So, where was I? Oh yes, I needed to get the marital status certified at another place from where I got my birth certificate stamped because... well, no logical reason comes to mind. That was very easy, though I had to wait an hour because the guy who is supposed to sign on those things went out. He was probably outside taking care of personal business, and all people could do was await his pleasure. After that, I could finally go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the papers stamped (by the time I was done the back of each certificate was all covered in ink) and to my dismay, there was a good fifty persons before me waiting in line, no place to sit, and it was a very hot day. More than an hour later, it was finally my turn, and I got to experience the niceness and politeness of Algerian civil servants. LOL no, they yelled at me and were very rude, because they could. I tried not to talk back because they could just throw the papers in my face and tell me to fuck off, and I succeeded and even managed not to say something nasty on my way out, because I was still in government buildings and could get arrested.
Today was the easiest part. I went this morning to Finland's embassy in Algiers to get the final stamps. I hadn't been there in more than three years and was dreading it a bit because I don't have fond memories of my first visit (I applied for a visa with an invitation letter from Timo and the lady at the counter told me bluntly "I will take your application and money, but be assured that it won't go through because Finnish authorities routinely reject applications from young people who represent an immigration risk by marriage" and she was right, I never heard back from them). I had to wait outside of the embassy for an hour because we could only get in one person at a time, but I didn't mind because the weather was lovely, and so was the area. Once inside I had to wait another 30 minutes because the Finnish lady was talking on the phone (
) and then when she finally spoke to me she told me she wouldn't certify the marital status certificate because... there was no room on the paper... Hmm. I told her if she didn't, the paper wouldn't be valid in Finland, so she was like ok, and stamped it. Wtf. That was weird. On my way out I snatched a few brochures about Finnish culture and cuisine that were lying around, which is nice!So, that's done. There is a small issue. Back when Timo contacted the maistraatti about the proceedings they told him he could apply for the license alone provided that he had a certified copy of my passport. That sounds really nice on paper because it would spare us the seven days waiting period during my next visit and we'll be able to at least have the marriage done in Turku so his parents and brothers could be present. But he doesn't have a certified copy of my passport. I thought that maybe I could just take it to the embassy and see if they could stamp it themselves but I was told it needed to go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, too, at which point I was like NOOOOO PLEASE DON'T SEND ME BACK THERE
I am pretty certain at this point that if I take my passport and a copy of it to the ministry they will laugh at me and say I need to go get it stamped at a dozen other places before I can go back to them. So I'm really wondering if it's worth the trouble, and missed working hours (I think my boss is getting annoyed at me no showing up for half a day, saying I have administrative issues to settle
) Another option would be sending my passport by express mail to Timo and have him send it back to me when everything is done, but I think that's a very risky thing to do and I wouldn't want to get in trouble with authorities. So I don't know what to do, and I don't want to lose anymore time. Any opinion is welcome!
So if I manage to get him a copy of my passport it would take a lot of pressure off the trip and the way it's been planned.
Gah. I should have planned everything more carefully.