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