#drivingintheusa

This afternoon I went for a walk with the baby. The sun was shining so it looked very good outside. A week ago, shorts and a top would have been too hot. But when I went outside today, it was 10 degrees colder than I thought. Still better than Belgian weather though, so not complaining! [big-theeth-emoji] [angel-emoji] [sunglass-emoji] I did a tour in the neighbourhood, checking out if anyone had crazy Halloween decorations. Unfortunately... Well, at least I got my work-out; pushing a stoller is harder than I imagined.

At dinner, we were talking about all the tests I will have to do to get my driving licence here. All of a sudden my host mom proposed to go drive. It was already getting dark but I didn’t want to be a baby or be rude so I accepted. Driving in another country, with another car (automatic instead of gear change), in the dark, for the first time, is not something I would suggest myself. But thank you for believing in me R. and M. Great support. Makes me feel confident. That at least someone has confidence. In me. *cough*

Anyways. So R. takes me out and M. stays home to feed the baby. To be honest, I’m happy R. is sitting next to me because we can talk in Dutch, which is a little bit more comfortable and nice in a more stressful situation. At the beginning, everything went good. But then... We almost got killed! Really! Crazy story! (That might be a little bit exaggerated but this is America so bear with me [angel-emoji-again]) A car 10 metres in front of us, suddenly loses a tire! So the tire flies up in the air, starts bouncing all over the street. It was pretty scary given the fact that it was dark (they don’t have as much street lights as we do in Belgium) and this was my first drive! I tried not to stop too hard, but nevertheless my reaction was to push the clutch pedal with my left foot. Now, in this automatic car, there is no clutch but there IS a pedal - used for as handbrake. So the car started beeping, R and I didn’t know what was going on. I was afraid to stop and get hit by another car so I kept driving slowly and pulled over in the next street. R figured out I had pushed the handbrake pedal. Thankfully, I didn’t do it so hard, otherwise it would have been worse. We ‘unlocked’ the handbrake and went back on the road. R wanted to go on the highway but I declined his offer. By that time it was already dark, in a country where I’m driving for the first time, with a car I obviously still have to get used to, and with an almost-fatal-accident. Thanks, but no thanks ;-)

I am feeling a little bit proud now, reviewing my first driving lesson. Although I still can’t get over the almost accident... Like wtf happened? The car that lost its tire didn’t even stop? Whatever. I am appreciating life a little bit more again now. And I will celebrate with cookies.