Burundi

We got back on Monday from long weekend visiting our friends Jim and Karri in Bujumbura, Burundi.

It was a 7 hour bus ride from Kigali to Buja, but the bus was pretty nice. I mean, it was titled Belvedere Bus Lines, you can't get much classier than that.

We had no troubles at the border, and since we had made friends with a group of people on the bus, we know that if we had had problems, they would have had our back. This group was hilarious. At one rest stop everyone piled off the bus to get roasted maize (corn cobs) and goat shish-kabobs, at 8:00 in the morning! When they got back on the bus the leader of the group walked up to Melissa, snapped off half of his roasted maize, and handed it to her. They clearly wanted to take care of the white folk.

Bujumbura is located on the shore of a huge lake. When approaching the city you are driving in the windy hills, and then suddenly everything flattens out and you see the city on the edge of the lake. It is the flattest piece of land I've seen in East Africa.

We arrived at the station to find Karri waiting for us. Karri was in my cohort at Eastern, and since there was only 11 of us in the cohort, we got to know each other real well. It was really good to see her. We walked to their local coffee shop to meet up with Jim, and then on to their offices. It was great to see what life has looked like for them for the last 6 months. Karri and her husband, Jim, both work for World Relief. Karri works in their microfinance bank, Turame. And Jim works with them doing various ministry-related jobs, teaching music, preaching, working with youth, etc.

We caught a cab to their house, freshened up, and then headed out to Khana Kazanas, an unbelievable Indian restaurant that just relocated to Buja from Kigali. I ordered some sort of green goo (on the owners recommendation) and it was to die for.

Saturday we went to the beach and played volleyball ALL AFTERNOON... it was glorious. There were about 30 expatriates that had gathered to play a tournament. These people were from the U.S., France, Austria, England, Spain, Australia and plenty of other places. It was shocking to be around so many white people in one place. I suffered a bit of reverse culture shock (Why aren't there any Africans around like I am used to? Why is so much English being spoken?) but then settled in as the tournament began. The team Jim and I were on came in third, just beating out Melissa's team. We had a blast.

That night we ate at a very cool new restaurant on the beach overlooking the water. A thunderstorm rolled in over the lake and we got to just sit and experience the storm while we waited for our food. It was a great night.

Sunday we went to church with Jim and Karri and we got to hear Jim preach. He gave a great and challenging sermon and Melissa and I really appreciated worshiping there with that group.

After church we went out for some amazing pizza (something we really miss) and then crammed 9 people into a Toyota Camry (plus a guitar) to get home. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking and catching up with Jim and Karri. It was so great to just chat late into the night.

We grabbed some tea and croissants early the next morning and hopped back onto the trusty Belvedere for our trek home. Besides the 30 minute delay due to a roadblock (caused by a car that was lodged under a semi), we had a smooth and uneventful ride home. And stopped again at the same place for maize and goat kabobs... this time we expected it and bought some Fanta.

We had a great time with some great friends, and fortunately they are coming in a couple of weekends to visit Kigali.