My first adventure with the locals...

Well, I truly feel like I've been welcomed by the locals. Towards the end of a long walk yesterday evening, I was approached by a boy about 10-12 years old, asking for money (I presume; my Romanian ain't quite up to beggar-speak yet). I said "no" in Romanian, French, and English, before telling him to scram in French (French is supposedly Romania's second language). Well, he stayed with me, asking again every minute or so for about five minutes as I continued up along one of the main boulevards. Well, he kept scanning the area, looking to see who else was around, I later realized. As soon as all other pedestrians were gone, he grabbed my arm and ripped my necklace off of me. Oh he should not have done that. Besides, it was my little ladybug necklace, which, as most of you know, I am particularly fond of. He started to run but only got a pace or two ahead of me before I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. I wasn't really sure how to get my broken necklace back from his clutches, so I just held him for a moment before I realized that he was trying to give it back. At first I thought he was trying to sell it back to me, as I couldn't understand what he was saying. I guess I just scared the boy; perhaps he didn't expect me to put up a fight. I was twice his size, so it was either complete desperation or machismo, on his part. He dropped my necklace, and he backed away a few paces as I let go of his shirt. I picked up the pieces of my necklace, dropped them in my pocket and walked away. The boy was taunting me, acting like he was going to come after me, but he didn't.

So, that's my story. Of course, about five minutes afterwards, when my adrenaline died down, I was fighting back tears most of the way home. But, refusing to be put out by this rugrat, I went to the Italian restaurant next to my hotel which I had been avoiding due to the sketchy looks the hosts had been giving me the past few days. I went inside the courtyard and was so pleasantly surprised. It was very British, the waitresses were so nice and friendly, and it had the best ice cream sundaes. So, I guess I can't judge places by their appearance just yet. All of the restaurants are down side-streets (they look like alleys to me), and the sketchier places are on the main drags. This makes it very difficult to just walk around and find a place to eat!

I don't really consider myself "lucky", but I guess I am. I suppose that if I had tried to give the kid money out of my purse to get rid of him, there was no stopping him from trying to grab my purse and take off with that. Loss of passport and credit cards would be much more of a hassle. But, my necklace is also very sentimental, and although I was able to lessen the emotional pain by telling myself that the chain needed to be repaired anyways (there was a knot in it), it still hurts. I think I'm okay with it now, the next day, but the next time I head back to that area of town (right in front of the palace and National Art Museum), I'm sure it will be going through my head.

Anyways, so that was my big adventure last night. Mom, Dad: I was in a safe area of town, two blocks from the most expensive Western hotel in town and was keeping a tight hold onto my purse the entire time. Maybe that's why he went for my necklace. All other essentials were no-go. I was obviously a tourist, but most locals can tell that even without the camera and map...

Welcome to Bucharest, folks...