The Many Adventures of Learning a Manual

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In Norway, the driver's test you must complete if you wish to drive here is done with a manual car. If you take the test before the first year of your residence, you don't have to pay for lessons - only the cost of the car rental for the test and the test itself. This has resulted in me trying to learn how to drive a manual, which really isn't the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but I'm still learning. My driving practice is getting much better though. Next time I drive will be on the actual highway, but because I'll be nervous with driving a manual car, the plan is to do it very late at night.

My husband is a wonderful driving teacher. So wonderful, he's come to understand my best learning style for  driving our car - not teaching me at all. I practice my driving at night in an empty parking lot and back woods of a public park. We noticed at first his lectures on driving and technique of driving a manual were only making me nervous, frustrated and my driving worse. So now, he just shuts up and I do whatever I want in the car or he distracts me by talking about something completely different - and that has made my driving much, much better when I'm not focused on driving. That sounds wrong and contradictory but it works best for me at least.

Except the many times I've ran over curbs or the one time I've driven on a sidewalk because I thought it was another road (that was scary even for me, but Arild was extremely worried over it) and the most recent event when I hit a mouse. Mouse not moose. Yes - a mouse.

I was driving in the parking lot and was pretty sure I saw a mouse run across the parking lot in the way of the car. I tried to stop as soon as I saw the mouse, but then I was thinking maybe it was a fallen leaf being blown across the parking lot so I drove some more.

Soon my Jiminy Cricket conscience started saying, "What if that was a mouse? You're a mouse murderer. You need to go back and check. What if you hit it, but it's still alive and suffering?" So I turned the car around, found a parking spot and checked. My husband just sat in the car because he thought it was more likely a leaf than a mouse running in a parking lot. Yep. It was a mouse. I walked back to the car and the water works had turned on and Arild got out to have a look at this mouse I hit and surprised its tiny little body didn't appear damaged. Arild came back to the car with a very bad attempt to calm me down, "Just think of all the thousands of chickens who have died because you like to eat them..." Maybe he still has some learning to do. *Shaking head* :-)

(Via Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled blog via google images) 
After crying and mourning the mouse I hit, we practiced driving more. I kept seeing a feral cat and while I thought, "Okay, maybe the cat can find an easy dinner tonight..." to make myself feel better.

Every time I ran over a pothole I'd start getting panicked. So I had to give up our driving practice for the night. I went home and went to bed. I'm sure it was my guilty conscience attacking me as a mouse murderer because that night I dreamt of killing a dog - something I would NEVER do! :-(

Comments

Paige said…
You can do it! I learned how to drive a manual in 30 minutes, I drive one every day and have now for almost 20 years.
November 14, 2012 at 3:52 AM
H. Bratset said…
Ahh! Driving a manual is hard at first. After I learned, I had to use the parking break trick to get up a hill for 2 years! You'll get it and once you do you will probably never want to go back to an automatic after realizing how much control you have over the car. I used to only have manual cars after I learned, but my two cars now are automatic because I bought them both used, and you get what you get! I'm sorry about the mouse. That sucks, but don't let it get you down. Like you said, maybe you helped the stray cat! :)
November 16, 2012 at 3:17 AM
Anonymous said…
I may be mistaken, but I thought you could take your driving lessons and test with an automatic. It would however mean you were only allowed to drive automatics and no manual transmission cars.
November 18, 2012 at 7:13 PM
Evelyn Sand said…
@H.Braset: Thanks for the support! The driving is getting much better actually and I'll soon take the driver's test.

@Anonymous: I did some further research and what I found was in Stavanger you have the option to choose automatic or manual in the driver's test, but most places in Norway only have a manual option. Lucky Stavanger-ians! :-P
November 19, 2012 at 12:32 PM
Evelyn Sand said…
@Paige: Thanks for the support! I can't wait to go to another LSS meeting! :-)
November 19, 2012 at 12:33 PM
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