Monday, December 21, 2009

Preparing for Sarajevo

We are completing the requirements for travel to Bosnia. The Bosnian government requires that visitors get a full medical exam with a detailed form that the doctor has to fill out and sign. We also had to get fingerprinted and have the State Police submit a letter certifying that we are not wanted criminals! These documents have to be submitted to an office in Sarajevo within 24 hours of arrival in order to be issued a visa. We have been told that someone from the US embassy in Sarajevo will meet us at the airport and take us directly to the correct office to make sure this process is completed smoothly. We don't want to be expelled from Bosnia because we lacked some document or missed the deadline.

After sending the detailed list of apartments the rental agent has disappeared. No response to our questions, no further communication. There is another Fulbrighter in Sarajevo now that we have been in contact with. He contacted the rental agent on our behalf and reported back that they are reluctant to hold any apartment unless we make a deposit. The apartment we would prefer doesn't mention having internet access, so we're reluctant to make a deposit on it. We are considering just making a hotel reservation and planning to stay there for 2 or more days while we have a chance to look at available apartments when we arrive. Then we will know for sure if the apartment will be suitable.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

On finding a place to live

November 11 2009

We have just received a list of 13 apartments in Sarajevo for us to review. All are furnished and priced between about $500 - $1200/month. The rental agent sent photos of them all. Some are obviously more appealing than others, but we could probably survive quite nicely with any. The only one we ruled out immediately was on the fifth floor of a building without an elevator. Several have lovely balconies, one offers a "shared garden". They are all near the center of Sarajevo and near the medical center where Landy will be working. We have some questions for the agent - only 3 listings mentioned having internet access. That would be a must for me. I don't want to have to spend days in an internet cafe working on the Oracle. I promise to post the photos when we've made our decision