Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: October 2, 2012

Dan and ЈУСТИНИЈАН I

The day before we left for our Balkan vacation, I received a call from an expat friend of mine.  She told me that she was being expelled as she had overstayed her visa.  The day before she had gone to the airport to catch a flight to Vienna; at the airport, the Macedonian Immigration Officer counted the days that she had been in Macedonia.  As with me, her days in Macedonia far exceed the rule of no more than 90 days within a 180-day period.  She missed that flight, and after interrogating her for a couple of hours and many calls by her to people in authority, Macedonian Immigration expelled her from the country ordering her to leave the very next day.

Before her call, I had become complacent in my efforts to become a legal resident in Macedonia.  After many, many exits and entries with no one noticing the total days that I have been here, I believed it unlikely that anyone would ever notice.

For our Balkan vacation, we crossed the border from Macedonia into Albania with no problems.  We returned two weeks later crossing from Kosovo into Macedonia.  Again, no problems.  But, spurred into action by my friend's experience, last week I assembled all the documents and their translations as specified last time by the woman at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOI).  Friday, I went to the MOI.  I arrived at 12:30 pm and discovered that the office is open only from 9 am to 12:30 pm.  Today, I returned with Dan who wanted to inquire about an extension of his resident visa which expires on November 14, 2012.

The same MOI woman took my package of documents and looked at Dan's resident visa card.  She said I cannot apply for a card unless the term of Dan's resident card is for one year.  She said she told us about that requirement the last time we were in.  She did not!

So, it is a Catch-22 for us/me.  We have just 3 months left to be in Macedonia, I have overstayed my tourist visa by 6 months, and I cannot get a card.

Dan has issues because his INCOMPETENT Macedonian lawyer proceeded as if Dan was an employee working in Macedonia and earning a salary here.  Dan is a volunteer and while his living expenses are reimbursed, he receives no money in Macedonia.  The Department of Labor wanted him to submit information showing that health care insurance, taxes, etc were being withheld from a Macedonian salary.  Since he is not an employee, he couldn't comply with the document request.

Also, last week I met our landlady once again at the Police Station to register my presence in Macedonia.  Because I don't have a resident card, I must report to the Police Station with my landlady within 48 hours of entrance into Macedonia.  This time, the officer was very bureaucratic even checking in his prior book for my last registration.  He also informed me that I was in violation because I had not advised the Police that I was leaving Macedonia within 24 hours of my departure.  I have been here since January 12, and this is the first time anyone has advised me of this departure notice requirement.

September 8 was Independence Day in Macedonia.  A new statue complex, which includes an eternal flame, was opened for unidentified Macedonian Fallen Heros.  The first statue is of Prometheus.  Prometheus caused quite a bit of trouble initially because he was buck naked.  Citing a complaint from unspecified women's organizations, the government directed the artist to cover the offending body part.  Now Prometheus wears a golden diaper.

Behind Prometheus, is a doorway to eternity leading to the eternal flame and beyond to the winged goddess symbolizing victory.  In the middle portion of the complex is a second doorway topped by 4 golden horses.  Above the doorway are the Latin words for immortality, freedom and justice.  The words are etched into the marble.  That is unfortunate because the Latin word for justice,  JUSTITA, is misspelled "JUSTICA."  The artist should have stuck with Cyrillic lettering as used on the statue of Justinian.  In that case, although he would not have been able to read his own name, Macedonians can.

Belgrade, Week 1: August 24, 2012

Our first week in Belgrade, Serbia, has come to an end.  So far it seems like a very nice place to live.  There are more than 2 million people in the city, and as a result, there is a lot to offer.  There is a Tourist Office that can advise you as to what is going on or what tours are available.

We're staying in a small apartment in the old city area of Belgrade.  The location is great; it is close to many, many restaurants and transportation choices.  Dan's office is about a 20-minute walk from the apartment which normally wouldn't be so bad, but this week the temperatures have been quite hot.  Today, it is 104F (40C).

From this apartment, we look into the building across the street.  Each day the cat and dog that live in that fourth floor apartment creep onto the small window sill to check out the outdoors.  I don't think Kali has noticed them.

Last weekend, we took a walking tour of the old city on Saturday and on Sunday a bike tour of the rivers and New Belgrade.  The old city of Belgrade is definitely more photogenic than New Belgrade with its many buildings of socialist style architecture.

Some scenes from the photogenic fortress in the old city 

 This statue marks the center of old Belgrade.  It is a meeting point.

 Sights on the pedestrian street

Belgrade sisters - they are dressed exactly alike--even their jewelry

An evening exercise class along the Sava River

I'm impressed with the bike trail which travels the distance of the Danube River through Serbia.  I believe it connects Hungary with the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria.  Serbia's riverfront is vibrant with restaurants, clubs, bicyclists, joggers, fishermen.  It is the perfect place to be at sunset.

I'm keeping busy catching up on emails, reading photography articles, and taking an online photography class.  Fortunately, I have a couple of models, willing or not, available.

When we first arrived at the apartment in Belgrade, Kali immediately began looking for a place to hide. The only safe spot she found was behind the couch where a feather duster had been secreted.  And, that is where she mostly stayed for about 2 days.  Now she has transitioned to her new surroundings and seems to be quite relaxed.

The Sava River at Sunset

Tonight we went on a kayak tour of the 6 Bridges of Belgrade on the Sava River.  It was so hot today and the river at sunset was the coolest spot in town. The kayaks were inflatable, canoe-like boats.  There was no rudder and the paddles were flat, but we managed to not be last in the group of five kayaks.  In fact, we were second in the line so the other participants were completely inexperienced kayakers.  

On our walk back, we stopped for some night photos of the old city of Belgrade.

 Kalemegdan (the Fortress)

The steeple of  Belgrade Cathedral

Brankov Bridge

The mosquitos on this side of the river are really bad and hungry at night.  We have the bites to prove it.

Ohrid in Summer, Part 1: June 27, 2012

We arrived in Ohrid yesterday.  We'll be here for 3 days.  Dan is working--conducting an advanced training class for Macedonian defense lawyers in conjunction with the US Embassy's training for prosecutors.  I'm just enjoying the scenery.  We stayed again at the Grebnos Stone House Apartments.  I love waking to the view of the lake every morning.

The above photo is what Ohrid's port looks like now.  The next photo shows what Ohrid's port looked like two months ago during our Orthodox Easter weekend visit.

On this visit, the weather is perfect and Ohrid is truly at its best. With the weather as fine as it is, Ohrid is a place one could fall in love with and forget that there was life before Ohrid.

While Dan worked, I strolled around taking photos.  Tonight, after Dan finished his day of work, we took a boat ride to see St. Jovan of Kaneo from the water with the lovely golden late afternoon light.







St. Jovan of Kaneo was built in the late 13th century.  It is much visited and photographed because of its stunning location above the former fishing village of Kaneo and just outside of the old city walls of Ohrid.

Our boatman, Bobbie, was a charming character.  He looks for passengers all day long while chatting with his fellow boatmen.  Every time I walked past him, he tried to charm me into his boat.  He was so persistent that I picked him tonight.  Once in the boat and a few meters into the lake, Bobbie stopped his engine and offered us rakija which we accepted.  Then we traveled a few meters farther and he stopped the engine again.  This time it was to make Turkish coffee on his little propane burner.  We finally made it to the point under St. Jovan of Kaneo just and the light had become beautifully golden.

Bobbie told us he was famous in Ohrid because a CNN reporter, Nic Robertson, did a story on Ohrid in May 2010.  Bobbie was his boatman.  I watched the video and indeed, Bobbie, was Nic Robertson's boatman.  The video shows Bobbie making Turkish coffee over his little propane burner just like for us.  The rakija didn't show up on camera, but I'm sure Bobbie shared his rakija with Nic.




The boat ride was so pleasant, that I arranged to meet Bobbie at 8:00 a.m. to see the old city and St. Jovan of Kaneo in the morning light.

Dan and I left Bobbie behind and went off to the Belvedere Restaurant for a lovely dinner--probably the best we've had in Ohrid.  The restaurant's outside seating is under massive plane trees that have been trimmed to offer a thick canopy over the table area.  I had grilled river trout. The trout had been flaked and combined with onions and parsley and a lemony sauce.  It was like a warm seafood salad.  Dan had the specialty of the house: Belvedere Brochette.