fire hazard and the police

the week ethan stayed home due to his chicken pox was quite eventful. it involved house being almost burnt down as well as visit from the police.


it all started out rather innocently. ethan wanted to take a nap, i went up with him, and fell asleep. one hour later - as soon as i woke up, i remembered that i had put corn on the stove for ethan's snack. ahhhhhhh - thankfully we were not covered in smoke so i rushed downstairs to discover crispy black corn. i couldn't believe that i did that and was so so grateful that it didn't turn into anything more serious. i think in another 30 minutes, the corn would have caught on fire. phew. thank the Lord.

ethan modeling the burnt corn and wok

as if that wasn't disorienting enough, we later had a visit from the local police the same day. they looked a bit dismayed that i didn't speak Polish, but after my several attempts to call a friend to translate failed, they told me in their broken english - "you put gas, no pay."

well, i haven't been driving since my driver's license expired in the summer so the only person who could have done it was my darling husband. i called him immediately and asked if he pumped gas 4 days ago and forgot to pay. his reply- "oh, yea~ i guess i could have done that." here in poland, you pump gas and then pay the cashier inside the building afterwards. i asked the police "we go pay now? ok?" police replied, "no, not ok. crime." ah-huh. ofcourse, though it was an honest mistake, it is considered shoplifiting. ok, then.

one hour later, with joe, joe's co-worker and police official translator arrival, the police informed us that if it's under 100$ it's usually just a fine, but since it's above that amount (that darn SUV!!), it is now a criminal case. great. the police advised joe to hire a lawyer and come to the station tomorrow to give a testimony. ok.

oh, one more thing before they left, they needed to search the house to make sure that we didn't steal anything else. how they would figure out if i have stolen the box of kit kats or bought them is beyond me. the police officers were perfectly nice and seemed almost apologetic that they had to do that, but regardless, it's a routine they must do. the kicker is that i asked them to take off their shoes to go upstairs in the kids room and they replied, "it's not possible." i'm sorry but at that point, i started to chuckle a bit because i've heard that phrase way too many times since i've been in this country.

"could you slice the beef thinner?" "that's not possible."

"could i have my chicken with rice instead of fries?" "that's impossible".

you get the drift. so i replied, "oh, ok, it's impossible for you to take your shoes off." the tranlator then tells me that while they are on duty, they are not allowed to "undress" just in case they get attacked - they have to be ready to fight. i understand, because we're asian so we can kick butt. i would be worried too, if i met me in the dark alley. all kidding aside, they were just trying to do their job, what can i say? anyhow, joe went to the station next day with a lawyer and they concluded that they "think" joe didn't have criminal intent so we're just awaiting verdict as to what happens next.

after i told this story to a friend of mine, she told me that she did that once and just received a letter 6 months later. when she returned to the station to pay, the manager told her that it happens TWICE a day. they really need to come up with a better system. seriously.

makayla in her 1st grade classroom