nights of the rift valley... Thank God for your warm houses and Christmas cookies...

Then on Christmas Eve, Bob, Julie, Emily and I packaged up some rice, sugar, lard, salt, spinach, flour and maize...loaded up the 30 bags into the landcruiser and then handed out those bags to some of the poorest kids in the Kijabe area... It was another humbling experience, one that reminds you of what Christmas really is.