A First...

So, this morning, at about 10:45 there was a ring at my door. I opened the door to a dark-haired woman dressed in robes, every other tooth capped in gold, big gold hoop earrings and she was holding a plastic sack. She started speaking to me in a foreign language, but that's not uncommon these days. She handed me a card that was in German. I had no idea who she was, what she wanted or what she was selling. Luckily, my friend, Ute, who works for the relocation service that works for us (Koenig Relocation Services)had dropped by to give me a replacement to the broken knob on my oven. Ute stepped right in, started yelling at her and started shutting the door. The woman started pleading, "Please, oh please" and Ute kept shutting the door. Initially I thought Ute was being rather rude, but I let her do her thing because I was clueless.

Once the door was closed, Ute informed me that I had just had my first encounter with a Romanian beggar! She was pleading for money! She asked for 10 euro then 5 euro then change. And Ute said more than likely she (the beggar)had parked her Mercedes around the corner! Ute told me it is completely illegal and we could call the police and that if the woman were to hang out in the neighborhood for long, Ute was sure the police would be called by someone. She told me that she never answers the door when she sees someone like this. Sometimes they can get violent even though this woman did not. Lesson learned.

Until later,

Emily