December 3, 2015
For the past week, I have been studying in preparation for taking the German Driving Test. I read through the manual, made flashcards, took practice exams, watched videos, and attended a mandatory two-hour driving class. I felt like a student in a college class again!
Learning to drive here includes mastering a BUNCH of Right-of-Way rules, amongst many other regulations and practices. If intersections are marked, you follow priority roads and yield signs. If the intersection is unmarked, the Right-before-Left rule applies. If an officer is in the intersection, you need to know his hand signals because they take precedence over any signs or Right-before-Left rules in marked and unmarked intersections. Oh my!
I learned how to convert kilometers to miles and expanded my knowledge of the German language beyond the few greetings I had mastered thus far. Several of the 140 road signs are in German. Ausfahrt (exit), Anlieger frei (residents only), Polizei (police), bei Nässe (when wet), StraBenschäden (road damage), Rollsplitt (gravel), Umleitung (detour), Stau (traffic jam) and more! Then, to up the ante, our driving instructor informed our class that we needed to know the proper NAME of the road signs, not just what they mean. Seriously?! Yep. More studying…
Today was test day. My hubby dropped me off at the testing center at 7:30am to get in line for the driving test. I sat with about eleven other test takers in the waiting room, reviewing the material. After signing in and getting registered for the test, we were led to the testing room in the basement of the building. The test was seventy-five multiple choice questions plus twenty-five matching questions between signs and their names. Around 8:15am, we started. I was struck with how difficult the test started out. Even with all my preparation, I came across questions I wasn’t sure about and didn’t remember learning the information the way the question was phrased. I left three multiple choice questions blank to come back to as I worked on matching the signs to their names. I then went back and finished my last three questions.
Our tests were graded on the spot. As I continued to work, people finished and walked to the front of the room. Two women passed the test. The majority were being told that they did not receive the 85% needed to pass and would need to come back and retest. I started getting nervous and could feel my cheeks getting flushed. If you fail the test twice, you need to wait two weeks before retaking it. One woman was told that if she did need pass the test a third time she would need to wait sixty days and take the driving class again before retaking the test. Ugh… My heart went out to her. I decided to review all my answers one more time. Slowly, the room cleared out. One more woman passed while a few more failed. I was the last to turn my test in. I watched her grade it. To my utter relief, I passed with a 97%! Only 1/4 of our group passed.
I headed up to the driving office to pay for my new Germany Driver’s License and get my temporary license. One BIG hurtle down! After lunch, the boys and I kissed their Daddy-O and got in the car to head home. Suddenly, the sun came out! It was like a gift from Heaven to see it again and feel the warmth of the rays in this cloudly/rainy land. Yay!!!!!
As I drove home, I wore my sunglasses. I was behind the wheel for the first time in over two weeks. Our route home included jumping on the Autobahn. Talk about jumping in with both feet! We were probably the slowest car on the road but I’m good with that for now. We stuck to the right and let all the cars cruise by. I was too busy converting kilometers to miles per hour through the construction zones and watching the constantly changing signs to care. We made it home safely!
