In an effort to build more of a life for myself here, I've decided to get a car. Although I can legally drive for up to twelve months with my American license, I don't feel comfortable driving here without taking lessons.

People keep asking me, "Can you drive?"

I pause, not knowing how to answer that. "I can drive in the United States."

"Oh you'll be fine then!" they reply.

I'm not so confident. When I observe how people drive in this country, it appears that there are almost no laws whatsoever, especially on roundabouts.

My driving instructor, Andre, picks me up at my house. I approach the driver's side of the car, thinking it's the passenger's side. Oh brother, I think.

"You want to drive?" Andre asks, enthusiastically. He moves over to the passenger side.

"Umm, well, I thought you'd drive a little bit first," I answer.

"You'll learn to drive better if you're the one driving," he says.

I sit in the driver's seat of a British car, feeling very awkward. Almost all cars in this country are stick-shifts, and Andre asks, "So I realize you are American, and American cars are automatics. Can you drive a manual?"

Again, I don't know how to answer that as I place my left hand on the stick. "I can drive a manual in the United States."

"Oh you'll be fine then!" He sounds relieved that he won't have to teach me much. "Go ahead and start the car, and I'll take you through some basic intersections and then a few roundabouts."

"OK," I say. I'm really freakin' nervous as I start the car. The clutch, break, and gas pedal are all the same as in the US; they're just on the opposite side of the car! The stick and gears are in the exact same place as on an American car, but now I have to shift with my left hand!

Andre gives me directions as we go along, telling me when to turn and what to expect. Occasionally, he has me pull over and park so he can explain something. He has these laminated notecards with pictures of a road, intersection, or roundabouts to help him teach the rules of the road. He pulls out the roundabout notecard and a little toy car that he uses to demonstrate what I should be doing. "On a roundabout," he says, "the cars to the right have the right of way. You will be driving around in a clockwise direction. So when you approach the roundabout, look to your right. You have to yield to the cars that are coming, just like the cars to your left will have to yield for you."

We practice roundabouts again and again. Andre has to grab the wheel on two separate occasions because I'm about to hit something. The entire lesson is about two hours long, all conducted in the dark, which probably doesn't help me too much. Either way, by the end of it, I'm still nervous about driving but I feel confident enough to get a car of my own and slowly get in the practice of driving in this country.

Things I had the hardest time with:

~Shifting gears with my left hand.
~Determining when it's safe to enter a roundabout. I have a tendency to sit at the intersection and wait until the roundabout is completely empty before driving into it.
~Roundabouts that are two lanes wide. Because there are no lane lines painted on the roundabout, it appears that people just weave in and out of each other. Now that I know that the person on the right has the right of way, that helps. However, the two-lane roundabouts require alertness to what is going on to your right (in front and behind you), because you've got to yield if someone is there, and to your left (in front and behind you). Sometimes people to the left try to cut off someone on their right and beat them to the exit.

Stupid, pointless things:

~Sometimes, a speed limit will change from 30 mph to 60. And you get to cruise along at 60 for a good half-mile before the speed limit switches back to 30. The speed limit changing after going a really short distance is common and completely normal here. I just don't even bother speeding up, because it's too much of a hassle switching gears (with my left hand) to get up to 60, then two minutes later switching gears to get back down to 30. Andre seems confused by this. Oh well. I ain't speedin' up.

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