Gypsies be gettin' nothin' off dis white chick. (:

Today I come to you all with a story. A story with good news. And a story with bad news. I typically prefer my bad news first, that way the good news cheers me up. So here it goes..

Bad News: My wallet got stolen by a gypsy :'(
Good News: I still have my wallet (:

Gypsy steals my wallet + I fight gypsy= This chick..still has her wallet (:

So the story goes,

One rainy and dreary Sunday, Corey and I take the metro to church. We make the walk down to the metro station, buy our tickets, scan them, figure out which direction to go and wait for the metro to arrive at the station. 15 or so minutes pass, the metro arrives, absolutely crammed full of people. Like a sandwich. Imagine fitting 50 people into a VW bug. Got it? Alright that's what I want you to picture, now instead of a bug it's a bus kind of thing so everyone is standing and everyone is pressed up against each other complete popping everyone’s personal bubble. i.e. if you're claustrophobic, you would die.

As Corey and I board the metro, Corey enters first therefore, my back is pressed towards him. I am completely surrounded and touching everyone at all sides of me and facing this lady, very Italian in stature but Gypsy in looks, and in actions as you will soon come to discover. She came up to about my chest, (very typical for an Italian woman). She had a shawl covering her shoulders, arms, hands and draped over what looked like a baby in her arms. Come to find out the baby was fake and simply just made her pick-pocketing easier. But that’s irrelevant at this point in the story. I was carrying a "purse" as us Americans would call it, or handbag as anyone else in the world would say, draped over my shoulder and across my chest, lying at about hip level. Mostly zipped; with my large, heavy, bright green wallet inside. With this gypsy lady much below my eye level, carrying a "fake" baby as a diversion and her arms at the level of my purse, she did not have to move much to steal my wallet. With everyone very squished and moving onto the metro at the same time she was able to steal it as I was focusing on other things. Things such as, boarding the train before it started moving, making sure we didn't miss our stop, obviously not looking at the gypsy currently stealing my wallet. The woman had to fumble around, unzip it, grab it etc, but with everybody already so close and everyone touching each other it didn't seem out of the ordinary. But as soon as she grabbed it out, I felt the weight on my shoulder decrease and knew what had happened. I looked down, my purse open and empty! wth?! The gypsy woman had already managed to place my wallet in her handbag. Adrenaline rushes through my body, I look at the gypsy in the eye, she looks at me with guilt, knowing she has been caught red handed, quickly looked down at her baby pretending nothing had happened. In my irate, panic, freak-out, frustrated, irrational state I flipped around, purposefully pushing and shoving her out of my way inconspicuously. I turn to Corey face completely red, shaking, very loudly explain that my wallet had been stolen and I knew exactly who did it. The lady behind him spoke English and also, thought she had seen the lady do it. Corey seeing my disposition, tried to keep me under control. By this point I practically had everyone in the entire metro completely aware my wallet had been stolen, and I wasn't even speaking Italian. Still completely outraged and frustrated I flip around again to look at the woman, purposefully elbowing, pushing, moving, her every chance I got. No one else noticed my karate moves ;) as everyone was still very tight and squished. As I continued to elbow, shove, push, whatever I could think of without actually punching her in the face, and trying to avoid touching the baby as not to hurt it, my wallet fell out of the gypsies purse! I saw it fall, I saw it drop, and quickly snatched it from the ground. She was caught red handed. Everyone saw what had just went down, and the lady pretended nothing had happened. She looked around aimlessly, staring down at her so called baby, got out on the next exit and probably went to rob the next unlucky person she came in contact with. As I stated earlier, what had originally looked like she was simply holding her baby was not. It never moved, cried, made a sound, wiggled, or anything after all that had occurred. It was simply a diversion to distract from her hands underneath it. With whatever it was, being covered with a shawl you never saw it wasn't a baby just assumed it was and it covered her arms making pick-pocketing easier. Actually quite genius if you think about it. They are very sly and never really get caught pick-pocketing, and when they do it is never enforced by the law and therefore completely out of hand and out of control in Europe. I am very grateful I was aware enough to know exactly what had happen and been able to retrieve my wallet. Obviously, this heightened mine, as well as everyone in the metro that day’s, senses. And everyone will walk away more aware and cautious. Especially myself. I am very blessed the situation turned out as it did. And oh so glad I wasn't afraid to use a little force.

As now I have discussed this occurrence with many Italians, I have come to find out that most if not all of the Italians I spoke to, informed me they have had numerous things stolen over the years. In my opinion it is ridiculous and outrageous. And in America would simply never happen because the situation that happened on the metro would have ended much differently. In Arizona, the woman would have been circled by people and therefore, not been able to move until a police man came and cuffed her hands and put her in the back of a police car. But the culture here is much different and the gypsies play by, and follow their own laws and rules. Something that is quite puzzling in all actuality.

Along with the gypsy ordeal, our oven and microwave burnt out and keep causing the power to blow as soon as they are touched. Great...It's 5p.m and the repair man was supposed to be here at 2p.m. Apparently, he is not coming today seeing as Italians don't work past 5. Yay.

                                   
Anyways, crazy week and it's still Monday. Hope all is well wherever you are. I miss AZ, I miss the smell of the rain, and the sunsets, the heat, and the desert, I miss the dirt and the cactus and most importantly I miss you!

Mi manchi tutti.  Buon Natale e Buon Anno a tutti.

"I miss you a little, I guess you could say. A little too much. A little too often. And a little more each day." -unknown

"Blessed is he who sees the light, even when life has fallen far from bright. For those who can endure the pain, can overcome even the hardest of rain." -miranda kepler