Today I went to register with the Belgrade Police. If you are a foreigner within Belgrade you are required by law to register with the police within 72 hours of arrival in Serbia. Therefore, I spent the morning going with the husband of a Women in Black activist. He had to bring the deed to his house (you have to register with a Serbian citizen who owns property) and sign several documents that he would be held responsible for me if I got in trouble. They wrote down my name, passport number, and Serbian address in a large book. So now I have a small white card that I am to carry around with me at all times (along with my passport) saying that I live at his house (which I don't -- but I can't register through my landlord for reasons unknown to me). I also have to unregister before I leave the country. I will be here on a 3 month tourist visa and will have to leave the country every 90 days (or before). I will have to register again after I return from each trip outside of Serbia. This is my second encounter with the police state atmosphere of the government (the first being when I entered the country). Neither encounter has been negative. I will copy and paste my newly written script about my experience entering into Serbia on the border at the bottom of the this post (It was written for an email to a fellow BVSer who inquired about my border crossing. It is my pathetic attempt at humor and excitement within a boring email written in a small office filled with activity, chaos, and lots of conversations in Serbian). I was a little nervous to go through the border due to being warned not to openly offer my connection to Women in Black.
SCENE: Crowded train with many young teenagers sitting around speaking in another language (assumed to be Serbian by the innocent bystander) and playing very loud, very annoying songs from their cell phones (some of which were in English).
Intimidating Official: Is this your first time in Serbia?
A cowering, me: Yes.
Intimidating Official: Where are you going?
A sweating, nervous me: I'm going to visit my friend (insert the correct spelling of the name that I pronounce similar to the Spanish Liliana here) and to learn the language.
Intimidating Official who is quickly becoming the Annoyed Official: Where are you going to be staying in Serbia?
A confused, overwhelmed, near some sort of stress seizure Katie: Oh,...um....with my friend........(long pause)....in Belgrade.
Annoyed Official: Okay.
CLOSE SCENE.
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10 comments:
Let's hire Ken to produce this movie and Erin to do set design!! Ha ha, seriously I'm just glad you have a LOT of courage and will be fine handling any situation that comes your way.
Great writing giving some mental images of the adventure. Oh and the politcal statement about police state.... so well hidden, informative and encouraging. What kind of businesses do they have in the city? Teach us a new serbian word. Love dad
It sounds like you'll be traveling (skipping the country) every 3 months or so. You probably don't have much to worry about with the language yet. It sounds like you have done very well with your communication skills...unless there is an abnormal amount of laughter from your office workers.
I did show respectful restraint in allowing the Elder P.U. to respond first (well before me) to your latest post. Take care.
P.I.
It sounds like you'll be traveling (skipping the country) every 3 months or so. You probably don't have much to worry about with the language yet. It sounds like you have done very well with your communication skills...unless there is an abnormal amount of laughter from your office workers.
I did show respectful restraint in allowing the Elder P.U. to respond first (well before me) to your latest post. Take care.
P.I.
We are enjoying hearing about your adventures from a safe distance! What kind of "trouble" are they expecting from you, Katie? I am also interested in knowing about the food you are eating...have you discovered any new flavors of ice cream that we need to know about?
We are praying the you will continue to stay safe and handle the challenges that apparently you will be faced with daily. We love you....L.L.
you're hillarious. i can vividly see that akward katie experience with the border crossing. haha. do i have to register with the police when i come to visit?
Janet surely has such a long police blotter it wouldn't be safe for her to check in with the police. I'm suprised they didn't put some kind of driving restrictions on Katie or a red card for her international record of being such a rebel. Just kidding you both, enjoy another day and another adventure. Love Dad
BOO! we had 2 blind mice visit us last night for halloween. can you guess what a sight that was? obviously, there was one more mouse missing to complete the picture. hope you are well. do serbians do something silly like halloween? -mt
kt. you can't drive over there can you?? do they drive onthe right or left side of teh road. oh boy i'm getting nervous for you just thinking about you driving over there :)
HAHAHHAHA... another winning comment roll. And might I add, I would LOVE to design your movie, or mooooovay, as Austin Powers might say.
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