The Search

Did I put it in my laptop bag instead? I frantically searched the pockets. There was nothing. My coat pockets?

Nothing. Pant pockets? Nothing again.

I tried to recall the last time I had seen my wallet. I definitely had put it in my coat pocket on the bus. That was my last recollection. Perhaps it fell out onto the street while I walked from the bus to the subway station, I conjectured. I decided to retrace my steps to look for it, but to no avail. While looking, a couple girls asked me for money and food. I told them I would be happy to get them some if they can help me find my wallet. They weren't interested.

So I lost my wallet. Actually, I wasn't sure - perhaps it was stolen. Regardless, it doesn't matter now. Resigned, I called my friend who had just seen me off, and he told me to wait right there while he hurried over.

While waiting, I calmly reassessed the situation. First, I tried to recall everything that was in my wallet, and concluded most things were replaceable or unimportant. I was short about 1150 RMB in cash which isn't a huge deal, and all the credit cards I can report lost/stolen right away. While I had lost my driver's license, I was lucky enough to stil have my passport, which of course is much more important. Luckily my Taipei Easypass card was not taken (which would have been annoying since I had just consolidated all the value onto the one card a few weeks ago), mainly because it was separated from the rest of my wallet when I had forgotten it before I flew into Macau. The main loss was my CWRU Student ID card - the one irreplaceable card in my wallet - which got me all sorts of discounts to tourist attractions in China.

I still have my keys, I still have my phone, though it was low on batteries. I even had some spare cash in USD, and my passport was still at home, so I wasn't completely dislocated from society. With that in mind, I started to whistle a happy tune. It was just another challenge, another adventure. I just have to manage my finances for the rest of the trip wisely. It would take more than this to bring me down.

My friend arrived in a few minutes, and I explained the situation to him. With my spare USD cash, we exchanged at very favorable rates for me. I decided to take a taxi back home, though I limited my fare to just 50 RMB, and elected to walk the rest of the way. Despite my previous optimism, I couldn't help but feel carsick and weak anyways. I needed to eat.