...

You know, for all the times that I've had it pounded into my head about how to keep my valuables safe, you'd think I would be more careful... I'm normally very conscious of where my things are: I keep my money, my passport, my camera, etc. on my person at all times, in concealed, zipped and covered pockets. I don't carry a bag, I don't leave my coat or any of my things unattended, I lock my door, but unfortunately I let my guard down for just one minute --- and that was all it took.

We were riding the beautiful Moscow metro, and Marc was showing us some of the most gorgeous stations. We would get off at a stop, look around until the next train came, and then hop back on. We did this for about 5 consecutive stops, and we didn't have much time to look at each one before the train would come back. The problem I had, was that by the time I unbuttoned my coat, unzipped my pocket, took out my camera, re-zipped my pocket, re-buttoned my coat, and turned on my camera to sneak a picture of the station (which is technically illegal, hence being sneaky), the next train would be coming and I'd have to go through the whole process again in order to put my camera away in time to get back on the crowded train.

At the first three stops, I had failed to take a successful photo of anything besides a stranger's torso, and I was pretty disappointed --- So on the next stop, I decided not to go through the trouble of re-concealing my camera. That way, I thought, I could just get off at the next stop and take my pictures without feeling rushed! Nothing was going to happen to my camera on a 5 minute metro ride while i was literally surrounded by oles. The train was so full, that the only non-ole anywhere near me didn't quite fit inside, so the doors shut on him and he squeezed back onto the platform. When we got to the next stop, I reached into my coat pocket for my camera, and it wasn't there... awesome. I realized then that the man who "didn't fit" on the train had probably seen me trying to take a photo, watched me put my camera in my coat pocket, and grabbed it just as the doors were closing so that I couldn't chase him down. Now it made sense that he snuck off at the last second, getting slammed between the doors.

Apart form being a bit incredulous at my own stupidity, I wasn't too concerned about my camera --- Yeah, it sucked, and yeah, it was stupid of me not to just put it back in my "safe" pocket, but it could have been so much worse. It just goes to show you that even though you may think "That won't happen to ME," "I'll just keep my valuables handy for a few minutes, that'll be safe," or "Nothing could go wrong while I'm surrounded by friends," you can totally get screwed over. Ugh.

As a side note, the photo I am going to miss the most is one I took of the moving escalator hand-rail, on which someone had written in bright, shimmery, neon purple writing: "CHAO!" (I have witnesses, it was totally there.)