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Day 20: That time a teenage street gang tried to beat me and my cousins up
I don’t know if you will find it funnier or more pathetic that at the time of this story, I was 21.
Teenagers, even ones not in street gangs, are always scary. They are both as naïve as they are all-knowing and blunt. So, when you combine their incredible tactics for intimidation with threats of violence, you can imagine the fear I was felt when a group of 16 year old teeny boppers tried to beat me and my cousins up one night in 2016.
There are a few key things that you should know about that night.
It was August of 2016 and I was visiting my family in Bosnia. My mom’s side of the family lives in what is essentially a quiet farm town and the city center nearby doesn’t have much to do either. Besides, I mostly go to hang out with my grandma where we can spend all night judging the voices of hopefuls on singing competitions. (Grams has a top tier ear, if I do say so myself.) There are about three bars and not much youth left in town, but even if it’s not the most exciting nightlife, the 16 year olds there still go out on the weekends to shoot jaeger and dance. It always seemed wild to me how young kids partied over there, but I guess it’s no different than parents here who let their kids have parties in their basement and buy them the alcohol.
