Anyones else frustrated by all the bureaucracy

[Alligatorpie]

I live in N Africa, where getting anything done is a major challenge.
To join our local club so we have access to the swimming pool, my husband had to make four trips to city hall - one with our landlord, one with the owner of the school we work in, then I had to make three trips to the club, filling out various forms, meting various managers, photocopying visas, passports and residency cards. The last time I went to the office, I was told as a foreigner I had to pay in USD, not the local currency...more meeting with various managers, me losing my temper and finally four hours later, I get my card. This was to renew a membership. It's like the computers are decorative, everything is handwritten and kept in individual files. It drives me up the wall!

And breathe....Anyone else feel like they live on another planet sometimes?

I had to laugh at your hospital story twilight. I would have been there indefinitely too! Turkey sounds a lot like Egypt!

Most people here don't bother getting a drivers licence. Even the foreigners.

I thought we had it bad here in Spain, reading your posts has made me feel a lot better!

Just recently, after 4 months of pregnancy, I've been told that actually I can't have a medical card without a NI card (I have an NI piece of paper but it needs to be a card). Problem is only non EU members get the card, EU people just get the paper. But I can't have the baby without having the card, apparently.

Do they think its just going to stay nicely in my womb forever?!?!

Umlaf- that is the kind of logic that makes me mental! Hope you get it sorted out.

In Egypt, you have to give your child their father's name as a middle name. I know several expats who have had their babies here and have had real problems registering the child's birth with their chosen name - not the dad's name. Luckily, it is not too much hassle to get a british birth certificate but the egyptian one will always have the wrong name on it.

Tanterose, I have lived in Japan and found it byzantine! OK, it was a fair while ago now (almost 20 years), but simple things like getting a phone line were major operations, and the bank account was just bizarre.

Not to mention the tenancy agreement, or any of the other little everyday contracts.