things are not always as exciting as they seem

Things happen around here the likes of which certainly didn't happen when we lived in the house by the river. At that house, I'd look out the window across the water at the homes of my fellow Americans and the Canadians. It was always very calm. Two days ago I was driving to the track on post but got stuck in traffic because of what seemed to be a mass Exodus out of the ghetto. Four traffic lights in a row were being manned by police and two police cars were pulling into our parking lot as I left. Of course I wondered WHAT IN THE WORLD was going on, but unfortunately I never found out.

That was nothing compared to the excitement of yesterday.

I was sitting on my bed eating pretzels (a fact not relevant to this story) while doing school when a large shipping truck with the word SHERIFF printed on the side pulled into the church parking lot across the street. Naturally I took a picture to show Christopher because I like to share the things that he's missed during the day. (Although it has been documented that he's 85% less interested in neighborhood happenings than I am.) Nothing happened for about fifteen minutes and just when I was about to find my shoes and go do errands, two pickup trucks pulled in next to the first truck and out climbed not one, but seven prisoners in blue and white stripped outfits.

Immediately any plans I had for school or errands or productivity in general went out the window.

The gate leading into the parking lot was left open so naturally I felt the need to take on the job of staring at it intently incase anyone tried to escape. Not that I had any plan of action if they did, I just wanted to do my civic duty and watch the gate.

I sat at the window for a good thirty minutes watching the men set up tents with a golden police star on the top. I wasn't the only one watching. A man way across on the other side of the parking lot was watching the goings on from his front door. I wasn't watching from my front door because I don't like to be so obvious. Not to mention that I don't have a front door. By this point in the Mysterious Events Across the Street I noticed a new development- a even larger truck had arrived. A truck with Party Rentals written in big letters on the side. What was going on now? Where the prisoners about to have some sort of April 20th party? At this point I started wondering if the whole thing was to set up for some sort of church event seeing how they were in a church parking lot. Talk about anticlimactic. Not that I wanted a riot or anything, I just wanted something a little more exciting than a church picnic. Right around the time they took a break and started eating fruit I decided it would be the grown up thing to go do my grocery shopping. It wasn't going to do itself and if I wanted to watch someone eat a snack, I could be eating my pretzels in front of a mirror.

I returned from my shopping to discover all criminals gone and three tents set up in the parking lot of the church. In what is probably become the most anticlimactic story EVER, I decided they were most likely doing community service in the form of helping a church. As Laura (who I instantly alerted to the activities outside my window said), they were spending some time out of the slammer as a reward for good behavior. So that's what happened outside my window yesterday. I wonder what exciting happens I'll see next week!

(Ps. Before my mother starts to worry, no, I wouldn't have been paying such attention to the prisoners if they weren't on the other side of a very strong brick wall.)