Mogamma

Ok.. so i am in Egypt .... Every single person that comes to Egypt on a tourist visa, has to go to the Mogamma, which i think will be one of the places i will see very often... due to several reasons.

Anyway, Wendy took me and Nichole to get our visas. We took the metro from Maadi and got off just in front of this huge, impressive building.

There were many foreigners there, but luckily we went early in the morning, which is an advantage as it tends to get quite crowdy in the afternoon. We went to the first floor, filled in a form, then we bought stamps (we payed around 80 LE - Nichole actually, for a one year visa); after that, we gave our forms together with 2 copies of our passports and a photo to the lady and she told Nichole that her visa will be ready in 2 hours. My visa wasnt going to be ready untill 10 days later. We went to Mc'Donalds - pretty close to the mogamma, had breakfast there, and then we went to the American University to check out their library.

Of course, i was very disapointed i had to come back after 10 days ... it came as a shock, as i had no idea about the whole procedure. That was one of the worst days i had in Egypt so far.

Well, today i went back to the mogamma to pick my visa up; luckily an Egyptian friend came with me and helped me; it was good to have her with me, as they charged her only 25 piastres for a copy of my passport, instead of 1 pound that we payed last time we went there.

The funny thing is that you need to push in and not wait in a line, otherwise you will never be served. I thank God for Neglaa!!