SITREP - 1721Z31MAR25
Well, after a yarn to my sensational mate Ben this morning, he's inspired me to put up a brief post regarding my movements over the last week.
Basically they have amounted to this.
A few days ago I met with a lawyer, V's groovy friend Jelena, who specialises in visa's, to discuss upgrading my current tourist visa - 90 days out of 180 can be spent in Serbia - to the category above, which will allow me to stay in Serbia solidly for six months at a time. She was possibly getting back to me today to give me the details about how to achieve this, however I am yet to hear from her. Why Serbia I hear you cry? Basically, V is from here, I think Serbia is fantastic, and it makes for a very good centralised base camp, with a huge amount of potential should I choose to buy here someday. Watch this space.
Now, here is something you may not know. To be a tour guide is actually a very big deal. Prior to my trip to Turkey last year, I didn't really hold tour guides in particularly high regard. However, to be a tour guide in Turkey, you need to have done four years at uni, it is literally a tour guide degree, to be a tour guide. Or, you have to have a degree in history, specific to Turkey, and then do a post grad diploma to become a tour guide. All tour guides must speak Turkish, and be able to speak a couple of other languages. So, I asked about that yesterday of my Serbian tour guide, the tour was English speaking, I was the only native English speaker there, and everyone else on the tour, including the guide, spoke it as a second language. So, to be a tour guide in Serbia, you firstly must be a Serbian citizen. You must be a highly proficient Serbian speaker, you must competently speak a couple of other languages, you must have a degree, and you must undertake a specific year long course, run by the Serbian tourism dept. And get this. As part of their final assessment, all course members are loaded onto a tour bus and driven around Serbia for three or four days. The bus then stops at random places, be they monasteries, battlefields, archaeological digs, etc., and then each of the students at different times and locations, whilst randomly chosen, is to talk at length and depth about the place they are selected to talk about. They have no prior knowledge of where they will be speaking. Each student talks about a specific place, in whatever language is requested of them by the assessor; no two students talk at the same place. So what does that mean? It means that every licenced guide has to know ALL of the country, not just one place, or one perspective, or one interest, but the whole country. They need to be able to discuss the country from the perspectives of history, politics, culture, religion, economy, etc, from all periods of Serbia being inhabited; roughly 8000 years, completely accurately and objectively. But wait, there's more. They often specialise after a couple of years on the job. As an example of that, although to use a Turkish example, I had a Professor of History from the University of Turkiye, he was also the head of the faculty, as my guide through the Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) in Istanbul. He was one of the very few people in Turkey that was qualified enough to be deemed competent to give a tour of such an immensely important building. The same occurs in Serbia, as it does right throughout Europe. Lastly, if you are caught as an unlicensed tour guide giving tours, you go to jail. Simple.
I hope that bit about tour guides makes sense, if it doesn't, let me know, and I'll do my best to explain it in a more understandable manner.
Moving on. V's amazing friend Mira, a lady of multiple qualifications in health and medicine and physiotherapy and learning and intellect strapped me to her machine the other day, linking electrodes to my head, ankles and wrists. I had no forewarning of this, and it came as quite a surprise, particularly that I was a patient again. Now, the machine reads and gives an overall picture of the health of the person strapped to it. I don't fully understand how it works, so I'm not going to begin to try to explain it, however, I know it measures electrical output, frequency, and vibration, and I do know that I has something to do with Nikola Tesla. So, what did it say? A big yes to bronchitis, that I was very tired and run down, that my immune system was very low, and that I was sick. So, she gave me some pills, told me to stop running around, and have a good rest. Which I have done. That was three or four days ago, my energy levels are now up to about 80%, and I am feeling much, much, better. Thank you Mira!
In conjunction with Mira's ministrations, two ladies, close friends of V's who live on the floor below where I am, have been spoiling me rotten. I have been cooked for, looked after and doted upon. Basically they've cared for me and looked after me well and truly above and beyond. They are amazing and I am greatly indebted to them.
What next? I've been planning on going to Bari in Italy, which I was most likely going to do later in the week, however, I am holding that thought at the moment, and waiting to hear back from Jelena, who is dealing with my visa, in the case that I need to do something with her for my visa before I leave, and secondly, I might make a side trip to Portugal first for a month. Why Portugal? I'll tell you another day.
Now, the most important part of this dodgy blog post. Thank you to absolutely everyone that has been ringing me. It makes an ENORMOUS difference to my day, and I appreciate it more than I have words for. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
All the best!
N.
Remember, should you comment on the blog, please add your name.
I am surprised to hear that people have been ringing you. J. Ch.
ReplyDeletePeople ring me on WhatsApp, which is done via the internet, and basically costs nothing.
Delete