Things stolen from me Aug 04 - Mar 06:
Two motorcycle helmets
Things stolen from me in the last 24 hours:
A/C adapter for recharging my mobile phone
A/C adapter for recharging my computer
Various denominations of various currencies (no more than USD100)
Digital camera
Film camera
Computer speakers
My housecleaner went to do some cleaning yesterday around 5p. I had left the house at 7.30a that morning. I got a call from my counterpart to ask if I was in the house as Ali couldn’t get in the house. No, I wasn’t. This continued on throughout several calls. Someone had broken in and might have been in there at the time. I was meeting up with the Fulbright researcher from Manado for dinner. She was put in touch with the cousin of someone from her Jakarta office. This gentleman turned out to be a police forensics officer.
I eventually decide to go back and check out the damage. The intruder had spent quite some time in my house much of what was in my refrigerator was eaten. A juice container was on the counter, a cup of yogurt was opened and tasted but not eaten entirely. The thief even mixed up a sports drink I had lying around. To get in my bedroom, he had to break open the small window above the door and climb in that way. The lock was too much for him. He had plenty of time to look through everything in the room, taking out and unwrapping the gifts I was keeping for my return home. He even pulled out one of my harmonicas to play–which leads a rather bizarre side-story that I really must tell in person; just ask about the harmonica. My computer was safe in my room; it looked untouched. My passport was taken (but found later in a discard pile). My plane tickets, credit card, and Indonesian money was all still there. Don’t tell me that keeping piles of papers doesn’t help anything. Just the cameras, chargers, and my computer speakers were snatched. It was what he could carry.
The police came and took some fingerprints and I went to a hotel for the night. Someone will now stay in the house next to mine to help assure that this doesn’t happen again. I’m not optimistic that the police will find the nimble man who violated my living space. Really, what I lost was so little… I’ll have to send to Jakarta for a new charger for my iBook. Until then, I’ll be sans computer. I guess the bottom line really is that I am safe and sound.
I really think there’s so much more to tell but I’m not ready to tell it.
7 Comments
Christ, Tony, that is some bullshit. You’re right, though. Considering how much time the fellow obviously spent there he took very little. Makes me think that (a) this person knew you well enough to know time could taken, and (b) this person felt like having a snack.
Strange. Looking forward to hearing the harmonica story. And glad that you’re well. Let me know if you need anything that, for whatever reason, should be gotten in the US.
Yeah, one doesn’t really need to look hard to figure out my schedule. There are some days that I’m not home until 9p. I try to not let on that I’m alone but when the cab drivers see me locking and unlocking the gate, it’s easy to make a conjecture.
That really sucks. Makassar is kind of known nationally for its thieves (palukka’), though I never lost anything myself. Do you want me to pick up an iBook power adaptor in Singapore next week and send it?
I hope you can now get your email! Jim made me do it!
Thanks, Anthony, but I had another Fellow in Jakarta pick one up. A cool million because I had to buy original. It should be here in a day or so.
Al, I had to call Jim to get the information. I’ll work slowly on replacing a camera (so many to choose from and good time to upgrade).
talked to matt about camera’s, two sites to look at -
dpreview.com
and
steves-digicams.com
check em out.
I’ll check them out. I’m not looking for anything spectacular. Maybe I’ll upgrade to something smaller that I’ll carry everywhere so the next time someone chooses to nick my stuff, they don’t get both cameras.
Wait til you see my list of things you need to pack for me!