Pickpockets, Three-Legged Dogs, and the Po Po

Living in a small town in a foreign country has robbed me of a few things: My anonymity, my comfort zone (which was once so kushy!), and my wallet. Yep, got my wallet sliced out of my bag at the bazaar the other day. Ironically, I was shopping for wallets when it happened. (My life is such a storybook!) I felt a slight tug on my bag so I pulled it closer to me. It wasn’t until I went to pay for something at a different store that I realized my wallet was gone and my bag had a huge slash down the side of it. Goodbye passport, bank cards, and money. Hello realization that being so far from home is even harder than I thought.

I am partially glad I had this experience, though. One, I have never been robbed before. Now I know how it feels! Two, I got to see how the Ukrainian police do business. Three, I got to admire the three-legged dog at the police station. Two+ hours “downtown” was very enlightening and if you want to hear more about this experience, it will have to be behind the veil of e-mail or on the phone, not on the blogosphere (do people still call it that?).

My amazing counterpart helped me at the police station and I even got reimbursed for the money that was stolen, which I thought was very interesting. Another positive note: two days later, a man found my wallet—without the money and Ukrainian bank card, of course—but he returned my passport!  So, everything is A-OK. Yes, there is one naughty pickpocket out there greedily slicing up purses, but there are also so many good people willing to do the right thing. So, I consider myself the luckiest unlucky person and still very happy to be here in Ukraine where I am surrounded by so many friendly and caring people!