My New Calling
You should see me at the park these days, ever since "the incident". I'm like a psycho meerkat. Perched at my lookout point, swiveling my head from side to side. Ready to alert the pack if any dangerous beasts (children) are coming to steal their goodies. It's my mission to rid the city of these pesky criminals!
(I'm really good with Microsoft Paint, I know)
Let me explain how it all goes down. Groups of three or four children, ranging from about six to sixteen, ("Romanian Gypsies", we're told by Parisians) approach you with a piece of paper. Nothing special, just some scrap paper they find somewhere. They wave the paper in your face to distract you, while one of them waves the paper over your phone or whatever and picks it up without you ever noticing. By the time you realize your item is missing, they're out of sight. Sneaks!
Last week I had two run-ins with these gypsies in one day.
The first was while we were lunching on the patio of one of our local cafes. Kyle pulled his wallet out to pay l'addition and immediately they were swooping in behind me with their pieces of paper trying to get near his wallet. NO WAY! Kyle yelled at them to scram and they left us alone. However, they just walked right into the patio of the restaurant and went after someone else's things right away! Can you believe the nerve, they have no fear. They pulled the paper trick on a guy, but he could see the kid's hand under the paper and pushed him and screamed at him. I decided I'd had enough.
That same afternoon I went to the park to read. I read all of one page though because there were gypsies everywhere. So, I sat perched, waiting to pounce one. Three German boys (no older than 13) sat about 15 feet from me and pulled some things out of their bags for a picnic, along with some Eiffel Tower trinkets, etc. I figured they probably didn't have valuables on them, but I kept a close eye on them when a group of mini criminals approached them, paper in hand. Good thing I did, because I was sitting behind the enemies and could see what their hands were doing behind the paper. Then, it happened. One of the kids reached inside one of the tourists' shoes to steal something....
So, I did what any good crime fighter would do. I sprung into action! I yelled "Hey! Heeey! Get the hell out of here! Now!" And they did, while throwing some Romanian profanity my direction. I tried to tell the German boys to cover their things because those kids were thieves, but they had no clue what I was talking about. All they knew was that some loony chick was upset about something. Oh well, at least those little guys didn't get robbed.
The good news is, I'm not in this fight alone. In the past week we have seen the police patrol at parks, etc beefed up. At least once a day while I'm out running errands I see someone chasing off these little creeps. The locals must have heard I was on a mission and needed a little back-up :)
Perhaps I need some sort of Superhero weapon, like this?
In Other News
Kyle is really starting to settle in with his new job, which is wonderful. It's tricky finding a rhythm in any new position, let alone in a new country. Learning the language, the cultural differences, general business practices. I'm sure that is very stressful for him. So, it made me really happy to hear him say today that he is finally starting to feel his groove.
We have started getting together with all two of our friends (they're awesome :)) for Wednesday Friendsday. Julie and Kelly come over for dinner, wine and games. It's great! Takes the sting off the homesickness.
It's always intimidating going to a new place and trying out the little French I know to get what I need, but I'm conquering the fear little by little. I joined a gym, found a groomer to bathe and shave Buckley, visit new stores. It may sound silly, but those small tasks are tough when you can't communicate with people haha!
Time is going to fly by in the coming months - so much to look forward to. My birthday is the week after next, then Jonathan and Lane come to visit the following weekend! Two weeks after that, Kyle and I are going to England for five days to visit my family in Berwick. Then, it will just be a couple weeks until we visit Houston. Our wedding will be here before we know it. WOW
Totally random, but aren't these Segway tours hilarious?!
xo
Maygan
No comments:
Post a Comment