Today I had two goals: Get visas for us and get a letter for our teammates so they could finish their visa application. I started at the Office of Foreigners (OOF)working on our visa, this was my third trip in a week, each time they ask for something new and tell me to come back in a few days, today they needed pictures of all of us, Jen met me with the pictures and yes I will go back tomorrow - no dice on family visas. So I set off on goal number two: Obtain a letter proving our NGO exists so our teammates can get their visa. I walked about two miles uphill to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.(MOFA) (There are buses in this part of the city but for security reasons they do not stop near any gvt. buildings or the embassy's so you just walk). After finding the right place in the huge Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a sweet lady told me I was in the wrong place and needed to go to the Ministry of the Intereior.(MOI) I said great, where is that. Amazingly it was in the same building as the OOF, where I started my morning. So, back down the hill. One I found the MOI I was rudely told I was in the wrong place and head to the.... you guessed it MOFA! I tried to explain I had already been there but no one cared and away I went ..... back up the hill! For added excitement I was harrassed by a cop as I left the MOI, had to show my passport, explain where I was from, what I was doing here, etc... good times, good times. Once again I am at the MOFA. I get shuttled to a new lady who tells me to visit the US Embassy - I new that was not right, I needed a letter from the Serbian Gvt, not the U.S. I pleaded with the friendly security guard (big Dirk Nowitksi fan) to let me talk to some one about this letter. After about a half hour wait I was ushered back to Lilijana's office. She looked over all my paperwork and determined I was in the wrong place, luckily this did not surprise me as I had determined that about an hour ago. She began to make calls and said I needed to be at the Ministry of Foreign .... Orginazations (you thought I was going to say Affairs, didn't you!). Again I asked where and we broke out my trusty map to find the right location, so back down the hill. After a two transfer bus ride I found the MOFO. I got in line, explained what I needed, filled out some forms, paid the tax and then drew my number. 382 and they were serving 333. So I waited.... and waited... and waited some more. Then the magic sign showed my number and I was served. The whole process took like five minutes and I had my letter. So to sum it up that's five government offices, 6 bus/tram rides, 1 episode of police harassment, and 1 simple letter. Welcome to Serbia!!!!! The great part I have to do the visa stuff again tomorrow :)
UPDATE: After reading this fresh today I realized it sounded really whiny and I apologize. I was just trying to convey what a day looks like here. All in all the folks i interacted with were super helpful and went above and beyond to help me. I enjoyed helping our colleauges out and doing what I could to help them. So please excuse my and forgive my whinyness.
K
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