Learning to Drive

2 other discoveries I remembered:

• Darkness:  Almost every building has timed lights.  What this means is that it is very common to find oneself in dark hallways or stairways, even if it's located in a "professional" type building like a doctor's or lawyer's office.  The lights are not automatically turned on, and once you press the button, you have only a couple of minutes before everything goes dark again.  This seems, at times, very odd and creepy to me, because I associate places in the states like this as dangerous.  In the states, lights keep away crime, or at least that's the idea.  But here, it's just normal. 
• Bags:  You must bring your own shopping bags to the grocery store with you, otherwise you have to buy a sac, which can be very annoying, when you have a 1,000 bags at home.  We think grocery stores in the states should definitely do this.  Yes, I know American stores sell bags to be re-used or reward customers who bring in their own bags, but they don't CHARGE you if you don't bring bags in. 

Today I feel the need to expound on the driving in Montpellier, and specifically my fear of it.  I have found that in general as a family and a couple, we generally have our patterns of doing things.  For example, this morning I was missing my "coffee maker", which is Dave.  I realized he is just way better at pouring boiling hot water out of a pan over a much smaller filter which is resting delicately on top of our coffee pot.

And there are other certain things, like driving around Montpellier, that he usually does.  We didn't get a car until the last two months of our time here.  Even with the car, it is often much easier to walk or bike to places in the city.  But when we did drive, I grew to be very comfortable with Dave, and we never forced me to drive, especially by myself.   

And to be afraid of something like this is very unlike me.  The other day Dave said that he finds this whole relying on him to drive me all over the city thing as funny because in general he thinks I sort of pride myself on being an independent woman, but here I am being dependent on him to drive me everywhere.

So, Dave left yesterday morning, and I decided to brave driving around the city by myself.  I had the task of finding my friend's house, as JJ and I were invited over for lunch. 

• With GPS in hand, we head to our very dark garage (see "timed lights" section above).  Little did I know getting out of the garage would be the hardest part of the whole driving adventure.  Our car is a 1989 Renault Super 5.  It may be old, but it is in general a reliable car.  It only has what is equivalent to 73,000 miles on it.  The only consistent problem is starting it sometimes.  So, there I was; I could not get it to stay started.  I could barely get out of our spot, and then when I did, I puttered almost all the way through the garage, because the car would not stay on.  I had a couple of onlookers, but was determined to figure it out by myself.
• I was relieved when I finally made it out of the garage and could enter my friend's address into our GPS.  Just my luck; it was not finding her address.  O.K., with motorcycle man behind me, I was off, without the GPS.  
• I knew how to get to the tunnel, but after the tunnel, I knew I was going to be completely confused.  I wish you could see this intersection, a windy mess of one-way swirls on top of tram tracks.  So, I called Christina and asked where to go after the tunnel.
• I get out of the tunnel and get to the crazy intersection, and even though I was supposed to go right at some point, I couldn't find where and instead found myself in a lane that only wound around to the left.  Then I found myself in a neighborhood, to which I ended up circulated through about 8 times.
• After attempt #5, I get a hold of Christina, and I find out that I left the "de" off of her address, and that's why the GPS wasn't picking it up, for example "Avenue de Saint Maur". 
• With the new address in, I was off again, with hope.
• Suddenly the GPS is telling me to take a left-hand turn when there is clearly a sign in front of me that says "do not make a left turn".
• I was not surprised by this.  Our GPS was one of the cheapest models, and it is quite a silly one.  It has taken us very crazy places - ask Dave and Mel, our friends who were with us for 1 month in France.  One time it literally took us through an old vineyard on a very small dirt path.  
• So, I wound around again through the trusty neighborhood, which I've totally mastered now by the way, and call Christina again to ask her about this mysterious left turn.
• She tells me that there is in fact a left turn after the "do not turn left area", which I can't see until I am literally there.  So, I drive up there and take a left, which takes me under a bridge, then another left turn, then a sharp windy right, which takes me under another bridge, then another sharp right, and I'm finally there.

So, here's the cool thing about doing something you've previously been afraid of.  You have a sense of accomplishment.  The fact that I found it was a success, even if it did take me quite a few times to get there.  And now, I can definitely do it. 

So, today JJ and I are going to try and find the grocery store.  Should be fun!!