Uff daa.

So, up until a day ago, things were going pretty darn well in Chimundo.  I finished my first trimester of teaching, managed to write up 600 grades by hand, and participated in our week of conselhos, where we teachers wrote down our thousands of grades by hand in several more source documents.  It was about as fun as it sounds, but surprisingly wasn´t too awful.  Because of  conselhos, we teachers didn´t get a break, so last week, I jumped right into the second trimester, with a slightly better grasp of Portuguese and slightly better grasp of classroom management.  Slightly.

I´ve been living with my sitemate for the last month and a half, and since it´s been so pleasant to have company, electricity, someone to cook with, and someone to even do Pilates with, we agreed to continue living together permanently at her house.  We even bought a chicken together to have eggs.  But the morning after we decided this, I went back to my old house to begin organizing my belongings and found my front door ajar.  And my bedroom door ajar.  And most of my things gone.  Someone had entered my house that night, using a screwdriver to pry open the doors, and stole my suitcases, violin, and even a drawer from my bed.  Thankfully, my computer and good camera were already at my sitemate´s, and the thieves passed on most of my clothing, but when they lifted my suitcases, they got US dollars and my Peace Corps passport.  I´m sure those are long gone, but I wonder how much good they will get out of my two-year supply of contact lenses, my two-year supply of ivory-colored makeup, and my violin.  My guess is, not as much good as I´d get out of them.  Not nearly.

Oh, and our chicken ran away, adding insult to injury.

I´m sure the thieves broke in because they knew that even though I returned to the house every day before and after school, I wasn´t sleeping there.  I kick myself for not moving my things sooner, but hindsight is 20/20 (unfortunately, unlike my vision, when my one remaining pair of contact lenses dies on me).  People at the school were great, arranging a car for me to move my things to my sitemate´s house that day so the thieves wouldn´t return and lift anything else.  Other teachers have been very sympathetic and supportive, as have neighbors.  Replacing my Peace Corps passport shouldn´t be too difficult, and will get me a trip to Maputo, where I can also replace my internet phone (which unfortunately fell into the Indian ocean a month ago--I estimate it´s halfway to Madagascar by now) and try to replace some of my products.  And I´m going to start thinking about an insurance claim and replacing my stash of contact lenses.  I think disc 1 of Pride and Prejudice is a lost cause (sorry, Mom), but ah well.

Anyway, aside from the robbery, things are just fine.  Bea is doing well and sends greetings.  Hope you are well, too.