Update on Gun Toting Neighbor

We are back from Williamsburg, VA. I will definitely post some pictures from our visit.

I did want to give you an update on our next door neighbor.

Here is what happened following my previous post.

Kris contacted the embassy security office to see what our options were. He also spoke with some local police who told him that we should press charges so they could find out if Lambert (we found out that is our neighbor's name) was even allowed to own a gun. We were told since he was actually out on the street and walking up and down the sidewalk when he pulled the gun on me, that alone was a serious charge...not allowed to do that at all here in Mexico. The police were really chomping at the bit and the Ministerio Publico (the District Attorney) was adamant about me coming in to speak with him about what happened.

Kris spoke with the acting RSO-Regional Security Officer at the embassy (the RSO was out of town so this guy was next in command) who also wanted to move forward with things. They wanted a signed statement from me and with that they could work with the District Attorney.

Our next step was to contact GSO housing because I didn't want to move forward with anything unless we would be able to move. This was the complete and total source of my anxiety...I couldn't move forward with anything unless I knew we'd be able to be far away from Lambert when we did it.

Obviously things work a little differently here. I didn't want to be in this house, with him next door, as an open target for retaliation. Retaliation is a very serious threat here in Mexico if you DARE to challenge anyone. There are no laws to protect you against it. The police told us the most likely reason Lambert did what he did was because a WOMAN dared confront him...a pretty serious insult to his insignificant machismo cranial emptiness. I'll have to keep that in mind...and use it often on these machismo men...maybe that's why the maintenance guys got so upset with me when I showed them that they were not putting the insides of the toilet back together right.

GSO housing told Kris it would be about 7 months before they would do anything for us. As you well know, I despise GSO housing with a passion. I understand the embassy is trying to give the functional retards a place to work, and bless their hearts for their compassion, but how about putting them in an office that doesn't directly affect entire families? It is bad enough we have to be in this house that has a history of flooding with sewage but now we add this on top of it (not to mention all of the other problems that we STILL haven't been able to get them to fix...the electrical system is still messed up and we still get shocked plugging things in).

Kris and I had to make a decision. Because GSO was unwilling to make any sort of exception for us and we'd have to stay in this house through any legal measures against Lambert we had to throw up our hands and say "He wins". The safety of our family is more important and we couldn't risk escalating things to where retaliation was a threat, so Lambert wins...he gets away with what he did and we can't do anything.

We are getting the last laugh though when it comes to Lambert. I can't talk about it while we are here in Mexico but when we move back to the US I'll share...it's awesome and I felt really guilty about it but hey, what's the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans?"

What we did about the dogs though is pretty funny. We bought one of those ultra sonic machines that emits a piercing signal (only they can hear) every time a dog barks. We set it on the loudest setting (the box has a recommendation that the loudest setting should only be used on acreage...gwa ha ha *snort* ha ha!). It has been family entertainment for us to hear the dogs start barking and then immediately followed by whimpering. We figure in a few days-weeks these dogs will be bark trained.

Major Kudos to my parents who have the decency and consideration to bark train their dogs (and have done so for all the dogs we've had growing up with). I don't mind living next to dog owners like them!