Getting married in Egypt, Part 2

The next step in the marriage process here, involved us going to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the notarized Affidavit certified. What that exactly means, I have no idea, but it's necessary nonetheless.

Early Saturday morning, we went to the office in Mohandisin to work on Part 2 of getting married in Egypt. The office was churning out certifications, and although there were 30 people of ahead of us when we arrived, we only stayed for all of 15 minutes. We gave the government worker our treasured Affidavit, and without even reviewing it, he stamped it, we paid 11 LE, and done. Totally anti-climatic.

So in preparation for Step #3, which is the actual marriage part at the Ministry of Justice, we got copies of our IDs and my resident visa made to head over to the government doctor for the dreaded medical exam. When I first read the words government doctor and medical exam, all I could think was, OMG, I don't want to get hepatitis! Government hospitals aren't necessarily the cleanest places, and I kept imagining all sorts of crazy scenarios of being given a blood test with a pre-used needle, cleaned with a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol. I was freaking out. When we walked into the Family Medicine center, my heart was racing so fast, you could see it in my neck. Run by women, my fiance wouldn't even be able to talk his way out of us getting an exam.

So we had to suck it up and deal with whatever was to come. We waited for about 10 minutes until we were asked to pay 86 LE, and gave them all the copies of our IDs and photos. The admin filled out a few forms for us that we had to sign and finger print. First time I ever had to finger print a document! I made the mistake of nervously asking what we would actually have to do as part of the exam, but my fiancé elbowed me to keep quiet, because apparently paying for the paperwork was the extent of it. Then I realized, why on earth would they go further than necessary and actually examine us, when they could just take some money and fill out a piece of paper instead? Duh, TIE. And thank God! Because it spared me of having to deal with any refusals of a blood test!

The admin then handed the paperwork to whom I assume is the head doctor of that facility, and she sat us in an office where she asked us a bunch of questions about each of our medical histories. She was very sweet, and the whole process took no more than 10 minutes. She told us about how she lived in Canada, and was happy that we would be getting out of Egypt during these crazy times. When all was said and done, she gave us each a certificate with our photo stapled to it, and congratulated us on our way. 25 minutes in and out. Part 2 took 1/6 the amount of time that we spent at the US Embassy in Part 1!!

Next and last step, the Ministry of Justice. I have one week left as a bachelorette!