German driving
Okay, the good news is that we found our house, signed the contract, and we move in on the 16th. The bad news is, we got into an automobile accident. I know, most of you who KNOW us are just sure that it was Joe's fault (especially since I failed the test and therefore can't drive yet), but the truth is, he was completely innocent!!! Here's the story:
We picked up OUR Passat today and turned in our rental vehicle. It was so nice to have something of OURS, even if we can't live in it. I got our GPS and plotted a route to look at 23 more houses and we took off. By the way, kids under 12 have to be in booster seats. Chloe and Josh are PERFECTLY happy with that, though.
So, we take off and we're doing great. We look at house after house after house, all to no avail. Too old, too big, too much $, too far away from base, etc. We finally decided that the one house we loved and saw yesterday (cows up to the fence) was worth the extra $ to have (it was just slightly over what we wanted to spend). So, we turned around to head to it and sign the contract, which is really easy to do over here. We were on a priority road which, in Europe, means you have the right of way. We came around a turn and there was a side road intersecting with our road. We slowed down, obviously, because it was really busy, but Nubi Garmin (our GPS) told us to go straight ahead and we did. This lady saw our American tags and assumed we were turning right since a lot of Americans lived up that way, and she decided to pull out. Joe swerved just in time to keep her from T-boning my side of the car (Josh was in the back on my side, all 3 kids in the back seat). He swerved into the middle turning lane which, fortunately, was empty (he saw that). The first thing I thought was, "PLEASE hit ME!!!" I'm not looking for punishment, really, but if she hit ME in the front of the car, that means she missed JOSH in the back. My second thought was, "I can't reach him." My third thought, followed by 5 terrified screams was, "God help us!" Yes, I do think that fast. I thought all of that in 3 seconds flat because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. :) We pulled over and the lady said, in English, surprisingly, "You had your blinker on. That's why I pulled out." We said, "No we didn't. Our GPS told us to go straight. We LOVE our GPS!" No, we didn't say the last sentence. that's for you to have some relieved laughter. We did show her the GPS, though, and we did tell her that the blinker wasn't on.
Anyway, the police showed up and had us follow them to the police station where we filled out a report. The lady who hit us was allowed to finish running her medical errand (bringing medicine to someone) WITHOUT giving anyone her name or vehicle information! She showed up at the police station, though. In the States, that lady would've been LONG GONE. Anyway, the officer said, "Yes, it's her fault. She'll pay." The car is scraped all the way down the side, and the front passenger tire and wheel base are damaged but the car drove fine.
The kids were terrified, I was immediately out of the car (once we parked it safely out of the road) to check on them, and when the lady, who originally walked up yelling at us, saw my three PERFECT (although crying) children, she softened and apologized and went to checking us all out. We were scared, my husband was furious that the VERY DAY he picked up our car, it got wrecked, but after I explained what COULD have happened, he calmed WAY down. WE thanked God and thanked Him and thanked Him. We all know what T-bone accidents do to everyone, especially the people on the side that is hit. Mom, don't think about it too much. You'll cry, and we're fine. We're really fine. I repeat, the 5 INGRAMS are FINE!!! We know you're all praying for us.
So, we finish up at the police station and decide to go get our house (we hadn't signed the contract yet). We went and the people currently in it just had their stuff packed up today and they were super nice and helpful. They're American. He's a surgeon and they're moving to California. They gave us lots of useful information and the landlords spoke fluent English, which is great. I assured them that I would be fluent in German within a year. Little do they know that they'll be teaching me. moohoo ha ha ha (That's a malicious laugh, kind of like Dr. Evil on Austin Powers.) We LOVE the house. We LOVE the neighborhood, and we have hiking trails and a mountain right behind us. We're very excited to live there and get settled.
We picked up OUR Passat today and turned in our rental vehicle. It was so nice to have something of OURS, even if we can't live in it. I got our GPS and plotted a route to look at 23 more houses and we took off. By the way, kids under 12 have to be in booster seats. Chloe and Josh are PERFECTLY happy with that, though.
So, we take off and we're doing great. We look at house after house after house, all to no avail. Too old, too big, too much $, too far away from base, etc. We finally decided that the one house we loved and saw yesterday (cows up to the fence) was worth the extra $ to have (it was just slightly over what we wanted to spend). So, we turned around to head to it and sign the contract, which is really easy to do over here. We were on a priority road which, in Europe, means you have the right of way. We came around a turn and there was a side road intersecting with our road. We slowed down, obviously, because it was really busy, but Nubi Garmin (our GPS) told us to go straight ahead and we did. This lady saw our American tags and assumed we were turning right since a lot of Americans lived up that way, and she decided to pull out. Joe swerved just in time to keep her from T-boning my side of the car (Josh was in the back on my side, all 3 kids in the back seat). He swerved into the middle turning lane which, fortunately, was empty (he saw that). The first thing I thought was, "PLEASE hit ME!!!" I'm not looking for punishment, really, but if she hit ME in the front of the car, that means she missed JOSH in the back. My second thought was, "I can't reach him." My third thought, followed by 5 terrified screams was, "God help us!" Yes, I do think that fast. I thought all of that in 3 seconds flat because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. :) We pulled over and the lady said, in English, surprisingly, "You had your blinker on. That's why I pulled out." We said, "No we didn't. Our GPS told us to go straight. We LOVE our GPS!" No, we didn't say the last sentence. that's for you to have some relieved laughter. We did show her the GPS, though, and we did tell her that the blinker wasn't on.
Anyway, the police showed up and had us follow them to the police station where we filled out a report. The lady who hit us was allowed to finish running her medical errand (bringing medicine to someone) WITHOUT giving anyone her name or vehicle information! She showed up at the police station, though. In the States, that lady would've been LONG GONE. Anyway, the officer said, "Yes, it's her fault. She'll pay." The car is scraped all the way down the side, and the front passenger tire and wheel base are damaged but the car drove fine.
The kids were terrified, I was immediately out of the car (once we parked it safely out of the road) to check on them, and when the lady, who originally walked up yelling at us, saw my three PERFECT (although crying) children, she softened and apologized and went to checking us all out. We were scared, my husband was furious that the VERY DAY he picked up our car, it got wrecked, but after I explained what COULD have happened, he calmed WAY down. WE thanked God and thanked Him and thanked Him. We all know what T-bone accidents do to everyone, especially the people on the side that is hit. Mom, don't think about it too much. You'll cry, and we're fine. We're really fine. I repeat, the 5 INGRAMS are FINE!!! We know you're all praying for us.
So, we finish up at the police station and decide to go get our house (we hadn't signed the contract yet). We went and the people currently in it just had their stuff packed up today and they were super nice and helpful. They're American. He's a surgeon and they're moving to California. They gave us lots of useful information and the landlords spoke fluent English, which is great. I assured them that I would be fluent in German within a year. Little do they know that they'll be teaching me. moohoo ha ha ha (That's a malicious laugh, kind of like Dr. Evil on Austin Powers.) We LOVE the house. We LOVE the neighborhood, and we have hiking trails and a mountain right behind us. We're very excited to live there and get settled.
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