I need to apologize for not writing in so long. I had an entry prepared about my week at our training of coaches – great detail and pretty witty in my opinion. I planned to post it with some pictures, and then our house was broken into Thursday night and my computer was stolen, among some other things. I suppose that’s what I get for not blogging more often.

Joking aside, it’s been a weird couple of days trying to process being robbed. I spent most of Friday in shock. We woke up early that morning, and I saw that our gate that leads out of our walled-in backyard to the rest of the compound was wide open. I remember having a flash of some feeling that something wasn’t right, but it didn’t stay long and I didn’t really think about it. I had left my computer on our counter, having used it to look at a recipe for dinner Thursday night. It wasn’t where I left it, but I figured someone had moved it before they went to bed. As we all started eating breakfast and getting ready for work, I found out no one had moved my computer, and some other things were missing as well. It started to set in that we may have been robbed when we realized no one had used the gate that morning.

Initially I thought someone was messing with me. That feeling of being duped lasted most of the morning…I kept expecting someone to start laughing and pull my computer out from its hiding place. We checked with Sheppard, one of the nicest men we’ve met who manages maintenance and upkeep of where we live, and the night guard, Elvis, to see if they had seen anything suspicious. There were no signs of forced entry, leading us to think that we had forgotten to secure the lock on the sliding door that leads to the backyard. We’ve forgotten to lock the doors on other occasions, something you absolutely don’t do here. We’re good about it for the most part, but having grown up in a place where there’s not a constant worry and suspicion that someone will break in, it does slip our minds sometimes.

I knew coming here that the petty crime rate is very high, but our time here has, up until last week, been completely uneventful in that arena. I am upset that my computer was stolen, but in the grand scheme I’m relieved that no one was hurt, even relieved that it was a relatively cheap computer that I’d only had a couple months. Most of my files and pictures were safe on my memory stick in my bag. Having said that, I feel violated and angry that some jackass broke into our home and took our belongings. It’s unsettling to think of a stranger going through our things while we were asleep.

I’m not one to want to hash these kinds of things out right away, if at all. There was definitely shock and anger on Friday, along with just feeling at a loss with what to do or think about what’s happened. The weather was beautiful, so we went to the beach to surf late in the afternoon. Usually being active and physical helps me more than anything to center myself and get back in a positive mindset, but having the waves crash against me again and again did the opposite. I called it quits early and hung on the beach for awhile, the sun still warm and the breeze low…the calm I’d been looking for. This weekend was quiet also and I’m feeling pretty okay about putting it all behind me, and getting on with things.

I’ll write soon about the training of coaches, which was a really incredible experience and I want to share it with you all. Also, another update: the hip-hop dance classes we’ve been taking are awesome and will be video taped in a couple weeks, so get excited. I’ve been sharing some of my moves with the kids…



-Rose