My least favourite thing about Bulgaria
Today I was told, that to receive some packages I had ordered from the USA, I had to go to the offices of the courier services, in this case, DHL and UPS.
When I got there, I was told I had to go to the office of customs at the nearby airport..
After a lot of to and fro, eventually I got some kind of border tax number, and then, back to the couriers, and the first, DHL, being closer, who gave me a power of attorney form. I think this was not correct because the reason was for the english - all government documents here must be in bulgarian. I can write bulgarian better than I speak it.
The second place she knew I could speak a usable amount, as well as write, and gave me the bulgarian only form which I was able to fill out on the spot. People have told me I write beautifully in cyrillic. She told me the tax would be 36 leva (about 18€)
So here I am, in the city, on one of the many free wifi hotapots, near the city library and Sofia's famous book market.
I was hoping to do more work today but it is already afternoon and I still don't have my boots or goggles, and I will visit a notary to do the form for DHL yet, but fortunately the nice boy said I can give the document and pay the import duty directly upon delivery.
A funny thing happened while I was out in the airport district, an old lady shopkeeper in a pavillion refused to sell me alcohol. I didn't understand why, but then I realised maybe she thought I looked under 25, or maybe even under 18. A compliment in disguise...
I mentioned that I write rather nicely in bulgarian cyrillic, here is the text I filled out on the power of attorney form:
Yes, that is not an error, my birthday is 29-03-1976
I miss the book market. Sadly I had to leave all the books that I had, when I moved to Spain. I remember my father had tons(literally) of books about chess lol.
It's one of the many things that I found so charming in this country, seeing that market, and then also down at the bridge across to Vasil Levski stadium and around Graf Ignatiev in general. It seems to me that bulgarians are really big fans of books and literature, and I am constantly amazed at how insightful they often are in their commentary. I don't think it's just bulgaria though, I have seen a lot similar in Serbia and Slovenia too.
I have had far too many bulgarians I have met, not just in bulgaria but others who are off on adventures in western europe and the USA, say to me about how no matter where they have been, and some have been in several places, they only go for the money, and they want to go back home. I feel very at home in this part of the world. I wonder if maybe there isn't actually some strange alien artifact at the bottom of the black sea that somehow shields this region from the influence of the globalist perversion of human society.
Did you know there is now a hypothesis that actually the early parts of the old testament were stories from this region, and the flood, in particular, was caused by a long period of heavy rain feeding the rivers that empty into the black sea?
I haven't heard of that one. But as far as I can remember a lot of Bulgarians are heavily into history. I've heard so many theories, I can't even recall them all. Some of them might be true idk.
Young at heart. Forever young but cranky without beer. Funny story.
Some things take time. But the turtle keeps going.
Yeah... This will be the last time I order anything from outside the EU, and I'm going to learn as much as I can about the Serbian Border Racket before I try to order anything online there, since there is no 'import duty free zone' like the EU. The amount of time this has taken out of my day, plus the bad mood it's put me in is just not worth it.
Mind you, one of the items is a pair of boots. You know why I have to order them from specialty suppliers? Because even if I wasn't ordering fancy shoes like these: http://bellevillebootoutlet.com/tactical-research-boots-tr103.html NOBODY sells them in wide fittings anywhere in europe. I'm apparently a freak of nature by european standards.
Maybe I should do something I've been meaning to do for a while, there is a shooting range just over in the next suburb (the one adjacent to this building is out of business, sadly, man that would have been cool) - to get a little pile of target sheets, and write voodoo sigil spells on the back representing the destruction of this completely criminal operation called government. then burn through 100 rounds turning those targets into shreds.
DHL were absolute dumbcunts when I tried to get that laptop to you in prison. Eventually it was returned - I've still got the useless old thing... btw It had to be that way - while laptops where permissible in that prison, laptops with any kind of wireless functionality were not. One last thought... That old lady did you another favour - why are you drinking?
Which old lady?
As for the - I had no idea you even tried to send me a computer - I can assure you, if it has anything to do with the bulgarian government, computer says no. There was a lot of things that were supposedly permissible. I never saw any of them in practice. I could tell you stories about televisions... There was a nice samsung that was in my cell while I was with that old serbian chap... it eventually got taken out because he traded it with other prisoners, and the previous owner was denied it as well. It was pure communism in prison, nobody is allowed to own any property, pretty much.
Even if they were to, probably it would just get ripped off. The open prison was full of gypsies. Or more precisely, in 4 months I was never not sharing a room with one, except at the first 2 weeks, which ended because I started developing asthma.
I had some idea about this but this was the first time since I have been in this country that aside from one time trying to get Semax from an american company, that I had ordered things online, at all. In fact, for the majority of the last 4 years I have only had 3-5 year old laptops and often even just an old smartphone.
About the alcohol - I am trying to cut it out now on the basis of its carbohydrate content (did you know that ethanol is the simplest carbohydrate?) But my god, this last week, have the trolls ever been swarming the steem community. I even made the mistake of trying to debate a couple of them. Nope. Ya know, if you need to debate someone, they aren't worth talking to. Good people can disagree without making a fucking spectacular out of it, work out issues quickly. The wrong people never do, and never will.
Welcome to Bulgaria is all i can say :))
Where you currently living now if you had to import from the US? Nice post brother!
Bulgaria, and because basically, nobody sells wide fitting shoes inside the EU. Thank fuck I'm going to actually get them because it cost as much to ship as the boots were worth. This is them, and you can see why I would go to this amount of effort: http://bellevillebootoutlet.com/tactical-research-boots-tr103.html I had similar, more lightweight, waterproof ones that got me through almost 6 months homeless wandering through southern Europe. I walked over 500km in them and the only reason I got pain from them was the waterproofing and the cold weather combined caused the sweat to condense so much in them that after a couple of weeks of cold weather, the soles of my feet were like white prunes, and the friction, normally stopped by thick dry skin, was directly rubbing through to the nerve layer in my skin.
Comfort is priceless) Enjoy rakija )
I had a haircut from a Bulgarian lady yesterday here in Adelaide.
Looks great.
In Bulgaria, you can get a cut and colour for a man haircut for about 5 euros.
$23AUD for mine, but rent and taxes are substantial here, it's one of the cheaper cuts I've had recently. She did a great job.
except for building, bulgarians are good at most things :)
Ha ha .. Surely wasted a lot of your time ... And yeah you surely look under 18 :P
Do I really look that young???
Interesting post. Love Bulgaria especially Bansko
hey i'm hoping to head there for the co-working spot with mattias and the gang there at some point ;)
Youll love it
You've been skiing here?
Been out a few times skiing in Bansko. Havev gone at xmas and first week in April both great but different Skiing in april is fantastic as the weather is about 65/70 degrees but still great snow. Have stayed at the Lion Hotel and MPO Sport which is right on the Gondola which takes about 30 minutes to get up to the ski lifts
Having grown up in Australia, snow is so much more for me... and the cold, i love cold weather. Best time I have had in the last 4 years was homeless in the -15 celcius weather in sofia, 2015. God how time flies.
customs... who likes them... Same here in Prague! It feels just like blackmail.
That's exactly what it is, it's a fuckin racket. Just like taxation. As it is said in bulgarian (not a saying, just the translation):
Danuchno oblagane e krazhba (taxation is theft)
krazhba - krádez. Is stealing right?
stealing, theft, yes. This is bulgarian, it looks like this: кражба
Really ? Maybe she did not understand what you wanted to buy. Still, old people do not understand English. But if your hair was not white, you could go under 18 :))
I spoke to her in Bulgarian, and I understood every word she said. No, she thought I was young. Maybe the razor scooter didn't help.