Common Mistakes Foreigners Make #4, Assuming you are friends with your nation's Embassy.
Umut and I wanted to get an early start with our marriage license paperwork because we have to work with both my Embassy and his national government.
On Wednesday & Thursday we headed to the captial city, Ankara (modern day Galatia), to get an affidavit apostiled which states that I am "free" to marry. In other words, I have not been divorced or widowed in the last 300 days. (On a side note, I don't know the significance of 300 days other than it's close to the term of a human pregnancy. No gun-shot weddings in Turkey!)
Having been in Turkey for almost 80 days, I was excited to see anything American, especially the American Embassy. I wanted to capture the moment so after we left the Embassy's property & crossed the street I asked Umut to take a picture of me with the Embassy's American flag in the background.
Not long after saying "cheese", 2 Turkish policemen armed with automatic rifles approached us and asked us to delete the pictures. A little embarrassed we quickly removed the photos and were eager to be on our way. However, then a security officer from the Embassy joined us and escorted Umut and I along with the Turkish policemen into the Embassy's security office. After taking our passports and my apostiled affidavit, they had us wait about 10 minutes.
Everyone was kind to us and even though we knew they were following protocol, Umut and I almost lost our lunch on the marble floor. All Umut could say to me was, "Michelle, no more adventures today, okay?" In the end, our passports and the affidavit were returned. No harm, no foul.
However, I learned a very important lesson. When traveling abroad, never assume that you are buddies with your own nation's embassy.
Hey Michelle, I don't know if I have commented here yet, also I do feel a bit weird reading your blog and not commenting anything, so here goes!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure how I found your blog, but it was probably thought someone else at the Stone. My husband and I are partners there but are currently living in Germany, where he is stationed with the US Army.
I can completely relate to this post. I have often wanted to take pictures around the military post where we live, but I have been advised that if I do, I could face a similar "adventure" as Umut and you. *sigh*