New Layout!

Hey guys!

Sarah and I are excited about the new blog layout. Sarah did all the graphics work herself in a trial version of Photoshop Elements. Our blog header was only her second attempt at making a composite image!

I'm getting the impression that she's a natural. She's always loved scrapbooking, but doesn't like having to dedicate an entire wing of our home to the hobby for weeks at a time (for those of you who don't know, scrapbooking can take up A LOT of room). Now it appears like she's found her niche: digital scrapbooking. In her quest to discover a suitable tool for her newfound creative outlet, she stumbled across Photoshop Elements, and now we have a new blog layout.

I contributed with some mediocre resizing of images to make them fit nicely on the page, but this is really Sarah's handiwork. My only request was that it not be too girly. We hope you like it!

Mosquitos of East Africa, Beware.

Today Ron and I went to Cabela's and got a huge stash of anti-mosquito implements. (Thanks to our Pulse group for this gift!).  We got so much mosquito repellent, in fact, that as we were checking out, the woman at the counter cocked her eyebrow and mocked us, saying, "Someone scared of mosquitos or something?".  In fact, yes, yes we are.  Unfortunately, the Great Lakes region of Africa is extremely humid and muggy and is home to millions of malarial little buggers.  

But never fear - we are ready to wage war.

Keeping Band-Aids in Business

Of course one of the really really fun things about going to an exotic place is getting all your shots! Seriously, I feel as pumped full of chemicals as a Butterball turkey. We went today to get our Hepatitis A vaccine, which is hopefully the last one we need. Along for the ride were our pint-sized travel partners, Emma and Justin, who needed a bit of yellow-fever love. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting these vivacious four-year olds, they are the son and daughter of our dear friends Claude and Kelley, who we will be traveling with.

Here we are proudly showing off our matching band-aids (although the kiddos got way cooler ones than Ron and I did...why is it that once you're grown up you get stuck with the boring beige ones?)

And a super cute one of the bambinos:

How can you not love those faces? =)

FAQs (The Sequel)

Well some of you are certainly creative! We had a couple more questions that we were asked to put up, so here goes!

Do you have secret plans to adopt a Burundian baby while abroad?

Not on this trip! Ask us again in a few years. ;)

What is on your reading list for the summer - gotta pack a few books, right?

I (Sarah) am dying to take a ton of books and am bummed that I must limit myself due to obvious space issues. Boo! We're taking Velvet Elvis for sure, and a few NT Wright books. Definitely our new must-read book, African Friends and Money Matters!

 

What are you most excited about landing in Africa?

The traveler in me will just be excited to take in all the unfamiliar sights, sounds and smells. It's always so invigorating to be in a new, exotic environment. But what I'm really looking forward to is parting of the veil of mystery that surrounds Africa. It seems we in the West only hear about AIDS-ravaged, starving, corrupt, mud hut Africa. While these are certainly elements of life there, there is also an Africa of stock markets and air conditioning and Ph.D's and cell phones. I'm really looking forward to being able to see Africa for what is really is - both good and bad - and stop taking it on rumor!

Do you have a theme song for your African adventure?

Hmm. Your creativity knows no bounds! Maybe Bon Jovi, "It's My Life"! "It's now or never...I just want to live while I'm alive!".

Are you going to learn the local language while there - and what is it, anyways?

The local language is Kirundi, although a few Burundians are bilingual and also speak French. Ron and I both took Spanish in high school and our French pronunciation is hilariously terrible! We are trying to learn a few words of both Kirundi and French out of respect - words like "please", "thank you", and "do you speak English?". But we are B-A-D. The only Kirundi word we've mastered is mzungu - "white person". We are anticipating that our two four-year-old companions on this trip, Justin and Emma, will pick it up quickly and then be able to teach us how to get around. =)

What are you going to miss most...what should be in those care packages?

You. Ice in our drinks. Tap water. Chips and salsa. Washing machines. In-n-Out. Peanut Butter. Water pressure.

Birthdays and resignations

We celebrated my birthday with Sarah's family last weekend. It was a fun time. When you're eating fajitas, beans, and rice, it's tough not to have a fun time. And yes, I was born on April Fool's Day. Believe it or not, I've heard that that makes me an April Fool.

Legend has it that the day gets its origins from when a Pope ordered a shift to the Gregorian calendar, which meant that New Year's Day would be on January 1, instead of around April 1. Those that forgot that April 1 was no longer the first day of the new year were rather foolish indeed.

I can only stall for so long, so after some light hearted humor and a short history lesson, I can say that I'll be giving my notice at my job at the end of next week. I'm hoping and praying that it will be received well (with a loose definition of well). It will be a little difficult because I do enjoy the people with whom I work. I'm not looking forward to the awkwardness during the 3 weeks after I give my notice between myself and my co-workers.

By the way, I received a sweet birthday present which I'll be trying to incorporate in as many pictures in Africa as I can. I think you'll understand why:

FAQs

Well we’ve had a lot of questions about our upcoming time in Africa, so we thought we’d create our own little Frequently Asked Questions blog entry.  So, without further ado, our FAQ section:

When are you leaving/coming back?

We leave the country on May 18th.  We’ll be returning around early September.

What will you actually do in Africa?

We’ll be there under the umbrella of Amahoro Africa.  Amahoro is putting on several events in African seminaries throughout the summer, and we’ll be working behind the scenes to make sure these events happen.  We’ll also be meeting friends to facilitate our Amahoro work when we’re back in the States.

What about Ron’s engineering job?

Ron will be leaving Lockheed permanently in May.  At this point we aren’t really sure if he will return to engineering in some capacity (but not defense contracting) or whether he will pursue something new entirely.

Are you saints for leaving everything and moving to Africa?

No.

Are you lunatics for leaving everything and going to Africa?

No.

Will we get your mailing address when you arrive? Can we send you care packages while you are there?

Yes and YES!  Thanks for asking! =)

Where else will you go on this trip?

We’ll be based in Burundi, but we’ll also spend at least one week each in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa.

Burundi? Gesundheit.  Oh wait…that’s a country?

Yes, Burundi is a little country in East Africa.  It’s roughly the size of Maryland, but houses about a million more people.  Various world organizations place Burundi as either the world’s poorest country or third poorest country, depending on the statistical formula.  Either way, it ain’t good!  But Burundi is also a beautiful place, full of lakes and forests and green hills.  We’ll be in Bujumbura, which is the capital city and lies on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Will you be safe?

While there’s an amount of risk that comes with any international travel, we think we will be reasonably safe.  We will be traveling with locals who will show us around and make sure we know the ropes.

Let us know in the comments section if there are any that we missed!

Visa? Check.

Hello all!

We got our Burundian visas in the mail yesterday so we are all official! I was totally nervous about it because when I got a Czech visa in 2006 it took about two months.  But these visas only took about 10 days...I guess they aren't as worried over who comes in the country as the EU is.  Lucky us!

Soon we have to start thinking about packing - ick.  It's so hard to pack up everything for months at a time, and even harder when we'll be bouncing around as much as we are.  The climate in Burundi will be hot and extremely humid - but we'll also be spending time in Rwanda, which is cool and breezy and South Africa, which will be in the middle of winter in July!  We'll also be interacting a lot with some orphanages in Bujumbura, and would like to have room to take some items for the kids that are hard to get over there, like shoes.

Overall we're pretty excited.  Now that we know for sure that we're going, all the annoying little things like suspending our Verizon account fall into perspective a bit!

Lastly, just wanted to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ron today! (Yes, he would be born on April Fool's Day - he pulls it off nicely).  Happy bday, mi amor!