The Day of the Burundi rap video, lizard infestation, & 2.5 hour dinner

***Please note - all of the names have been changed below to protect the identities of the delirious***

Vocabulary you will need for this posting:
Muzungu: noun, Swahili for what literally translates as "Big white man", but it refers to all of us whiteys - male and female alike.

Mazumba: Definition to follow

I slept 10.5 hours. It was amazing. Some, however, were not so fortunate. And some, slept about 14 hours after going to bed at 10 PM. Their story went something like this (actual times in parenthesis).
-After waking up, Javida asks, "Jelissa, what time is it?"
-"5 AM" (noon)
-Phone rings, Javida answers, "Hello?"
-On the line, "Ma'am, can we come clean your room?"
-Javida's thoughts - why on earth are they cleaning my room at 5 AM? Javida asks, "Sir, what time is it?"
-Response "It's 12 o'clock ma'am." (insert immediate laughter from Javida here)

Those of us who did not sleep until noon had a lovely breakfast that included a delicious vegetable soup (not sarcasm - it really was a delicious soup for breakfast...and dinner...and for some, lunch). We met with a woman who works for Catholic Relief Services who has lived in various places on the continent of Africa (described as continent to clarify for those who want to call it a country) for over 30 years (originally from Wisconsin). She explained their projects over here and their funding which includes a 16 million dollar grant (the equivalent of 21.6* billion Burundi francs) just for development work in Burundi. It was incredible work.

At 3, we got in our bus and headed towards a coffee factory where they process the coffee beans. For more information on the life of a coffee bean, please go here (this site brought to you through the advice of Gazelle, Messa Tadison). Tomorrow is Burundi Independence Day so a lot of places shut down early today. This included the coffee factory. After our failed attempt at learning about coffee beans, we headed to Lake Tanganyaki where we found this brilliant local Burundi rapper filming his latest video on the beach. He was amazing! (Unfortunately, right now I cannot post the video of this, because our internet is not strong enough)
We did not go in the water for 2 fearful reasons:
1. Hippos (this fear brought to you, again, by Messa Tadison)
2. Parasites (see Discovery Channel's Monsters Inside Me for further information)

After a long walk on the beach, we came back to find Jelissa dancing with the children on the beach. They're mesmerized by Muzungus (see definition at top) in a way that can only be compared to the way we treat dogs when we see them - utter fascination and amusement and a need to touch them. The kids loved having their pictures taken and loved to see the photos afterwards (the G rated version of Paris Hilton watching TMZ).

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at one of two Obama Shops that we've seen. It should be noted they do not sell Obama related material inside. (A fact that greatly disappointed me. I was hoping for a place to purchase either an Obama costume or a photo booth where you could take your picture photoshopped with the President.) They did have groceries and china you could purchase for 400,000 francs (about $200*). Jelissa spent about $50 in there (no one was quite sure how), but I suspect it had something to do with the $8 box of Fruit Rollups and $9 Gushers she bought for her son. She didn't realize the price because no one thought about the fact that they were imported fruit snacks. Let this be a lesson to you all, do not come to Burundi for any of the following -
1. Obama merchandise
2. Inexpensive fruit snacks

When I came back to the hotel, I found that 4 lizards that had taken occupancy in my room (much like one did in a blouse my Mom left outside to dry one time (this is a shoutout to my family - what up family?). I suspect they heard the malaria pills were making me sick and wanted to protect me from any mosquitos. Little do they know, mosquitos (much like cats) do not like me. Eventually, the front desk came to my rescue. As I spoke with the manager and thanked him (in French) he gave me the greatest compliment I think he could give me. He asked me if I was Marion Cotillard. Ok, that's a lie. He told me my french accent was very good and I said my 'r' perfectly. Needless to say, I've been walking around town saying "Merci" to each and every person I see.

Next came dinner... I should explain our hotel and Burundi culture first. Our hotel has about 50 rooms, possibly 1 cook (you'll see why I guessed that later), 2 guards (sometimes), 2-3 guys who work the front, and various other maintenance personnel. After overhead, the revenue from the hotel and restaurant go to youth development, leadership training, and HIV/AIDS education. Burundi time is much like the rest of the world (except for you watch wearing Americans) in that things start and end whenever they start and end. Why time things? Typically, I'm ok with this policy, but some people really needed some sleep. We came down for dinner at 7 PM and had a limited menu (they get groceries and cook them immediately after - there isn't an abundance of refrigeration). The menu had vegetable soup, ratatouille, fried chicken, fried fish, curry rice, fruit cup, and chocolate crepes on it. After about 2 hours, the vegetable soup came out. The rest followed 10 minutes later in a series of rounds. Since we were there for 2 hours, and many people were tired (much like after the flight), they began to say very silly things.
-What year is it? -Messa Tadison (after we landed in Burundi and were filling out customs forms)
-What did we have for dinner last night? -Han Dopper (10 minutes after he spent 20 minutes explaining to Olizabeth Esterwisch the complete menu from the night before)
-What are you a Mazumba? -Olizabeth Esterwisch (I believe, in fact, I'm fairly certain she/he** was going for Muzungu)

To correct her error during the 2.5 hour dinner, Olizabeth and a friend, Lelly Karkan proceeded to define Mazumba.
Mazumba: noun, a white person who lives in Burundi and is neither a traveller nor native

Mazumba: noun, a white person who puts too much sunscreen on their face making them ghostlike

Mazumba: noun, a white person who is significantly shorter than others she (must be female) is around. Not to be confused with dwarfism. See short/petite/Spud Webb.

Tomorrow is Independence Day, so I'll post as much as we can when we return from the parade and Hotel du Lac. Murakoze!

*According to current exchange rates. This rate is non-transferrable and expires 1/7/11
**To protect the gender of the delirious

Look out Burundi - The Gazelles are here!

***PLEASE NOTE EVERYTHING IN THE BELOW POSTING HAS BEEN TYPED AFTER BEING AWAKE FOR 28 HOURS***
Let me first explain how we all managed to get here. I left for Houston on Sunday evening to leave my dog with my parents. On Monday, I left at 5 PM on a flight to DC (like most of the Gazelles; although, they were flying from Austin). Most of us took the correct shuttle to the hotel, but who knew that there were 4 different Hampton Inn Dulles? That's an easy answer - the drivers of the shuttles knew this information. They just didn't know a whole lot of English, which is where a few ran into problems. We left at 9:30 AM for the DC airport on Tuesday morning. Let me explain a few things about Ethiopian Airlines -
1. You cannot check-in online.
2. You can check 2 x 50 pound bags (no charge).
3. Once you enter the line you cannot repack your bag if it is over the 50 lb limit (a $210 fee).
4. Most of the people in line were taking 3-4 bags of varying sizes. They were also mostly women and did not seem to be able to effectively move 4 pieces of luggage.
5. Everyone applauds when the plane lands. This happened on all 3 legs of our journey. I want to bring that back to the states. It's quite fun.
6. They feed you more than the US airlines that fly internationally and they give free wine to everyone (a fact I didn't learn until the lady next to me ordered red wine in the last hour of my journey). They also apparently had a snack bar setup in the back. I mistook the constant traffic as bathroom needs.

We arrived at our gate right around boarding time and stepped on board for the 13 hour and 45 minute journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was in the middle seat, in the middle row of row 40. It actually wasn't horrid, but I was not able to sleep, which leads to me to my series on entertainment options. Except for 1 movie, I had Damonfest.
1. Ocean's Eleven is still entertaining the 20th time you watch it.
2. The same 30 Rock episode with the meeting of Matt Damon's character, Carol, and Liz Lemon is quite hilarious (even when you watch it twice in the same 13 hour span).
3. You should probably see the other Bourne movies before attempting to watch Bourne Ultimatum (a mistake I made for about an hour).
4. The remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory even on a plane is quite disappointing (my cousins may know what I'm talking about).
5. They have a map that zooms in on your route. It shows a zoomed out image of the DC to Ethiopia path and then the screen updates as it zooms in on your location. While it includes the names of nearby cities, oceans, lakes, it also includes the location in the ocean/sea of shipwrecks and the year they went down. For example, Titanic; 1912 and Scorpion; 1968 and they had these markers in the ocean. I kept looking for an Osama Bin Laden marker, but I did not see one. I was just happy they had good enough judgment not to include plane wrecks. I might have requested Xanax upon seeing that.

We landed in Ethiopia at 8:30 AM and found the Addis Ababa airport to be a tad bit confusing. There are people at tables with computers which are randomly placed in strange areas (e.g. the top of the escalator), and everyone has to take a bus from the terminal (where everyone appeared to be using the same gate) to their flight. It's quite chaotic. People were jumping across lines to flights they weren't supposed to get on because they didn't understand the rules (I had the priviledge of listening to the lady scold those people and teach them the rules). I captured the reactions of a few Gazelles on the bus.


We flew into Nairobi, Kenya and sat there for an hour then headed on to Bujumbura, Burundi. I flew over the Serengeti and we passed Mount Kilimanjaro (couldn't really see it, but it needed to be mentioned because I thought it was awesome). Addis Ababa doesn't hold a candle to the Bujumbura airport. There are no computers (other than the few security scanners). There are no printers. Everything is done by hand. It's amazing.


The place to go if you lost your luggage. Its very official.


People do not form lines for anything, either. It was quite entertaining to watch and also be a participant in this madness.


After flying through Ethiopia and Kenya, I can say based on aerial and airport views alone, Burundi is much more beautiful. There are palm trees and tropical plants growing all around, there is a constant background of the mountains, and beautiful Lake Tanganyika which reportedly has hippos in it. It's very beautiful and I'll post more beauty photos (that are also in focus) later.