A little older, a little wiser

Hello all,

I'm back from Tunisia and safely ensconsed in my apartment in Geneva. Or maybe trapped might be a more appropriate word, since I'm passport-less and unable to leave.

Let me backtrack a bit. My mom and I left for Tunisia last Friday. We had a great first few days, travelled around, saw some heartbreakingly beautiful ocean views, drank strong Turkish coffee, made friends with a camel and visited awe-inspiring Roman ruins. Unfortunately, the trip ended on a pretty sour note, since I was mugged on a train and got my entire bag stolen, passport, wallet, camera and all. So sadly I have no pictures to share, since they're all gone.

My mom, who unluckily decided to put her stuff in my bag that night, also got her wallet and passport stolen. As a result, our last two days in Tunis were very frantic - we ran around visiting different police stations in tiny Tunisian towns, made friends with the lovely staff at the Canadian Embassy and convinced the border control police at the airport to let us out of the country. Luckily, my mom has friends of friends in Tunis - wonderful people who drove us all over the city to get our paperwork filled out, argued with drunken police officers in Arabic and just generally took good care of our penniless selves. But we made it out, and now we're back home. (Well, home for me - my mom still has to get back to Vancouver tomorrow.)

I have to say, that this certainly hasn't been my best birthday ever so far - I've spent the morning on the phone with embassies, consulates and police stations, trying to figure out how to replace the things I've lost. And my planned trip to Florence tomorrow is now officially cancelled, since I can't leave the country. But, in true undying optimist fashion, I'm still hoping that things will look up before the day is over. I figure, the universe owes me now, right? : )

So from Geneva to all of you, I really hope you're having a better holiday than I am! I wish you long afternoons with your loved ones, late lazy mornings, and delicious things to eat.

Much love.