Barna Adventures

It finally happened! 

Late last night while walking home from a bar with Soph, Shilpa, and Maeve (?) a group of men walked towards us and one walked right at me, grabbed my purse, and attempted to wrestle it away. I think a large part of why he couldn’t get it was because the strap was under my coat, so he’d have to take my jacket to take off my purse (ya girl was ready for a mugging). Eventually, he threw me to the ground to try and lift the purse up, but I did not let it go and instead curled my body around it and the bastard got nothing. I even got a “putamadre” in there before he had run out of earshot.

He was about 5′10, skinny, dark skin (I’d guess he was mixed Spanish and Arabic), a long, oval-shaped face, and black, curly hair that covered his head like a well-tended to chia pet. 

My knees are scraped and left hip and elbow bruised (like, Badly Bruised as in I’m limping a bit). BUT! I have my phone, my wallet, my bus pass, my keys, my glasses, my lipsticks, and my purse tissues. Basically, I have my purse and he has NOTHING! So suck a dick, dumb shit.

Best city I’ve visited so far. I lucked out; it was seventy degrees the entire time Tara and I were there. We walked all over the city, which was SO Beautiful! Almost immaculately clean and there was no city smell at all. Waterways all throughout the city meant a fresh breeze and magestic tableaus every other block. Also, every bridge had its own architectural style- so. Fucking. Cool!

Tara and I went to the Moco and Van Gogh museums, traversed through numerous parks and markets, and christened each place with a good smoke.

Tipping. Not a thing in Europe. And I LOVE it. You don’t feel guilty for not giving enough. And that lack of guilt speaks to a larger revelation: servers make a living wage. Waiters can be waiters their entire lives and be perfectly happy. And because waiting tables can be a permanent vocation, waiters are not disparaged or looked down upon the way they are in the US.

In the US, waiting tables is seen as Bad Work; as something you do temporarily before you get your Real Job. It’s a job for kids just starting out, for “starving artists” (and we know how the US feels about artists), for people looking for work. It’s not given the respect of a “Real Job”. That concept in and of itself is dissonant seeing as going to restaurants is viewed as a luxury, so why aren’t the workers? But beyond that, we need servers. Yet, we disparage them and hate on the profession.