Models are fun to mess around with but don't marry one -Geology Proverb

A week ago today, we landed in Bujumbura, Burundi. We left Toronto not knowing who we'd be working with and none of us completely certain of what this summer was going to be like. After 24 hours of travel(including the time changes) we landed in Burundi. So far, we've been here at the field office in Muyinga for most of the time. We've visited some of the areas the company has mineral rights to (15% of the country)and learnt most of local geology... I say most because there's still a lot to discover and more that's being debated.

Recently, we were given different tasks and our first few assignments, were all working towards the same goal utilizing our different skills to ensure the project gets the best out of us. I have to commend our President for choosing us all so well.

Our team of student geologists get along well and compliment each other very nicely.
The others here at the field office include some South Africans, French, Tanzanian expats and 40 or so Burundians. We've got a lot of people here and everyone is very friendly, most people work 10 or so hours a day some of us are working more. The time we spend at work flies by so fast sometimes, we don't notice we nearly work sunrise to sunset. Burundi being so close to the equator gets 12 hours of dark and 12 hours of light, give or take 15 minutes; probably the toughest thing to get used to.

I'm so used to waking up and jogging or walking while the sun rises or having coffee watching the sun catch up with my morning routine and having a few hours of daylight after the work/school day is done to play some ulti or have a beer on a patio. The first few days, I recall saying: "I can't believe its dark already" only to hear one of my colleagues and fellow student geologists say: "I can't believe we are in Africa"... Really puts things in perspective and reminds us of the great opportunity we've all been given.

The food has been pretty great, we've got two chefs (Donacien and Boniface) who have been more than accommodating cooking us crepes, omelettes, pancakes, fried eggs and bacon, bolognese pasta, goat brochette bbq, fish filets and many other foods we've requested or they've planned for us. The coffee has been delicious and free flowing, coca-cola tastes better here and the local beer Primus isn't bad! They also brew Amstel locally which is very tasty. Hard to believe but true, the wine here is on par with prices in Canada but the selection trumps most of the liquor store selections I've ever seen in Canada...

The mornings are hot and dry, lunchtime tends to be hot and slightly more humid. Anywhere between 2 and 4 pm it gets very hot and humid, the sun seems to go into ultra heat mode and you could probably fry an egg on most of our foreheads.
That being said, we aren't dying of heat... Because we can hide in our shipping containers. They've got a fantastic team of welders and metal workers on site who have revamped shipping containers to have proper doors, desks, bunk beds, windows and fans. Painting them white and positioning them under aluminum roofs providing the right amount of shade allows them to not turn into saunas during the hot days.

Looking forward to the rest of the summer, glad I'm in Africa every morning and excited to mess around with some (Geological) models.