This week has gotten off to a rocky start. Elizabeth's cold hasn't gotten much better so she hasn't been able to start school as planned. I've been fighting a milder version of Elizabeth's symptoms. The housekeeper we liked left off some details on her employment history so I'll be back at an agency on Sunday interviewing again. Feeling bored with staying at home, I needed to do something out of the ordinary this morning. Time to grab the car keys and take the Mitsubishi Grandis for a spin!
For the past 6 weeks, I have building up the confidence to drive. I've studied the routes that the taxi drivers take when I'm going places and figuring out the street names. As Brian mentioned earlier in the blog, streets often change names every 2 blocks so it makes navigating a bit more challenging. Since Brian takes a taxi or the bus to work every day, the car just sits in the garage tempting me to take it somewhere.
So, today was my driving debut. I quickly discovered that driving on the left side of the road isn't that big of a deal. Most roads are divided so everyone is cruising right along in the lanes next to me just like at home. The bizarre part is driving on the right-hand side of the car! Of course I kept hitting the windshield wipers instead of the blinkers because they are switched. The gear shift is on my left and thank goodness it's an automatic. The challenge is that I have no concept of where the left side of my car ends. I kept checking to make sure that I wasn't drifting to the left and ended up hugging the line on my side of the car because surely this is a safe bet. Getting in and out of the parking garages was the hardest part because they are narrow spiral-shaped passages. It will take some getting used to but I'm glad I finally tried it and that the car (and its passengers) made it home in one piece. The funny part is that when I exited the parking garage at the mall, I had to pay S$7.20. It really didn't save me any money from taking a taxi over there like I normally do. It still felt good to drive again!
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