16 Days and we are Free!

Here are a few photos of our custom's adventures...
These photos include our first load of cargo which was off loaded into the mud because jackass wanted to get his hummer out of the container, Haratun and Kourken backing the Expedition off the ramp where they inspected it for the motor's number, and Houry in front of the Custom's Headquarters building :)


Customs prison officially ended on Wednesday with one final round of fighting and one last name to add to my previous list of jackasses that need to die a painful death. So, last but not least, let us add Mr. Haratunian from the 4th floor of the Custom’s House. Houry and I were, however, ready for the fight. In fact, after 16 days, we have become ready to go for the title.

At the end of Tuesday’s bout, we had all our paperwork clear in theory, but then some final jackass tells us that our extension for our furniture and personnel effects was not completed, so blah, blah, blah. It was closing time, we yelled at them, they approved our paperwork, and we left. Wednesday, however, we knew we were in for a battle.

Upon our arrival, the custom’s guy that was going to go to the warehouse with us tells us he wants out paperwork to review everything. After his review, he tells us the same story, our paperwork is wrong and we go off to another office. I had asked Babian and the register girl if the process was complete and they both said “yes” you are done. So, now we go off to this office on the 4th floor where they are trying how to make my life miserable. Then we get sent over to the boss, Mr. Haratunian. (We know his name, because we took it off of his door!) He basically tells us that we half received our extension and it was our fault and we should sue the girl who gave us the wrong information, etc. Then he tells me that because we are one day late, we owe 100,000 drams penalty (about $260). The frustrating part of all this is that no one is the least compassionate or is willing to help. Everyone essentially tells you that it is not their problem, they have their laws and we need to learn them.

So now for the fun part--I start yelling at this guy telling him I pulled the paperwork and that they told me wrong, etc. When I would stop yelling, Houry would start. After about 5 minutes of unproductive back and forth with this ass, I decide to pull out my wallet and very loudly say “O.k. you want money? Fine, 100,000 amd? Fine!” Well, he freaked out and told me to put my wallet away, and that I must pay at the bank, etc. Then, Houry decides it is time to call the President’s office again. She takes my phone and calls Lilit. She is telling her the story, and I am telling everyone else that they are really in trouble now because my wife is on the phone with the President’s office! After a few more minutes the boss figures out we are not to be messed with and leaves. Then our other custom’s guy that needs to go with us to the warehouse tells us everything is fine and just to wait a few minutes and our paperwork will be done. AND IT WAS!

We picked up a truck, some guys, and by the end of this long day our stuff was locked safely in the apartment next door to ours at Windows to Ararat. As soon as they are done with the paint and sealing the parquet, we will move our stuff into our place!

So, 16 days and we have our stuff. Now if we just had our apartment ready life would be good! Best part is we did not pay any additional funds to anyone to get our stuff here and out of customs!