Life in Slovakia

I decided that since I am trying to get 1 year temporary residency here I should follow all the rules and do what I am supposed to. Any visitor who is staying in a private home is required to imform the police about them being in Slovakia and how long they plan on staying. You should do this in the first three days after you arrive. So I missed that window. But I went to the American Embassy on Tuesday just to let them know I am in the country and I got emergency contact info, which is always nice to have.

They said I had to go to the local police station in my area of Bratislava, Petrazelka. I was not sure exactly where I needed to go but I had remember a building that I one day saw many police walking in and out of about 1km away from my building, so I figured I would walk back over there and check it out. It turns out not to be a police building, strike one. But as I was looking around I asked a guy if he could tell me where the nearest police station was. He wasn't sure but told me not to worry, he would make sure I found it. He got the location of the police station then it was a question of which buses to take. So he hoped on one bus took it a few stop and got out and waited for the next bus, which took us a few more stops. Jackpot, we found the police station. He head in and Paul, my guide, asks were I need to go to register. The man behind the counter said we had to go to special police station for foreigners and he gave us directions, strike two. So we got back on the bus went back to the first bus stop we had gotten off at and started walking. We had to walk about 500m until we got lucky and looked right and found the place, jackpot. We walk around to the front of the building and found out it is closed on Thursdays, strike three, I'm out.

I walked back to my building, thanked Paul for all his help and came home and started thinking just how fun it is do deal with former Soviet Bloc governments. At least I know how to get there tomorrow.