What time is it?

I don't know.. My watch was stolen

Blog 7/1

I experienced my first theft while traveling ever yesterday. That is certainly a pretty large claim given that I have spent almost 2 years of my life cumulativley traveling outside of the US. I have certainly lost many items before, mostly of no consequence, like hats, sunglassses, etc. I think i went through 9 different hats while traveling in africa. It was only when i got the most outrageous african looking hat I could find that I was able to somehow hold on to it. Even beginning this trip, i lost my wallet in a park in the UK. Thank god someone had turned it in to the tube station, though not before i canceled one of my debit cards.
Yesterday however, someone stole my watch! Really, of all the things they could steal, they stole the one of least consequence. I bought that watch on the internet 2 years ago for $10 as a back up watch in case someone stole my first one when i was traveling in Africa. The first one eventually lost the night time light, so I traded it (with full disclosure of its problems) for a pair of stinky (made of goat skin, probably tanned with urine) sandals and a wallet. I didn't know the items were strange smelling, and it caused me great concern when I noticed that my foot, which was full of open blisters started smelling. I thought i had developed gangrene! Instead I was a victim of fashion.
I can't place exactly when my watch was taken yesterday, but it may have been when i was in the market. I distinctly remember one of the vendors grabbing my arm to look at something, and me pulling it away rather brusqley. That is the height of all rudeness for me, even if I'm trying to be sensitive to ways and manners that are foreign to me. While that would be the obvious time for it to occure, it could have just as easily occured earlier walking through another market. I really have no idea as I don't remember when i first noticed it missing. That is probably the most disconcerting thing about theft like this, is the ambiguity of when and where the theft took place. It truly means being caught unawares.

 
Michael Le Chevallier
MDiv candidate 2011
University of Chicago
mike.lechevallier@gmail.com