NOK 51,000 later

That's how much it ended up costing Judge and I combined to get our driver's licences this time around. Not a pretty sum, and definitely not a petty sum, but somehow I'm not bitter about it, which is pretty impressive as I am not one who likes to spend money.

I think it is partially because that's just how it is here, and I've accepted that. And also because I actually learned something in every class I took during the program (this post outlines the mandatory courses).

Take my first driving lesson as an example - the one to see where my skills were at. Sat myself down in the driver's seat, and learned how to properly fasten a seat belt, as well as ensure the seat, steering wheel, safety belt height, and head rest height all were adjusted to best improve my safety in a collision. Yes, you read correctly, I learned how to properly fasten a seat belt. Sure I know to click it in, but to make sure the lap belt is as low on my belly/over my upper thighs as possible, ensure bulky jackets and sweaters are pulled out of the way, and pull on the shoulder strap so that the lap belt is as tight and snug as possible...never thought about it before.

In the first aid course I learned a trick to help ensure passed out people get the easiest air flow into their lungs as possible - being keep them in a sitting position with their head up, and gently apply pressure to the back of their jaws to push the lower jaw slightly forward (mouth is of course open at this point). Try it on yourself - loose jaw, push it forward, and suddenly the airflow improves a bunch.

In the 'driving when it's dark' class I learned the importance of reflective gear when walking along the road in the dark. Yes, I've known its importance before, but to really see what a huge difference it makes ... there were three cars with four students in each that drove out together, and on a dark patch of road one car drove on while two stayed behind. We were all standing outside looking at the other car, having to say if it was parking lights or low/high beam lights that were on, and then had to try to count how many roadside-marking sticks were between us and the other car...and it wasn't until the driver of the other car was about 20-30m close that we noticed him...he had slowly been walking toward us the whole time we were focusing on basically exactly where he was walking, without us seeing him at all (he wasn't wearing any reflective gear, obviously).

During this class I also learned the importance of not shutting off your high beam too early when meeting another car (due to the low beams only reaching 40 meters ahead while high beams reach 100 meters, so if you shut them down too early there's a huge dark patch on the road where something can be standing), and the importance of not looking at the oncoming car but keeping your eyes on the road (as you get kind of blinded by the light...it's natural to be drawn to looking at the car though).

During the slippery road driving class, I learned what a difference driving 32 km/h vs 28 km/h makes when hitting an ice patch (HUGE difference! slower is obviously much, much better), got to feel the car sliding out of control, the feeling of there being absolutely nothing I can do to gain control of the car if I was driving too fast, and learned the importance of not only making sure I wear a seat belt when I ride a bus (or car of course), but to make sure the person behind me also wears one (because if we crash, that's about a mass of a tonne or more that slams into my seat, very easily killing me).

During the long-distance/city driving course I got to practice slushy-road country driving as well as got to avoid a small group of deer that had wandered onto the road that early morning. I also got to practice the horrid Norwegian rule of "cars coming from roads on your right have the right of way, unless you are on a priority road". It's a ridiculous rule.

During the trip planning course (where we got a list of 23 spots around the town where we take the road test and had to use a map to plan the trip, as well as estimate time the trip would take and how much gas we would use) I got to become familiar with the road test environment, as each spot and each road are places we might head to on the test.

All in all it was a useful program, thank goodness!

And so it goes, on March 31, 2015, after an hour long road test, I became the joyful owner of a Norwegian driver's licence. We are thus now FINALLY both done this inconvenient process, and can sit back and relax for a bit. Yay!

Judge and the girls came along for the trip, and we celebrated with ice cream afterward, of course.

[It's Easter break now, and my cousin with his family came to visit and to hang at the cabin, and they brought a helmet for Eliana that her third cousin has grown out of. It instantly became her favorite fashion accessory.]

 

 

 

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