Fck you life, for just having to punch me in the face one more time before the year ends. (It better stays at ONE more time.)
Yesterday, a friend of mine celebrated her birthday and we went to the Christmas market in the city center. When we arrived at the market, I went to lock my bike to a place about three meters away from where my friends were waiting for me. Out of habit, I put my bag on the basket of my bike and proceeded to fish my keys out. That's when a stranger approached me from the front and started to ask for directions in a somewhat broken German. I talked to him for about fifteen seconds, turned around, and my bag was gone.
It happened so fast.
I understood immediately what happened, but did a stupid thing at that moment. I called my friends over and actually asked, 'Where is my bag?' Of course they didn't understand. It took about half a minute until it sunk in for everybody that my bag was gone. I, in the mean time, hesitated to run after the thieves because for some stupid reasons I assumed all my friends would run after me and leave my bike alone, unlocked.
Anyway, of course the thieves gained a huge headstart with my thirty-second-hesitation, and we never caught a glimpse of them again.
I lost everything in that bag - my purse, my documents, my iPad, a computer mouse, my earphones - everything. I spent the rest of the night at the police station, reporting the incident.
It is just so fcking bitter.
The guy who tricked me was some foreigner with a middle-east appearance; I would say from Syria, or Iran, Iraq, somewhere from that area. The police kind of unofficially confirmed that it must have been a refugee living in one of the two huge refugee camps here in the area. But it did not really help me get my stuff back.
It took a while until I realized I was in an extremely dangerous (though mostly financial) situation. Mainly, it was because of the keys. I lost my ID-card, which carried my address. I also lost my key bundle, which carried the keys to my apartment. My friends were so worried they could break into my home at any time; a fact that did not even occur to me at first. I turn so stupid when I am shocked! But the police said, as they were so sure it must be refugees, the risk of somebody breaking into my house was very low. Those petty thieves just want money, and then they usually throw the bags away. Which gave me a lot of hope! Because fck, if I lost my key bundle, it would be a catastrophe. I had keys to my lab and to the clinic, to almost all the doors in those buildings. If the keys were really gone, I wouldn't want to count how many locks would have to be exchanged and how much debt I would have to sit on. Because, only this morning I was informed, I am not fcking insured against shitty situations like that from the moment I moved out of my parent's house.
Last night, after leaving the police station at around eleven in the evening, I attempted to find my hopefully disposed bag in some dark corner, not actually caring about the money, all my important cards or the iPad, but just the key bundle. I went home in the company of two good friends, still quite disappointed as we did not find a single thing.
At home, the unimaginable just happened. A random girl sent me a message on Facebook, telling me she found some documents with my name and if I lost something, I should contact her. Good grief, what an amazing person! She was so kind as to pick up my call even if it was already after midnight, telling me exactly how and where she found my stuff, what she saw there, what she could collect and what not. I was so, so thankful, even though she did not find most of the important and valuable things that were in my bag. But at least I knew exactly where to look.
So after spending the night in the fcking kitchen, sleeping on the kitchen chairs, the next morning I directly went to the location the girl told me. It was a small mud road next to a mini river quite close to the city center. And, unbelievably, I actually saw my health insurance card in the mud on the river side. And even more unbelievable, I caught a glimpse of my purse, which was in the water but stuck between some stones so that it really stayed there all night despite the quite strong current. I called the police because the riversides were too steep for me to climb down and collect my stuff. The police came, but they couldn't do anything either, so they called the fire fighters. The fire fighters came with the right equipment, and totally saved my day.
They went down, fished my purse out of the water, and collected my health insurance card. While being down there, one of the firemen noticed some more cards lying in the mud - a spot impossible to scrutinize from my position. He went even deeper down and collected all the cards he could find, and - my goodness - also found my key bundle.
Gosh.
I was so relieved I could have jumped into my heroes' arms at that moment. I got back all the important cards - ID card, student card, EC card, driver's license - and most most most importantly, my key bundle.
Ten minutes later, my heroine from the previous night also met up with me to give me the documents she found the night before. I could have died from happiness.
-------------------------------------------------------
My goodness. The theft just happened yesterday, and my emotions were still on a rollercoaster this morning, but now, sitting in my room at eleven in the evening, it feels as if everything happened months ago. I still can't fully believe it.
There are three major thoughts coming to my mind after this incident.
1. There needs to be more information and education coming from officials as to how one should behave in situations of being robbed or scammed, or attacked or violated or whatever. In situations of the like, people who are never confronted with it will just fall into shock and do a lot of wrong and stupid things. It is just like first-aid! You need to remember an algorithm, so that when you have to act quick, you don't have to think so much. Everything you do will be so much more efficient.
Even after becoming a victim, I now still don't know what would have been the best way to handle the situation the moment I realized my bag was gone. This shouldn't be the case...
2. The thing that saddens me the most is the irony of fate. I, one who continuously supports the rights of refugees, get robbed by exactly the people I want to help. This puts a HUGE question mark in my brain, asking who the actual fck am I fighting for. Am I just stupid and naive? Are really the majority of refugees coming to Germany not people who need help, but just people who want to take advantage of the German social system, of the solidarity of German citizens?
Suddenly, the contra arguments of people who are against taking up refugees sound so much more convincing to me. I lost a bit sight of the point of fighting for refugees, really...
3. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
I am surprised and so thankful for someone I was, up until now, only good friends with. They stuck with me for the whole evening after the incident, even though I insisted to go to the police on my own at first. They went looking for my bag with me. They brought me home. They lent me a blanket so that I wouldn't freeze, having to sleep on fcking chairs in the kitchen. They contacted me immediately the next morning to ask how I am.
I am really immensely touched. Not only by my good friend, but also by the random girl who tried to find me, by the very friendly policemen, by the lovable firemen who were so good at making me feel reassured, making me really believe that everything will be fine. No empty words. They revived my faith that out there, the good is probably still outweighing the bad.
I don't think everyone around me, even my closest friends, really understood just how affected and hurt I was, unless they stuck with me. That's the downside of being fcking good at keeping a calm and strong posture. And having serious, serious restrains when it comes to asking for help.
I am so tired now... But I just had to get all that off my chest.
Proofreading for grammar and spelling errors, I will have to postpone that to tomorrow.
*ETA: OMG I can't believe just how rusty my writing has become... :(
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