And you expect me sleep after hearing that?!?!?! (vent) ***updated***
Back story... My husband is military and we are currently stationed in Italy... Love it here to visit, not to live... There are this group of people called "gypsies" that break into houses and steal stuff, not come in and harm you, but come in for $$$ and items they can sell for $$$...
So my husband calls me today saying that the Carabineri are going to be stopping by our house to look at/take pictures of our gate because someone drew a chalk symbol on it... There was also a drawing on our back window of the car that they were lookin into... I guess my husband got in the car this morning only to find the gas light on (we had 1/2 a tank last night), so he went to the MPs to report it... They looked at the car and saw the symbol and looked it up to see what it matched to...
It has been raining so the mark on our gate was washed away, but I remembered what it looked like so I drew it for them... They look over their info and come to find out it means "doctors house"... My husband works at the clinic on base, not a doctor, but still, he works in a doctors office!!! The symbol on our car means "single female that drives alone"... The scary thing is that attached to the symbol on our car is a symbol that means "use crowbar only"... Umm WTF!!!
My husband was told not to tell me because they didn't want me to freak out... Ummm hello, we had gas stolen from our car and mysterious symbols drawn on our property, how am I not going to be freaked out?... He told me anyways because he wanted me to be aware of my surroundings and to watch everything... Now it is midnight and every sound I hear is keeping me on edge... How am I supposed to sleep now? Ugh... Sorry, just wanted to vent :(
***UPDATE***
Thank you all for your suggestions and words of wisdom... We do not have on base housing avaliable, unfortunately, so we have to live off base... We are about 30 mins away from base... We cannot have any weapons of any kind because it violates our SOFA and we have to obey the local national laws... We have been looking for a dog since we got here, but they are expensive, so we are waiting for someone with a dog that is PCSing and doesn't want to take their dog with them... Happens a lot...
We are taking extra precautions and have told my 5 year old to make sure mommy or daddy are with her when she opens the door (she likes to think everyone at the door is her friends)... I carry an umbrella anyways, but it isn't a pointy one, so I will be getting a super pointy one... As far as marking our house, my husband is going to ask the local nationals at his work to see if that is a good idea... He thinks if we don't do it the right way that it my antagonize them, so we are going to make sure we aren't going to cuase us more harm than good... But if they think it is a good idea we are going to put up the sign for unsafe place, man with gun, be ready to defend yourself, danger or any other sign we think may be good to put up...
If I could figure out how to get a picture on here then I will post a picture of what was drawn on our wall and car... It is scary what symbols they have for what... As far we know it just looks like they were scoping us out... Hopefully it was just the gas that they wanted and now they will move on... Like I said before they just want items they can use or sell for money, they don't want to come in your house just to hurt you... So that is one peacful thing about it...
Hmmm that could be an incredibly useful piece of info!
Quoting bozobean:
Wasp/hornet spray. I read an article that said wasp/hornet spray sprays better and at a longer distance than pepper spray, and can blind your attacker until they get to a hospital.
Quoting angelize:
We aren't allowed to have them... If we have them and use them then we get into huge trouble even if we are protecting ourselves/kids... Can't even have pepper spray or my tazer :( I do however have a bottle of big spray by my bed... You know... For the spiders... Better believe I will be grabbing that if anyone comes in my room!!!
Quoting Anonymous:
Weapons. don't care if they aren't there to harm you, you need to protect yourself!!
Quoting Anonymous:
That's why I could never live off base in a foreign country
Quoting JayeC2:Even if you live on base, you have to follow the rules of the host country. If she's caught with anything banned, they will ship her back to the US alone, while her DH stays.
Quoting Anonymous:
Why aren't you aloowed even something as simple as pepper spray? Its not like you're going to run and spray everyone that creeps you out
Quoting angelize:
We aren't allowed to have them... If we have them and use them then we get into huge trouble even if we are protecting ourselves/kids... Can't even have pepper spray or my tazer :( I do however have a bottle of big spray by my bed... You know... For the spiders... Better believe I will be grabbing that if anyone comes in my room!!!
Quoting Anonymous:
Weapons. don't care if they aren't there to harm you, you need to protect yourself!!
Quoting Anonymous:
Wow... Op can you talk to your neighbors or someone close to you keeping you on alert in case they see something suspicious happening?
Quoting JayeC2:Even if you live on base, you have to follow the rules of the host country. If she's caught with anything banned, they will ship her back to the US alone, while her DH stays.
Quoting Anonymous:
Why aren't you aloowed even something as simple as pepper spray? Its not like you're going to run and spray everyone that creeps you out
Quoting angelize:
We aren't allowed to have them... If we have them and use them then we get into huge trouble even if we are protecting ourselves/kids... Can't even have pepper spray or my tazer :( I do however have a bottle of big spray by my bed... You know... For the spiders... Better believe I will be grabbing that if anyone comes in my room!!!
Quoting Anonymous:
Weapons. don't care if they aren't there to harm you, you need to protect yourself!!
Quoting angelize:
One of my neighbors is an American and we look out for each other... The rest are all Italian an I don't speak enough Italian to inform them of what is going on... I am going to google some phrases and give it to them to see if they can help... Someone sent me a link for some common symbols so I will be seeing what I can do with that as well... I am definitely more on edge now and more aware of my surroundings... Definitely not going to be opening my windows up my downstairs windows up anytime soon...
Quoting Anonymous:
Wow... Op can you talk to your neighbors or someone close to you keeping you on alert in case they see something suspicious happening?
Quoting JayeC2:Even if you live on base, you have to follow the rules of the host country. If she's caught with anything banned, they will ship her back to the US alone, while her DH stays.
Quoting Anonymous:
Why aren't you aloowed even something as simple as pepper spray? Its not like you're going to run and spray everyone that creeps you out
Quoting angelize:
We aren't allowed to have them... If we have them and use them then we get into huge trouble even if we are protecting ourselves/kids... Can't even have pepper spray or my tazer :( I do however have a bottle of big spray by my bed... You know... For the spiders... Better believe I will be grabbing that if anyone comes in my room!!!
Quoting Anonymous:
Weapons. don't care if they aren't there to harm you, you need to protect yourself!!
S/o What would you do if you found out your 17yo had sex?
SALLY MANN PHOTOGRAPHY.....ART or Child Porn ?
- angelize
on Jan. 24, 2013 at 6:06 PM