"Ya Gotta Love Kuwait"

I have heard this phrase is uttered by several Americans when they are frustrated by the government bureaucracy, the Muslim rules and traditions, the lack of internet and telephone service and the driving.

Well I recently had occassion to hear myself uttering the phrase.

We've encountered what could be described as a HASSLE with getting Anna's Civil I.D. Securing this document, which is the only real document that states we are OKAY with the Big K, is becoming a huge pain in the backside. Our own ID's took 7 weeks to secure which didn't allow us to travel during our 5 days off. Oh, we could have travelled but then we would have had to start the process of bloodwork, paperwork, etc ALL OVER AGAIN. And we weren't going down that road.

Now that we have our Civil IDs--oops let me be more specific--now that DAVID has his civil ID (because the male is the sponsor for his wife and children), the process of securing one for Anna can begin. After a trip to the Department of immigration, he was told that our marriage license (which, btw, no one told him he had to bring with him) had to be "Authenticated". "Go to the Embassy" we were told.

So, off we went to the US Embassy (and of course I went with him because two sets of ears are, after all, better than one...and of course I am a nosy bitch and wanted to hear for myself what was happening), get an appointment, wait in line with other disgruntled Americans (the phrase I heard uttered more than once was "I feel more like a second class citizen at my own embassy than I do anywhere else in Kuwait"), then we get into see the person (after waiting in line and having our number called) only be told that we SHOULD HAVE HAD OUR license and Anna's birth certificate Authenticated in the states.

TIP: If you ever want to live overseas, do this before you leave the country. We weren't told to do so (yes I've already spoken-kindly-to our superintendent indicating he should include this for next year's newbies).

SO NOW we get to begin the process of getting a real, certified, notarized copy of our Anna's birth certificate AND our marriage certificate, then getting them sent to St Paul to be authenticated, then sent to Washington DC to be authenticated that they were authenticated and THEN they need to get sent here (carrier pigeon of course) so that we can begin the process of getting it authenticated (see the pattern here folks) so that we can get her Civil ID done.

Sounds like fun?!

After venting to you (thanks for listening) I do understand this process (when I use my intellectual side and not the emotional part)because after all, I've seen the movie "Catch me if you can" (even read the book!) and it could be easy to duplicate,forge, etc any document you want. So I'll suck it up and get it done. And probably bitch about it some more. And for sure owe Little Bro PSL mucho cervasa for doing all the leg work.

Alas, we ASKED for this opportunity, remember?!