BURUNDI!!

We haven't updated in a while, but we did make it to Africa!! We left Amsterdam around 10 am on Monday, arrived in Nairobi, Kenya at 730, ready to take our 1030 flight to Bujumbura, Burundi. HOWEVER, Kenya Airways has been consolidating flights lately to save money, so we got pushed onto a 130 AM FLIGHT! We spent our extra long layover eating our complimentary meal (Spaghetti, that was more like noodles with salsa!) and meeting Judo champions and treating them to American foods like cherry sours and wasabi peas (courtesy of Derek's "Snack pack."  

We finallllly boarded the plane, and it was DELAYED due to technical difficulties. We did make it to Burundi, eventually, and got to our beautiful hotel around 4 AM!

The next day, most everyone slept in until almost one, and then we went to lunch with our Batwa friends! We also had a celebration of our partnership with the Twa, with Burundian drummers, traditional Batwa dancers, and a dance presented by our students. 

We also got to meet our students, and they are AWESOME!

Then, in traditional Burundian style, we had a dance party! We danced and danced in the sand, jumping and singing, until we all felt like we were going to barf up our lunch!

Then we had some presentations and then dinner! After dinner, we all sat around a bonfire, singing and dancing with our new Batwa friends.

This morning, Ashley went to breakfast, while Sarah stayed in bed (because she was sick form her malaria medicine!!! So she's definitely not going to take it any more, just rely on deet.)  

Then we had a short service, followed by free time on the beach playing volleyball and swimming in lake Tanganyika. Sarah, Ashley, and Chaco took a ride on a small fishing boat. It was fun, but a little frightening.  The boat rocked a lot, and you had to scoop water out of the bottom with a cup! The fishemen also told us they were going to take us to the Democratic Republic of the Congo! 

After we made it back to shore, we cleaned up for lunch and then headed out to the Batwa village of Bubanza.  This was the most exciting part of the day! The people of Bubanza greeted us with dancing and singing. We took a tour of their village and met many of the awesome people that live in terrible poverty in Bubanza. Before we left, the women presented us with traditional Batwa pots! Everyone was so excited and nearly everyone had tears in their eyes. After an emotional goodbye, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner!

more to come laterrrr.....