Robbed Blind

The last few days have been haywire. I'll start with the positive things:

• I am enjoying networking.
• My English student forgot our lessons two days in a row. To be fair, he is leaving on Friday to return to Korea, so he is a bit busy in his head. But the plus! He brought me out to the most amazing Korean BBQ. In Rwanda. It was a beautiful open villa-type restaurant hall with a bunch of bright colors and really tasty food!
• I am finding some great expat friends - Denise and Jane, to name a few. They've been amazing to me while I get myself settled and familiar with the place.
• The hustling for The Man continues, and keeps getting more interesting.
• My students are starting to grow on me. I'm beginning to like them more, and they're beginning to listen more. They may not understand things, but we're getting them. I figure out facilitation would be so much better than teaching - so I am making them create their own math problems and do IT exercises that let them have fun and be creative. It's really fun for me, too! And less stress.

And now onto the negative...

So last night I was robbed while I slept.

My roommates and I went to bed around 10/10:30pm last night. I woke up at 4:45/5am this morning, like usual, to call The Man. I walked into our living room, and my laptop wasn't there. The camera for the laptop was there, but no laptop. I thought, "That's odd, I could have sworn it was there last night............where's my bag?!" So I started hunting around for my stuff. I look at the back door of the house to find it slightly ajar, and it seemed a bit broken. In the dark kitchen is our solar-powered flashlight from the living room, sitting on the kitchen counter....turned on.

I turn to a frantic hunt throughout the house. Where is my wallet? Where is my camera? My Nook? MY STUFF!!!

I slam on Prosper's door and wake him up. My laptop isn't in his room. This is when I start freaking out.

"JESUS CHRIST I WAS ROBBED! SOMEONE CAME IN AND TOOK EVERYTHING!! EVERYTHING!!!! OH MY GOD WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!?!!?"

Both roommates are up now, and confused and worried. They start looking around. I'm screaming. And throwing things. I can't remember if Scovea locked the back door or not last night, and I yell at her. She starts to cry.

I order Prosper to let me use his laptop so I can call my family. They need to freeze my accounts! And I am panicked even more, and slightly hysterical (okay, a lot). I call Denise and beg her to call my family in the US to let them know. Call my Mom! Call my boyfriend! The computer takes a long time to turn on, and while it turns on, my roommates had gone outside to scope out the backyard. The thieves had thrown my pilfered backpack and purse into the dog's area, with all of the zippered pockets searched. They had also thrown my credit cards out into the shed for my housemates to find. I am so glad I have at least those. I might be alright.

The Man and I worked on changing all of my passwords to my accounts, and informing my mom about my bank account and how/when I'd take out money. It was lightning speed, all of this.

So my colleagues run over to my house to figure out what's going on. Denise is trying to understand why someone would go through so meticulously through my stuff, but no one else's.

What did they steal?: Cash in three currencies, insurance cards, license, wallet, laptop, camera, harddrive, eReader, and a fake diamond ring I've been wearing as a fake wedding ring to deter sleezeballs. Oh, and cooking oil from our kitchen pan. But the rest of the stuff that was in my bag were still there. In our backyard.

It seemed too well calculated...they knew exactly what they were going for, it seems, and they didn't just grab and run. And no one woke up! The dog didn't even bark.

So after I sob into my hands for about 45 minutes or so, a colleague came over with his car and drove us to the police station to file a report. Apparently, this normally doesn't work. But the guy has a friend at the top of the Criminal Investigation Unit here in Rwanda, who was able to expedite an investigation.

We found they had crawled over the fence and used a ladder in our backyard to climb back over. I have no idea what him and my roommates discussed, because it was all in Kinyarwandan. But now the police are investigating and considering it a potential "inside job". Now, without a guard or a cleaner, that means they suspect my housemates....which makes me uncomfortable.

So I moved out of the house. I took everything I owned that I still had and packed it up in my bags. And the founder of the school offered to let me stay with them at their mansion while I sort things out and find another place to stay. I've decided to not go back, and to find a place with a guard and lots of security all around. A nicer area, perhaps. That means I'll have to muster the money together somehow, because it's expensive, but I have to. I can't afford to lose my valuables again.

Prosper just texted me: "just talked to our neighbor who is also related to the landlord. she said that even the people who lived here before us had their furniture stolen when they were sleeping. she also said that her house got broken into several times. apparently this area has a long history of theft.  i don't know how this can help the situation but i thought you might want to hear this. it is so sad that your first experiences here are bad and for a person who is new in the area this is so frustrating. we are looking for a new house and will move as soon as possible. we'll keep asking places where second-hand computers are sold maybe from that we can know who stole your stuff. i'm so sorry" I find it interesting, but The Man advises me to not trust many people right now. Because I can't afford to.

I'm borrowing a computer from school and Denise's modem to go online. My family has been calling my phone, and other than that I'm on my own. I'm glad I had bought a few hard copy books the day before, so I have books to read, and I'm blessed my passport is still at immigration. I black listed my Nook, so it's unreadable now. And I plan on going to the Embassy tomorrow.

But I'm exhausted, and today has been trying.