Written October 27, 2006
Things had been going far too well. The students have been good, eager and interested in the classes. Bratislava has turned out to be a great place to live, with a vibrant cultural life, great music, excellent restaurants and easy to get around. We have done some traveling (Vienna, Nitra and the local area for a wine festival so far) and plan more. (Vienna again tomorrow and Budapest next week during the National Holiday here). The weather has been fantastic, with sunny warm days almost every day. Slovakia has excellent, unheralded wine, which is quite cheap. The beer is great and cheaper than water in restaurants.
However we knew we had to go to the police to register for a temporary residency permit. We had heard horror stories of the bureaucratic run around, but hey I'm a lawyer and used to bureaucracy. We assembled all the paper work ( birth certificates, wedding certificates, certificates that we do not have tuberculosis, syphilis or AIDS, certificates that we have health insurance, etc., etc. etc. ) The excellent people in the local Fulbright office translated all of this into Slovakian. We were all ready to go when we discovered that we needed two more papers, a copy of our lease and an official certification that our landlord actually owned the flat he was renting to us. Again we were ready to go, when we discovered that the last two papers had to be Notarized, which is not the same as a notary in the States. So back for more ribbons and fancy seals.
Finally today all the material was assembled, double checked and off we go. The Police office for foreigners is in Petrzalka, which has the reputation of block after block of grey run down apartment blocks which are holdovers of the Communist days. Actually it is not as bad as its reputation. There are broad boulevards, lots of parks and sports fields, etc. The grey apartments are being spiffed up with brightly colored paint. However it is not a big tourist attraction to say the least.
Well this morning we visited the police to get our temporary residency permit.We left pretty early to go by bus because we felt sure we knew the route because of the excellent website based transportation information. That did not work quite as well as it had before and we ended up hoofing quite a ways but finally found it only to see a long line. But we had until 12 so we did not worry too much until time kept going by and the line moved slowly. Finally it ended up in a dead heat between the line and the clock moving to 12:00. We won by a nose and just got in before they closed the door for good. (The police office is only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday until noon.) We ended up speaking with a nice young woman who spoke a little English, which is more than the others. She went through the papers with a fine tooth comb. There was a question about the term of Susan's health insurance, which we were able to answer and we thought we were home free. But I think they are required to find an error and finally she did. You see we are required to have a notarized copy of the lease and a notarized copy of the landlord's ownership papers. We had those but we did not have two copies of them, one for each of us. You would think that simply putting a note in the file to look in the other file would be enough or even a photo copy of the notarized copy. You would underestimate the love of bureacracy and paper of the Bratislava police.
Maybe she had pity on us or maybe because we were the last ones of the day, but she did accept the papers, told us we would get the residency permit but to bring the papers when we came again to pick up the residency card. And yes we have to stand in line again to get the card after we get a letter informing us to come in and get the card.
I should not complain too much. Apparently the line at the American Embassy to get a visa is even worse than this line.
Charles and Susan Routh
Namestie SNP 23
81101 Bratislava 1
Slovakia
Tel: 09/11335672 (Charles)
09/14 220 832 (Susan)
email: crouth@gsblaw.com
charlesrouth@chello.sk
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
We arrive in Bratislava
Sent September 25, 2006
Well, we have been in Bratislava for a little over a week now and all is going pretty well. We have an apartment very conveniently located which is surprisingly large. It even has two bathrooms, two bedrooms, one of which is a study and guest bedroom. The kitchen is very nice, with refrigerator, dishwasher (which is not working yet) glass cooktop and a convection oven, with granite counter tops. We have a great view, of the castle, roofs of Bratislava, many spires of churches and the hills in the distance. It is literally five minutes from the opera house (we timed it). We went to the opera last Monday and saw a very good production of Don Giovanni. (it is the month of the Dons, with Don Carlo and Don Juan coming up in the next two weeks. Much of the rest of the week was spent in a Fulbright orientation and language lessons. We now know more Slovakian than before but we still have a long way to go. Friday night we saw the ballet, the Corsair. A huge cast and very good dancing. It was a very athletic ballet. Thursday night we had a reception in our honor at the American Ambassador’s home, Saturday we had a massive shopping trip to Ikea, which is located in the suburbs and got some things to outfit the flat. We had anticipated going on a boat trip on the Danube with the International Women’s Club on Saturday night, but we could not find where the boat was located and thus “missed the boat”.
Today we took a bus to Modra, which is a wine town in the foothills of the Small Carpathians about 25 km. from Bratislava. It was the annual harvest festival and it was quite something. It was pretty crowded with booths selling various handicrafts, traditional food, and lots of drink, such as burciak, a thick sweet, half fermented grape cider. It tastes like a good hard cider. We saw lots of folk dancing in traditional clothes, with musicians. It seems like every small town has its dance troupe, which put on quite a show.
I have been preparing for the first class, which starts next Wednesday. I have been to the University twice so far and plan to go tomorrow. This is being written Sunday evening, Sept. 24. Hopefully you will get this tomorrow. One problem we have been having is that we do not have Internet connection yet. If you get this, it means we now have a connection.
Well, we have been in Bratislava for a little over a week now and all is going pretty well. We have an apartment very conveniently located which is surprisingly large. It even has two bathrooms, two bedrooms, one of which is a study and guest bedroom. The kitchen is very nice, with refrigerator, dishwasher (which is not working yet) glass cooktop and a convection oven, with granite counter tops. We have a great view, of the castle, roofs of Bratislava, many spires of churches and the hills in the distance. It is literally five minutes from the opera house (we timed it). We went to the opera last Monday and saw a very good production of Don Giovanni. (it is the month of the Dons, with Don Carlo and Don Juan coming up in the next two weeks. Much of the rest of the week was spent in a Fulbright orientation and language lessons. We now know more Slovakian than before but we still have a long way to go. Friday night we saw the ballet, the Corsair. A huge cast and very good dancing. It was a very athletic ballet. Thursday night we had a reception in our honor at the American Ambassador’s home, Saturday we had a massive shopping trip to Ikea, which is located in the suburbs and got some things to outfit the flat. We had anticipated going on a boat trip on the Danube with the International Women’s Club on Saturday night, but we could not find where the boat was located and thus “missed the boat”.
Today we took a bus to Modra, which is a wine town in the foothills of the Small Carpathians about 25 km. from Bratislava. It was the annual harvest festival and it was quite something. It was pretty crowded with booths selling various handicrafts, traditional food, and lots of drink, such as burciak, a thick sweet, half fermented grape cider. It tastes like a good hard cider. We saw lots of folk dancing in traditional clothes, with musicians. It seems like every small town has its dance troupe, which put on quite a show.
I have been preparing for the first class, which starts next Wednesday. I have been to the University twice so far and plan to go tomorrow. This is being written Sunday evening, Sept. 24. Hopefully you will get this tomorrow. One problem we have been having is that we do not have Internet connection yet. If you get this, it means we now have a connection.
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