Testing Faux Pas

Day 14

July 26, 2010

Well today was the day of my drivers license test. I woke up early so that I could cram for a few more hours before the test. It was schedule for 12:15. My sweet husband had set it up for me 2 weeks ago and I had been studying since. I studied all last week and was trying my hardest to cram in a few more signs and rules of the road before my test began.

For those that don't know, Germany has at least 100 signs that you are expected to know in order to safely operate on the road. There are general rules such as: the right-of-way in round abouts and speed limits can be mandatory on the autobahn or they can be suggestions. There are different signs to indicate which is which.

It is very confusing at times. Especially, when there are random signs in German. This weekend, for example, my husband and I ventured into Homburg, Germany. We were in search of a DVD store so we could buy a movie. The closest store was Media Mart. Luckily, it is only 5 minutes away from where our house will be. We typed in the stores address into our GPS. We easily found the store. The problem arose when it came time to park. We couldn't figure out if it was legal or illegal. The signs are so similar and well...foreign. We decided to wing it. We drove underneath the store into a parking garage. We knew that certain spaces were for certain people. They have specific spaces for elderly people, cars with children, and pregnant women. We ended up parking in the back end of the parking garage all the while hoping we were legally there. Luckily, we were and we safely made it out of the parking garage and back to our hotel.

These sort of things happen all the time. It is very stressful when you don't understand the language on the signs. Nevertheless, I had been cramming for at least an hour when Adam came into the room. He had gone to visit our soon-to-be home to get the appliances signed over to us. We decided to go to lunch before my test. We ran to the car and got ready to leave. Just then Adam pulled out my test appointment sheet. He had made my test appointment for 7:15 am. Unfortunately, I had missed the test. We raced to the testing center and were informed that I would have to wait another week and a half to take my test....testing faux pas, indeed. On a positive note, it gives me an extra week to study and look for a car.