What a crazy and hectic whirlwind of a day.
I woke up early this morning to make sure I was prepared for the morning course presentation I was going to give about Soil. I was doing a Soil Examination activity and after I had everything set up I went to reach for my computer under my desk where I always hide it at night when I go to bed. However, this morning it was gone. I thought, there is no way it was stolen- for one the Danish kids are long gone, and two it just wasn´t comprehensible to me that my computer could e stolen. I refused to accept that it was even a possibility. I thought to myself- "for sure one of my teammates or someone form the school saw it sitting there and decided to take care of it by bringing it to the dorms. or they took it to teach me a lesson about not leaving my valuable items in the school". Silly me.
I didn´t say much about it because in my mind it wasn't stolen but as everyone arrived and was waiting for morning course to start I became more panicked. Then when my teammates arrived I realized they didn't take it to teach me a lesson. I whispered quietly to another volunteer as Hyunny (Hyunny), our teammate that was also presenting today, got set up. Others over heard and began asking questions and at the same time Ana came in and reported that her camera was missing followed by Thago reporting that his computer was stolen, and Rebbecca who reported that her Camera was also gone. 2 cameras, 2 computers.
Immediately the suggestion of searching the rooms was brought up- i hated this idea and was glad when it was suggested that teachers do it this time. When my phone got stolen a couple of weeks ago we searched the rooms at the suggestion of the YDB and although I appreciated everyones willingness to cooperate I HATED doing it. We also decided to call the police when we saw footprints outside of the windows and all around the building. We later discovered that there was a door that was slightly broken and could be opened even though it was locked. ah ha!
So I called the police and made a report and the Sheriff came (very quickly I might add) to get all of the information about was taken. He had said that there was 0% chance of getting the stuff back, something I already assumed understanding the reason for why people steal items and how quickly and quietly they can move from one persons hands to the another.
Thankfully I have private investigator boyfriend who, with Kyla and Ashley (the two American girls on the Feb. Africa team) followed all of the footprints around the building and then back behind where they led to a set of town homes. The same town homes where another Danish kid in the past used to sell stolen items from the school in exchange for drugs. So we figured, they know where those items came from and now they have come back for more. Clever clever. Brian showed the sheriff his investigative work and then we went about our day, thinking nothing would come of it. However, the sheriff came back with another officer to ask more questions after following the tracks and asking around. They wanted to know if anything else had been stolen because they had some information about a possible guitar-we looked around and sure enough one of the schools guitars was missing. Now there seemed to be a little bit of hope but still I tried to keep myself in the mental state of expecting it not to be returned.
I tried to get the serial number of computer and finally tracked it down and started to dial their Sheriffs phone number when the door to our team room opened. I paused to see who it was or what they needed and it was Lauren (who works in the promotion room) saying "Andra, they found your computer". I honestly thought she was joking and I was thinking about how not funny it was until I saw the Sheriff. It was true-they found both computers both cameras, the guitar and an electronic dictionary that one of the Korean girls didn't even realize was stolen. I literally gave the Sheriff a big hug. the whole school had caught word and was gathered around as he explained how they found everything, how the kid got in, why he stole it etc. When he was finished, everyone clapped and cheered-it felt like a very American, almost patriotic moment. Something that I don't experience genuinely very often.
During this whole time I was trying to deal with it mentally, asking myself why had I had things stolen from me twice in two weeks, what lessons do I need to learn from this experience
At first I thought maybe I have somehow accumulated some bad karma either that or the universe was trying to teach me a lesson about material value. Lesson learned universe!!
I was actually really calm throughout the whole process. Yes, it sucked. But, there wasn't really anything i could do about it beside what I was already doing. Yes, I was sad that my computer and my hardrive were gone (I still don't know if they found the hard drive) and I had a lot of valuable things on it that i wish i still had. Was it the end of the world no. I told Brian "well, at least now i don't have to worry about how to get my computer back to Colorado when we leave!"
And another lesson learned, don't think you are exempt from things like robbery! Since I first arrived I have heard over and over don't leave your stuff in the building at night, lock the door to your rooms, etc. but I chose to ignore them. Partly because I was lazy and partly because I really didn't think anything would even happen. Especially after the phone incident I felt like I had paid my "being robbed dues" and now i was safe from it at least for a while. I was obviously very wrong.
So as life goes crazy things happen, bad things happen, but so do unbelievably great things. Never ever would I have imagined that I would get my phone back but I did. and then with the computer I was sure I wouldn't be so lucky but it too was found! I am not going to keep testing my luck on a third run but will instead be so grateful for my stuff being found, hopefully that when it is returned to me tomorrow it is in good condition, and enlightened by newly learned life lessons!
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