It seems i actually have more time now!

Haha, hello!

And let me warn you, this is going to be a LONG story.

On saturday, we drove down from Toulouse to Barcelona for a day trip. We had just got done seeing the La Sagrada Familia, and were on our way to see the Olympic stadium at Noucamp. So we were driving along, when the car ride suddenly got bumpy. When we looked back ths motorist was signalling to us that we had a flat tyre, and tred to direct us to one of the stops. But we couldn't follow him because it was a one way street. So basically it would've been crazy to go against traffic.

:D Oh the memory!

Anyway! We had to drive on for a while and pulled over. It was so scary because we were on the hghway with cars going at 120 KM and hour. Also we were round the bend, so we were afraid that a car would come crashing into us. I'm not explaining it well, and it probably doesn't seem too scary. But the feeling actually being there and prayng that every car that passed wouldn't ram into you was such a worrying experience. My dad went to change the tyre at the back right of the car while my mother, brother and i all stood by the side, away from the traffic.

Out of the blue, this other motorist pulled over and started speaking to us in Spanish. We thought he was trying to tell us to go to that place where the first motorist tried to bring us. So we said thankyou but it was fine because my dad was going to be done soon. He kept talking! And we couldn't understand a word. At one point he tried to push my brother back and we were all so distracted by him, we didn't motice another motorist. Or well i saw a glimspe of him. I glanced to the front of the car and saw this guy look back, and then drive of into the wind!

Basically i just thought he had come to kaepoh.

Basically, i was very wrong.

Finally we reached Noucamp after the tyre was settled. And my brother asked my mother to take out my brown tote, only to realise, that it was GONE.

This is what my bag contained:
1. My brown cardigan
2. Random hair scrunchie
3. Sunglasses
4. My mothers wallet containing 200 Euros (400 sng), her IC, Visa and American Express
5. My brothers friend Isaac's digital camera containing Disneyland photos! Ahh!
And 6.

OUR PASSPORTS.

All 4 of our passports were stolen along with the bag. So you can imagine how much my dad was freaking out. We had barely been in Barcelona for 2 hours so we didn't even know the place and not only that! We had no idea if we could even get OUT of Barcelona without them. So frantic frantic frantic, panic panic panic, and after figuring that we had been robbed, my dad rushed us to the airport in hope that the SIA station manager there could help us.

There wasn't a SIA counter there so my dad had to call for help from his friends. We knew we wouldn't be able to get our passports back so we had to get a letter of identification from the Singapore Embassy in Paris because there wasn't one in Barcelona. Also we had to cancle my mothers credit cards before those guys got to using them, but we couldn't reach either company from the phonebooths so my father had to call one of his friends in Singapore to help us again. Then, we had to make a police report.

Now let me tell you that the police at the airport weren't very helpful. Apparently, if your passport wasn't stolen in the airport, its none of their business. So they sent us down to the central police station at the heart of the city. I don't know how many hours had already passed since then, and worse still we got lost getting there. When we reached the police station it was about 3 something or 4 something. And we still had to wait before we could actually make the report. The main trouble was that we had a rented a car that needed to be returned to the airport at Toulouse at 10PM, and that was a 4 hour drive away from Barcelona. I know it seems as if we would make it, but we only got down at 745 after making the report. Which was quite an experince in itself!

My father and brother went in first, and then they called on my mother and myself. There was an interpreter there because the policeman couldn't speak english. Did i mention the station was cold? It was cold! I was freezing my socks off! And i wasn't even wearing socks. The policeman started asking us all sorts of questions about the robbery and gave a theory on what happened. Well i wasn't there for that part, but this was basically it.

Theory:
Before we entered the highway, we had to slow down the car. So during this time the first motorcylist jabbed a sharp object into our tyre to puncture it. He then signalled to us to pull over, and his initial plan was to take us to the road against traffic, so we wouldn't be able to escape and there he would rob us.

This didn't happen ofcourse because my father declined to follow him.

So on came his friend! Who started talking to us in Spanish and distracting us. While this happens, the first motorcyclist drives past and opens our car door from the other side, grabs our bag, closes the door and rushes off into the wind. This is probably why the second motorcyclist pushed my brother back. But i suppose even if we had noticed, we wouldn't have been able to stop him anyway.

And thats the story of how we were robbed.

But i must say giving the report was pretty exciting. Another police offcer specialising in such cases had come and asked us how they looked like, to describe their features and what they were wearing. Then he showed us a number of pictures to identify if the culprits were any of them/ None of them were it, but it was pretty darn exciting. The horrible part was waiting for the first police officer to finish the report because we needed a copy as evidence that we had been robbed of our passports to get new identification. After all that, we had a long drive back home to Toulouse where i rambled on about how i was never going to support Spain for the world cup and how i was going to support Italy even though that was completely unrelated and didn't really matter because it wasn't like i actually knew what was going on in football in the first place.

We reached Toulouse at 10 plus, almost 11 i think. I was like one of those crazy sleepy people with the blinking eyes and sheepish smile who wasn't sure what she was doing in the world. We had to return the car immedately to the airport and take a bus back from there which was, pretty alright. I'm actually okay with the experience. It certainly was worrying, and the consequences if we HAD seen the other motorcyclist would have been dire because they probably would've stabbed us or pushed us into oncoming traffic (i had lots of time to think). But i'm actually okay with it. It was a good lesson to learn and was really an unexpected travel bumo that we had hit.

I think the part i got mad about most was that we didn't manage to try the cuisine. I know i know, me and my priorities. But really though! I was looking forward to visiting a restaurant and eating all those kinds of foods that i can't spell. Strolling along the streets and eating all those kinds of foods i can't spell. Visiting all the beautiful sites and eating all those kinds of foods i can't spell. Hoho yes, this is how i have been living. Michelle the balloon!

Ahh, but all in all it was a scary crazy experience and everything is all settled now :). We just took our passport pictures today for our temporory identification and will be heading home as planned! So if you actually read till this point (which is an amazing feat i tell you because my goodness i write ESSAYS), remember to never stop for anyone in Spain. Words of advice from the police officer. Always lock your car doors and don't keep all your valuables in one place. If you don't, and something happens, i will probably slap you up in the head and put my hands in the air like i don't know what is wrong with you.

Italy!

Michelle went "Hey macadamia" :)

We got robbed in Barcelona.




What a wonderful travel story!

Michelle went "Hey macadamia" :)

Hello! So although this is not a sudden revelation, i took time to reflect upon my life and realised how much of an embarrassing pair of pants i was slash am. Well ok maybe because i didn't something that was kind of embarrassing.

And no there is no chance i am going to tell you what it is.

But its so embarrassing! That i shall tell you another embarrassing incident that happened last last last sunday! I think. Which i initially did not want to tell because i thought it was too embarrassing but this situation sort of over took it in terms of embarrassment so i shall tell you.

Ahh, the honour!

(Please use discretion as the following might scar a young mind for life)

So last last last sunday i believe, i met up with Diane after church and we went down to Far East. So halfway, we decided to use the toilet. And so we went to the toilet. Turns out the toilet has a new facility! It has this spray thing that cleans your butt by spraying water out of it (note: discretion advised). So Diane notices this, and is quite amused! She tells me to go find it and try it. So i'm there standing facing the toilet bowl, looking for this knob thing to turn. And then aha! I see it! So i turn it and all of a sudden WATER STARTS SHOOTING OUT AT ME AND AT MY BAG AND THE WHOLE CUBICLE AND I'M LIKE OH NO WHAT IS THIS STOP AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

So i grab my bag off the hook! And then i try to go turn the knob the other way round. When i finally get to it, i'm all wet. My bags all wet. And the cubicle is all wet.

Diane later tells me there was a sign on the seat cover saying that the person must be seated at all times. Because you know, people would actually look at the sign on the seat cover.

I know. What is this! Sad case.

But haha! Hey its the holidays! I hope every one has a good time doing what people do during the holidays :). And homework. Geesh the homework. But i'm almost done though, just A maths, SS and Chemistry left (half cup full, half cup full).

Jolly Pong!

Michelle went "Hey macadamia" :)

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