Gypsies, Tramps, Thieves…and DHL.
Hey everybody-
I’m writing as of nearly 1 AM on Monday morning. I tried to go to bed more than an hour ago, but I couldn’t fall asleep because I was so excited about having my Facebook access restored at midnight. I officially didn’t check Facebook for a full week, and during the actual week…it was torture. Weirdly enough, checking it at midnight was boring. I’m thinking maybe Facebook and I could continue this separation for a while longer. I’m not actually going on “fast” again or anything, but I don’t think I’m going to turn my notification emails back on or anything. Anyway!
This has been such an interesting week in terms of my perception of humanity being constantly challenged. It’s rather unnerving and yet encouraging at the same time. I wonder if that makes any sense at all?
I had a nightmarish ordeal with DHL this week. I had ordered something online, which was slated to arrive last Thursday. I went on an afternoon run, and came back to find a sticker on the door to my apartment building from DHL…you know, one of those…”We missed you!” things. I was super annoyed, because the time on it said, “3:05 PM” and according to my phone it was 3:06 PM…no joke. The DHL man was long gone however, so I had to call and reschedule delivery.
France doesn’t understand the concept of free 800 numbers, so of course I had to pay to call DHL, which is always annoying too…and the person told me that the package would be rescheduled for delivery between 7 AM and 7 PM on Friday. Apparenly, the delivery person wasn’t able to get into my building because he didn’t know the code…Okay, I’m going to ignore the fact that DOOR CODE:XXXXXX was written underneath the address and give the guy a break.
I wasn’t happy when I got another sticker from DHL on Friday morning though…so I called DHL who told me that I could wait and have the package redelivered on Monday morning, or I could travel to the suburbs of Paris and search of this pesky package myself. Of course, I chose to go find this package again…seriously considering the fact that I might wait all weekend, only to find another note on Monday.
I took a weird métro line out of Paris, and then caught a little tram. The area I was in was definitely a rougher place, with lots of garbage all over the place. I’m not kidding you, there was just trash all over the roads. Fast food cups, plastic rings, cardboard packaging, you name it. Hmm.
The woman on the phone told me that I would have a bit of a walk from the tram…so I was prepared to spend 15 minutes on this walk. I wasn’t however, prepared to venture 6 miles into the suburbs on foot…which is what I ended up doing. Thank goodness I have GPS on my phone, or I never would have found this place I was supposed to pick the package up from. I definitely had blisters, no fun.
I waited at the DHL warehouse for half an hour whilst they searched out my package, and then the DHL guy told me I could catch a bus from right outside their door all the way back to the métro…which basically means I caught a tram and walked 6 miles for nothing. Okay, really going to try to forgive the woman who forgot to mention that on the phone. Oof. In the end, I got the package…so that’s what counts, right?
On the bus ride back, a clan of gypsies boarded at one of the stops. It’s so weird, because looking at the women, you really can see the basic outline of the woman who becomes the Disney version of Esmeralda…I’m guessing Victor Hugo’s original was more on the lines of these women on the bus. Think long curly hair, big hoops earrings…and all of their earthly possessions in garbage bags and canvas sacks. Some of them had instruments, others carts full of random bits and bobs. I can’t imagine how one lives that sort of life…wow.
From encounters with gypsies, coffee with Americans and meeting a poor beggar girl, to countless other moments this week in which I’ve simply had the opportunity to further observe the human race, I’ve been consistently reminded that my ideas about normality and acceptability are simply that, my opinions. At the end of the day, people are people.
Tomorrow (I guess today) marks a new week, and I can’t wait to see what discoveries lie right around the corner.
Have a beautiful week everyone!
Adam
Adam, Surely you have spent enough time with your mom and aunts to understand those who carry their life’s possessions in bags with them wherever they go!! Are they gypsies, not exactly, but they do love to go, love a new adventure, and definitely are always packed for departure at a moments notice! Have a great week!