I should have known that yesterday would be a memorable day in American Samoa. The bike ride to work was a little different than usual. Instead of the customary 0 or 1 kid chucking a rock at my bike, 2 kids tested their aim. Neither one got me -- they rarely do. I don't think they want to hurt me -- I think it's just fun for them, and since nobody has ever gotten off a bike to beat them to a pulp, there seems to be no harm.

Another strange thing happened during the day at work. I was walking across the hospital parking lot when I saw 3 men carrying an overweight kid into the Emergency Room. A security guard was kind of running in front of them. The kid looked like he might have been unconscious. I wanted to help, but there didn't seem to be anything I could do -- the guys were struggling while carrying the kid, but I'm sure we would have dropped him if I had tried to help. I'm sure the folks in the E.R. see heavy unconscious kids all the time -- it was just the first time I saw it.

The bike ride home was pretty normal. A couple cops and an ambulance passed me on the Ili'ili road. I pulled off the road when I heard the sirens. A bunch of cars passed me while I was pulled over, and then the cops and amublance passed. I think it's hard for the drivers to hear the sirens, so they don't pull over until the last second.

When I got home something seemed a little strange. My lavalava was on top of the drawers at the foot of our bed. I didn't remember putting it there, but thought that maybe Amy used it before she left for work since I left before her. I started looking around for my laptop computer because it wasn't where I had left it in the morning, which was in its case where the lavalava was. It was possible that Amy hid it somewhere because it's generally a good idea to not leave things out in the open, even in your own locked room. I have been careless lately and have been leaving the computer out in the room when we go to work instead of hiding it in a drawer. Then I noticed that the camera was missing. Maybe Amy brought it to work so she could take it to paddling afterwards -- I didn't know, but it was quite a coincidence that both the laptop and the camera were missing. Oh yeah, the new sliding glass door that Marv installed was unlocked also, and the wood beam that needs to go in the groove at the bottom of the door to lock the thing was not in place. At this point I was pretty sure that we'd been robbed. Again.

Again? Well, a couple months ago I had REALLY gotten confident that we were in an isolated crime-free zone. When I would get home from work I'd go down to the ocean and leave the door unlocked so I wouldn't have to bring a key. One day we noticed that Amy's headphones were missing, and so was an unopened bottle of rum that we were planning on bringing to Ofu for Marge at the Vaoto Lodge. It was really strange -- there were plenty of other things that could have been stolen, but the only things missing were the headphones and rum. I locked the door every time I left after that.

When Amy got home from paddling I asked her if she'd hidden the laptop and camera, and she hadn't, so we were positive that we'd been robbed. In the states when you get robbed it's usually by someone you don't know. Marv told us that in American Samoa when you get robbed it's usually by someone you DO know. Before we moved in, they had some things stolen, so clearly this isn't an isolated event. The other strange thing is that there is almost always someone home at the house. Yesterday, Marv had gone to town in the morning, but Tai was home. The house apparently was only empty for 20 minutes or so, which must have been when our stuff was borrowed.

Anyway, this is why there will probably be no new photos up here. Maybe I'll start writing an online journal or something and put it here...