On Monday, we took the morning (and afternoon) off to take care of the business of getting our mandatory national ID cards. We got there before 7am, thinking that we were going to be ahead of the game, only to find a line of about 100 people. The parking lot was empty though because the only way to get a car into it would have been with a crane. So everyone had to park in a big ditch next to the beautifully landscaped and empty lot.
They opened the doors at 7:30 and we finally got inside and got our number. Then we waited. And waited. For about 6 hours before we finally were called. Once inside it was smooth for me, but not so smooth for Beth. We had to be separated for the photo and fingerprinting process – men/women. The guy handling my fingerprints was an expert but the woman handling Beth’s was a bit incompetent and it took her 40 minutes longer than it took me. They fingerprinted us in every imaginable way – fingertips, palms, side of the hand, all at once, one at a time.
I felt a little violated and like I had done something wrong to deserve a day wasted to this. But now it’s done and they know absolutely everything about us. They said that they will deliver our cards to us but I don’t think they ever asked us our address.
