This is a sad yet hilarious and very true saga of my lost wallet.
The Back Story: I am dying of heat here in Rome, seriously. I know that the valley back home is bad too but I would much rather be cold than hot. It is so hot that you cannot go to bed until midnight or one just to sleep and then you wake up soaking wet, ewww. Being a poor student I am staying in hostels where as most people would probably have a nice air conditioned rooms so I don't think my situation would be similar to everybody else but roll with it.
Next morning: Kim no longer has a wallet.
The epic adventure begins: We book it back to the cafe asap. I march up there like I own the place and tell a little white lie I told them that I was eating there last night and that I left my wallet. I kind of had to act it out though because their english was limited to anything about the cafe or food. Finally they all started yelling (italians love to yell I have decided) and they said that some found a wallet last night and left a number. Could this really be possible? I hope so!
What the People Say: This is HUGE because everyone keeps telling me that I should kiss the wallet goodbye. It had 2 school IDs in it (OSU and an International one), a debit card, a credit card, and 150 euro. They said that anyone who finds it will take the money and ditch the cards. ugh. Let`s cross our fingers and hope for the best.
Tabs on Paper: So after the cafe people dig in a tab bag for like five minutes they finally find the number. How people live without a computer I am not sure. I ask to use their phone and for them to dial because I suck at dialing international numbers. So the guy was pretty chill and calls on his phone but there is no answer. We try again and the same thing happens. No problem he says though and has us sit down and says that we can try again in 10 minutes.
10 Minutes Later: Same deal. He says to wait though and we will try again. He brings out some bottled water and bread. I don't want to eat it because then I will have to pay for it but I am depressed so I don't really care at that moment. I am guessing that he did not want tourists looking unhappy with no food in the cafe. Could be bad for business right? Finally we get a hold of the guy and he says in clearly second language quality english that they left it at the American Embassy. I know that he had it for sure because he called me Kimberly and I told him that my name was Kim. I thank him for several minutes and get off the phone.
Phase 2: I have the cafe people point out the embassy to me on a map and we are off. They did not make us pay for anything which I took as a positive sign from God. YES!
Desperation Setting In: I go down around the corner and see a call box. The choices are as follows: Marine Security Forces, Security Forces, Local Security. I ask Bryan which one I should hit and he says 'Not local, they cannot speak English remember'. As if I will ever forget that. So I hit Security Forces because the Marine one sounded intense. Nothing happened. So I hit it again, same story. Pretty soon I have hit all of the buttons several times when I noticed an unlabeled button at the top and I stab it will my finger. Someone starts talking to me in English, THANK GOD! I explain my situation and he tells me that I will have to come back on Monday. WHAT?! I cannot I tell him because I am leaving Sunday morning. I need to get my wallet now! Too bad so sad though. Monday or nothing. I want to tell him that Bryan killed someone and we are seeking the safety of the Embassy but that seemed a little messy so I decided not too.
Second Chance: I decided to call the Embassy next (another epic story on finding a phone but for another day) and I talk to someone official sounding. He takes down my information and promises to look into it. He even calls me back to report that the guards have not received anything yet and to call they guy again to see when they dropped it off. He even tries to call him but cannot get through. I thank him for his time and effort.
My Mother: I call my mother to have her help me cancel the cards. She believes that my wallet is there at the Embassy because she works with embassies all the time and says that they do not communicate well. She too urges me to call the wallet finder again and double check the information. Yeah for moms, they always know how to make you feel better when you are down.
The next morning: I get a hold of the wallet finder and they assured me that they dropped it off Saturday morning at 11 at the Embassy. I thank them again and call the Embassy. I get a hold of the same guy and he assures me that it is not there (I have stayed an extra day in Rome at this point) and that the people may be lying to me. But why would they lie? Just take the wallet and run and nobody would be the wiser, right? He says that he trust the guards more than them to which Bryan says that he would trust American guards who spoke English more (I secretly agree which probably makes me a bad person). He suggests that I file a Police report. I ask what that will do and he says 'Well, at least there will be a report.' I bypass this...
Sunday Night: I am spending another night in this oven of a city and hitting the Embassy at 8:30am hoping that they are disorganized like my mother says. Life sucks but I am not dying or mortally wounded. I am traveling Europe after all so I am just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. It just sucks because if anybody would have lost something I would have bet on Bryan. Sad day and probably a hint of karma in there somewhere. Oh well, my fingers are crossed for tomorrow.
Monday Morning: We wake up early and book it to the Embassy. The guards let me in but not Bryan (I guess that he looks suspicious or something). I am one of the first people there and talk to a lady in the American Citizen Immediate Help Office. She takes down my information and tells me to take a seat while she checks the lost and found. Sounds good right? Don`t get your hopes up.
Lady Number Two: A different lady calls me over after a few minutes to tell me that the guards are not allowed to receive stuff from people on the streets. She has an American accent and is rather brass. Hmmm... I tell her. That is odd because the people said that they dropped it off here on Saturday morning at 11:00am. She said that they are lying and that this is not possible. She tells me to use the phone in the room to call them and check again. I have already called these people like 10 times. I convince her to call them though because I am sure that Italian is their first language and the Embassy will have a better time understanding them than me.
Different Stories: 30 mins later they call me back over to say that they talked to the people and that they dropped it off at the main gate at 11:00am on Saturday morning. The details that they gave were right on. Ahhhh.... I am confused I told them. You just told me that guards cannot take stuff from random people. The shift supervisor overruled it they said. Bad sign... The Embassy`s story has holes in it already.
Waiting FOREVER: I keep checking in with them but they say that they are looking. How long does it take to check a guard station? It is the biggest one they tell me. So what? Seriously, how long can this take? Finally they say that they are calling the supervisor from that day. Many people work here, blah, blah, blah. No offense but third graders are more organized and could probably provide better protection than them.
Conclusion: "This is very unusual." That is what they keep telling me. What part? The part where the Embassy had my wallet and it magically disappeared!! Jeez. Finally I have to leave to catch the last train to the Cinque Terre. I was there for over 5 hours (Bryan was outside though.... The said that they will email me if it turns up but I am not holding my breath. So that is right, the US Embassy in Rome jacked my wallet. We laugh and say that they threw a party with the 150 euro. Ugh and double ugh!
Lesson Learned: It is sad to think that the people who are suppose to help me and others like me can be crooked too. The wallet went missing at the guard station so most likely one of them took it. Lesson in all of this: Be thankful for what you have and know that sometimes who walk alone in this world. It is a bummer but it is just a road bump in an otherwise pretty awesome adventure.
This is a tragic epic tale in the sense that jeez this sucks but it was probably bound to happen eventually so suck it up and deal with it kind of way.
Here are the juicy details:
The Back Story: I am dying of heat here in Rome, seriously. I know that the valley back home is bad too but I would much rather be cold than hot. It is so hot that you cannot go to bed until midnight or one just to sleep and then you wake up soaking wet, ewww. Being a poor student I am staying in hostels where as most people would probably have a nice air conditioned rooms so I don't think my situation would be similar to everybody else but roll with it.
The Heat Solution: So to fix this, we head for a frozen yogurt stand at dark. We get some of the frozen greatness and go and sit on some steps in front of a cafe to enjoy it. I pay because I owed Bryan money from earlier that day. Then we walk around for awhile, enjoying a ancient Rome at night and head back.
Next morning: Kim no longer has a wallet.
Possible Reasons: Some one stole it from the hostel, I left it somewhere, It is lost in my stuff.
Conclusion: We tracked it down to sitting in front of the cafe and deduced that no one ever had the chance to steal it from the hostel and that it is not lost in my backpack somewhere.
The epic adventure begins: We book it back to the cafe asap. I march up there like I own the place and tell a little white lie I told them that I was eating there last night and that I left my wallet. I kind of had to act it out though because their english was limited to anything about the cafe or food. Finally they all started yelling (italians love to yell I have decided) and they said that some found a wallet last night and left a number. Could this really be possible? I hope so!
What the People Say: This is HUGE because everyone keeps telling me that I should kiss the wallet goodbye. It had 2 school IDs in it (OSU and an International one), a debit card, a credit card, and 150 euro. They said that anyone who finds it will take the money and ditch the cards. ugh. Let`s cross our fingers and hope for the best.
Tabs on Paper: So after the cafe people dig in a tab bag for like five minutes they finally find the number. How people live without a computer I am not sure. I ask to use their phone and for them to dial because I suck at dialing international numbers. So the guy was pretty chill and calls on his phone but there is no answer. We try again and the same thing happens. No problem he says though and has us sit down and says that we can try again in 10 minutes.
10 Minutes Later: Same deal. He says to wait though and we will try again. He brings out some bottled water and bread. I don't want to eat it because then I will have to pay for it but I am depressed so I don't really care at that moment. I am guessing that he did not want tourists looking unhappy with no food in the cafe. Could be bad for business right? Finally we get a hold of the guy and he says in clearly second language quality english that they left it at the American Embassy. I know that he had it for sure because he called me Kimberly and I told him that my name was Kim. I thank him for several minutes and get off the phone.
Phase 2: I have the cafe people point out the embassy to me on a map and we are off. They did not make us pay for anything which I took as a positive sign from God. YES!
The Downside: Ahhh.... The Embassy is closed on Saturday and Sunday (it is Sat). I poke my head through the bars and try to wave a guard out of his little hut. Finally he comes out and starts jabbering away in Italian (bad sign number one). I yell back (There is about 50 feet between us) that I am an American citizen and that I lost my documents (I thought that this sounded more legit) and that they had been turned in. He yelled something back and I repeated my self with hand motions this time. He yelled back 'I don't speak English'. I would like to point out that this is the American Embassy we are talking about and that was english. What the heck?! So I yell back 'Habla usted espanol?' to which he replies 'No'. The he motions down around the corner.
Desperation Setting In: I go down around the corner and see a call box. The choices are as follows: Marine Security Forces, Security Forces, Local Security. I ask Bryan which one I should hit and he says 'Not local, they cannot speak English remember'. As if I will ever forget that. So I hit Security Forces because the Marine one sounded intense. Nothing happened. So I hit it again, same story. Pretty soon I have hit all of the buttons several times when I noticed an unlabeled button at the top and I stab it will my finger. Someone starts talking to me in English, THANK GOD! I explain my situation and he tells me that I will have to come back on Monday. WHAT?! I cannot I tell him because I am leaving Sunday morning. I need to get my wallet now! Too bad so sad though. Monday or nothing. I want to tell him that Bryan killed someone and we are seeking the safety of the Embassy but that seemed a little messy so I decided not too.
Second Chance: I decided to call the Embassy next (another epic story on finding a phone but for another day) and I talk to someone official sounding. He takes down my information and promises to look into it. He even calls me back to report that the guards have not received anything yet and to call they guy again to see when they dropped it off. He even tries to call him but cannot get through. I thank him for his time and effort.
My Mother: I call my mother to have her help me cancel the cards. She believes that my wallet is there at the Embassy because she works with embassies all the time and says that they do not communicate well. She too urges me to call the wallet finder again and double check the information. Yeah for moms, they always know how to make you feel better when you are down.
The next morning: I get a hold of the wallet finder and they assured me that they dropped it off Saturday morning at 11 at the Embassy. I thank them again and call the Embassy. I get a hold of the same guy and he assures me that it is not there (I have stayed an extra day in Rome at this point) and that the people may be lying to me. But why would they lie? Just take the wallet and run and nobody would be the wiser, right? He says that he trust the guards more than them to which Bryan says that he would trust American guards who spoke English more (I secretly agree which probably makes me a bad person). He suggests that I file a Police report. I ask what that will do and he says 'Well, at least there will be a report.' I bypass this...
Sunday Night: I am spending another night in this oven of a city and hitting the Embassy at 8:30am hoping that they are disorganized like my mother says. Life sucks but I am not dying or mortally wounded. I am traveling Europe after all so I am just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. It just sucks because if anybody would have lost something I would have bet on Bryan. Sad day and probably a hint of karma in there somewhere. Oh well, my fingers are crossed for tomorrow.
Monday Morning: We wake up early and book it to the Embassy. The guards let me in but not Bryan (I guess that he looks suspicious or something). I am one of the first people there and talk to a lady in the American Citizen Immediate Help Office. She takes down my information and tells me to take a seat while she checks the lost and found. Sounds good right? Don`t get your hopes up.
Lady Number Two: A different lady calls me over after a few minutes to tell me that the guards are not allowed to receive stuff from people on the streets. She has an American accent and is rather brass. Hmmm... I tell her. That is odd because the people said that they dropped it off here on Saturday morning at 11:00am. She said that they are lying and that this is not possible. She tells me to use the phone in the room to call them and check again. I have already called these people like 10 times. I convince her to call them though because I am sure that Italian is their first language and the Embassy will have a better time understanding them than me.
Different Stories: 30 mins later they call me back over to say that they talked to the people and that they dropped it off at the main gate at 11:00am on Saturday morning. The details that they gave were right on. Ahhhh.... I am confused I told them. You just told me that guards cannot take stuff from random people. The shift supervisor overruled it they said. Bad sign... The Embassy`s story has holes in it already.
Waiting FOREVER: I keep checking in with them but they say that they are looking. How long does it take to check a guard station? It is the biggest one they tell me. So what? Seriously, how long can this take? Finally they say that they are calling the supervisor from that day. Many people work here, blah, blah, blah. No offense but third graders are more organized and could probably provide better protection than them.
Conclusion: "This is very unusual." That is what they keep telling me. What part? The part where the Embassy had my wallet and it magically disappeared!! Jeez. Finally I have to leave to catch the last train to the Cinque Terre. I was there for over 5 hours (Bryan was outside though.... The said that they will email me if it turns up but I am not holding my breath. So that is right, the US Embassy in Rome jacked my wallet. We laugh and say that they threw a party with the 150 euro. Ugh and double ugh!
Lesson Learned: It is sad to think that the people who are suppose to help me and others like me can be crooked too. The wallet went missing at the guard station so most likely one of them took it. Lesson in all of this: Be thankful for what you have and know that sometimes who walk alone in this world. It is a bummer but it is just a road bump in an otherwise pretty awesome adventure.
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