A better day than yesterday

Dear friends,

I started a blog last night and lost it when I was interrupted before posting it. I was writing while waiting for Steve to arrive at my apartment. When I finish tutoring he comes over to visit and bring me my computer, which I had started leaving with him after school so I didn't have to take it on the guagua. Well, he got there and yelled up just as usual for me to come down and let him in, but as I started my way down the automatic gate was opened and he got in and came running up the stairs. All he said was, "I got mugged."

Everyone is okay, don't worry! It wasn't even a frightening experience for him. This is how it happened: Steve had just arrived at my gate and was about to call up when two men pulled up on a little motor bike. One stayed on, the other jumped off, pulled out a gun just so that Steve could see it (seemingly fake but Steve was wise not to test it), took my computer bag, got back on, and they drove off. This all happened in about three seconds, because the street is fairly busy and that's about the longest you will get between cars.

Please don't worry. I was nervous to tell anyone because I don't want you to think we are unsafe. They made no attempt to hurt or threaten Steve. Chances are slim that the gun was real and even slimmer that it was real and loaded. The good news is that, although it was my new computer which just arrived with Karmen last week, the computer held no important information beyond some recent grades which I had just turned in and some lesson plans. Thankfully I do have my old one still, which is in rough condition but holds so much more valuable information.

I gave the police all the information that came with the computer and they say there is a new system that tracks them, like cell phones. I have been told many times though that the police here are so corrupt that if they do find it they most likely will keep it for themselves and if not they will probably make me pay a good deal to get it back. I'm really trying not to get my hopes up. The only other things lost to me were the computer bag, which cost $20 at Walmart, and some papers that I had already corrected and entered in the grade book, and a few pens. Nothing irreplaceable.

It was really a good wake-up call to remind us that we are living in the city and we do need to be careful about what we take with us when we go out after dark. We are so thankful that it was not a dangerous situation and that nothing more valuable was taken. At 3:30 today the police are going to call my roommate to let us know if they've found anything. We will just have to wait and see what they come up with. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

On the upside, we celebrated Columbus Day (Dia de la Raza) here at Saint David today so there was a presentation in the morning and we were left to spend the day planning (and perhaps a little blog-writing) after 9:30. The presentation was excellent. We will put up some pictures at some point to share the excitement.