Stop - Mogamma Time

The Mogamma. Pretty much everyone that comes to Egypt for a traineeship will see the inside of it - a huge gray block of cement that takes up one side of Midan Tahrir, the main square in Cairo. Within lies the beating heart of Egyptian tourism bureaucracy, and the precious visa extensions we coveted. With Kent, fellow Salaam trainee and former couch-crasher Rhia and myself all requiring business inside, we made a morning of it and trekked in early to avoid the rush.

Of course, the rush is only part of the problem. A great deal of ordinary activities in Egypt - buying juice, getting on the metro, crossing the street - may involve you elbowing someone in order to go about your business. The issue with the Mogamma is that it's like a poorly-constructed role-playing game - you know what the goal is, but there isn't a lot of help in working out how you get from A to B. You need to fill out the form, get a photo, get a photocopy of your passport photo and visa, pay the lady for the stamps, attach the stamps to the form, then hand everything in along with your passport. All of the above points occur in separate locations, none of the above is written on the form and even the prices listed on the wall are inaccurate; fortunately having gone through it all before we knew where everything was so it wasn't too much of an ordeal. Plus, living 10 minutes away meant we could get everything done and then go back to sleep before work...