When given lemons, make limencello..

So last Saturday, at the Milan Central Train Station, on our way to St.Gallen, my diaper bag was stolen. I had set it down to check the car number and with all the confusion, rush we must have left it on the platform while we were loading 2 suitcases, 2 hand-luggages, a stroller and 2 kids. I realized I didn’t have it a couple of minutes as the train was about to leave and it was a mad scramble to get off the train as not only were Dylan’s milk, diapers and Sash’s sippy cup was in the bag, but also our passports, my wallet, camera and phone. We immediately cancelled the credit card that was in my wallet and sought help from the police. We realized the chances of getting our stuff back was close to nil when within 15 minutes of us being in the station, 3 other people walked in with the same problem. D worked with the police to make the report while I sat in the lobby feeling absolutely sick, nauseous even. I would have succumbed to tears but for Sasha asking me what was wrong.. I knew I had to be strong for the kids. We had told Sasha what had happened and while we wanted her to know what was happening, we didn’t want to scare her. After the report was made, we checked into a hotel near the station. They must get a lot of families in trouble as they immediately allowed us to check in without our passports and gave us an emergency family suite for an extremely reasonable price. We were given the addresses for both the Malaysian and Canadian embassies but after looking for them in vain, we realised that the Canadian consulate had closed down 2 years ago and the Malaysian consulate cannot issue emergency travel certs. So we headed out to Rome the next morning. I was still feeling like I was living a nightmare, even on the train going out and I kept pinching myself, hoping to wake up. Doug , in the meantime was an absolute rock star, reminding me that they were only passports and that the kids were safe, and it could have been much worse. He also took charge in Rome, getting things sorted out at the embassies and not once reminding me that I was in charge of the passports. He was of course very affected by the theft and kept an eagle eye on the kids as we were made aware of how we have been taking risks with the kids’ safety. We spent the mornings at the embassies but the afternoons were spent showing the sights to Sasha and Dylan. Sash and Doug had a Daddy –Daughter walk up and down the Spanish steps, I showed her how to throw a coin into the Trevi fountain to ensure a return visit, we had loads of aranciatas the many piazzas, and a gelato break at the Pantheon. Doug and I even took the kids to the hotel where we had our first dirty weekend way back in June 2004 (round the corner from the Trevi fountain), almost to the day. On Wednesday, we decided to walk to St Peter's Basilicca. We joined a queue as we thought it was the ticket line. We realised after a few minutes that everyone else had tickets and were about to leave when I decided to ask what they were lining up for. They were there for the Pope's mass as it was St Jean Baptiste day, apparently a big Catolic holiday. Then a lady gave us tickets and so we ended up in some seats waiting for the Pope for 2 hours. We were also told during our wait that our passports were ready. So at the age of 10 months and 3 years, Dylan and Sasha have attended a mass given by the Pope at the Vatican. Funny how fate intervenes I guess. We were dealt a horrible hand with the theft, but we were able to spend a few days in Rome, with 2 healthy kids, almost to the day of our first visit together. I now know that D is an absolute rock in times of crises and that the kids are so very resilient. I took Sash to the Prada mothership here in Milan to help me get another wallet and she chose a red one. She said “Mummy, your red wallet was stolen by Swiper so you should get another red one.” The saleslady agreed that this was logical. When given lemons, we make limencello.

We leave Milan in a couple of days. Sasha, because we had her Canadian citizenship card with us, was issued a new passport in one day by the embassy. She was travelling under her US passport but that didn’t matter. D and Dylan have been issued 2 year temporary passports. In my case, the Malaysian embassy in Rome cannot issue passports but they can issue emergency travel certificates, which I was told is not recognized by Canada. When I was told this I asked what my options were..the officer suggested we fly back to KL. Instead of telling him to bugger off I had to explain that we could not afford to spend 10,000 dollars just to get my passport reissued…what the hell is the point of embassies anyway? He again said that he could only issue the certificate. He asked if I had another citizenship I could revert to ie he was fishing to see if I had Canadian or US citizenship. I wanted to tell him that if I had those would I bloody be at his embassy considering the US embassy issues new passports in one hour and the Canadian one within the day. I told him to issue the apparently useless cert and I would sort it out with the Canadian side. We went back to the Canadians and they issued an entry visa within the hour in view of our emergency situation and in view of my being married to a Canadian. In our visits to the embassy over the few days we were in Rome, we met many other people in the same situation. One lady said that when she walked round the corner and saw the Canadian flag, she almost wept. She had her bag stolen in Milan too. I can relate…the next time I have to deal with a Malaysian embassy I will probably weep too.