XBOX ONE (Germany)

The new XBOX ONE is finally out in Europe but it's not being sold in every country... what did this mean for us... it meant two trips to Germany before actually getting a hold of my husbands Christmas present!  And of course, the trips didn't go flawless, but inevitably worked out.  The first trip to Krefeld was a complete disappoint, we (inc. our daughter & dog) drove around an hour to get to a shop where a friend of ours had managed to get a hold of an XBOX ONE, just to find out they were sold out.  Of course they were sold out, they hadn't even been on the market for a week.  After the unsuccessful trip and couple other incidents with some people in Krefeld my daughter was done with Germany and never wanted to go back (keep in mind she is 4 yrs old, ha-ha!)  My husband claimed he was going to give up on the XBOX ONE until 2014, but considering he had the next week off work and his friend kept calling over Germany to find us one, the mission was far from over.  Out of nowhere on a half day of school we decided to load the family back into the car and return to Germany, this time headed for Monchengladbach (another hour drive).  Our friend swore he had reserved one for us, and since he can speak German we had to trust he made the right arrangements.  When we arrived, my husband picked a shady parking garage to leave his car (and dog).  See my husband does this often, randomly parks and then gets to listen to me complain about for a hour afterward.  The parking garage was clearly not a public lot, but we knew we were just running into the store and would be back in less than 30 minutes.  Everything went great, the XBOX ONE was waiting on us, they had the soccer game and the extra controller, and even our daughter found a Hello Kitty book.  Happily we all take the hilly walk back to the car, we didn't have long to get back home before our groceries would be delivered.  But uh oh, the garage door was now shut and there was no way to get back in the parking garage without a key.  We obviously didn't have key.  We called the number on the side of the building, Wico Modehaus, and the woman basically said it was our problem because she was in Dusseldorf and had no intentions of coming that way.  O.k., no problem, we remembered seeing an entrance to the garage through a shop on the other side.  We walked back along the hilly path and started checking out the shops, none of them looked like what we needed.  We stopped in a store and explained to the German in English of course that our car and dog were locked in a garage and we just needed to cut through the building, as you can imagine, no one was helpful.  Our daughter is starting to panic, I'm talking about calling the police, and my husband is considering breaking into the garage.  We called the Wico Modehaus one more time, and they sent us to voicemail, can you believe that, how rude!  (I really should send her a nasty email!)  We returned to the parking garage a little frazzled and contemplated our options.  My husband had just removed his jacket and was about to scale the wall when someone pulled up and opened the garage with a remote.  We grabbed out things and chased after him, everyone thankful.  I waited at the door holding the emergency stop button so the garage door wouldn't shut again and my husband and daughter rushed to get the car.  In the end, the dog and car were fine, we made it home in time for the delivery, and my husband has spent endless hours on his new XBOX ONE!  And I'm pretty sure our daughter never wants to go to Germany again, oops!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Skid Training

Not so long ago, after fish tailing around a curve in my car, I decided maybe it wasn't bad to finally take the skid training course offered by my old driving school, Leeuw.  The course was included in my package but at the time I didn't dare take the course, I didn't feel I had enough experience in a stick shift to willingly put myself in that situation.  After getting my license I mostly drove my husbands automatic and still didn't feel ready.  But now I've been in my own stick shift since the summer and like I said, I've had a couple scares and knew it was time to follow-up on the course.  It was great!  It was fun, it was informative, and I recommend skid / safety training to everyone!  The class was a mixture of enthusiastic teenage boys and older adults out for a day of fun & learning (think I was the only in my 30's).  I was shaking in the beginning, a combination of cold & nervousness/excitement but luckily that quickly went away!  It started out pretty basic, braking at 30kph & 60kph to see the difference in just how far you slide before the car comes to a complete stop.  When riding someones tail in traffic because you're late it's easy to forget just how long it actually takes a car to stop, it was a great reminder.  (Another reason to take the course.)  Then we moved on to braking on a wet road, you obviously slide even further, surprisingly farther.  Each time the tasks grew more complicated.  We worked together, 2-4 people in a car, I luckily had an 18yr old boy with me who listened well and was able to explain things to me just in case I didn't understand what they were asking of me in Dutch.  I could have used my own car, but I didn't want to risk damaging it, plus it was only €15 to borrow one from the school.  It took a while to get the feel of a different stick shift, but it eventually worked out.  After soaking the track and letting us practice braking, we moved on to avoiding obstacles.  There were two places the teacher could shoot up a wall of water and your job was to drive around the wall.  It was a lot of fun, and for the most part everyone in the class did their best to avoid the wall, only on occasion did someone plow through the middle of it.  It's amazing how much noise the ABS makes, not mention how bad the car shakes!  And the last 45 minutes of the class was learning how to keep you car from spinning in a circle, when it skids out on a wet road.  This was awesome, but only because it was on a safe track, not out on a busy road.  The first time around the instructor took everyone out and showed off, spinning us around... then it was our turn!  Obviously the point was not to spin, but everyone did.  The driver controlled the wheel and pedals & the passenger controlled the hand brake.  I'm sure the kid I was with would have liked me to have been better at the brake, but I did my best.  We each had about 6 chances to get it right, and shockingly enough by the last time I was able to keep the car from spinning.  We each earned a certificate (supposedly some insurance companies even give you discounts for this), and had a fun 3.5 hr course testing our reaction times & skills.  I did have to be careful driving home though, I felt like a stunt driver ready for a movie, but then all I had to do was remind myself just how serious driving is and the dangers that always surround us.  As usual I snapped some pics, but during the best stuff we were in the cars, should have thought to pull my camera out in the passenger seat when the wall of water shot up in front if us, oh well!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Driving Decisions #2

Way back in 2011, I wrote a post about the stupid things I had seen cars do while on the road or in a parking lot.  At that time I didn't have my Dutch license and was always on foot, so I saw my fair share of crazy driving decisions and had the easy access of my camera to snap pics.  Nowadays, I have a license and a car, so taking pictures isn't as easy but I still see a lot of craziness on the road.  One thing you see often at Dutch stop lights are pushy motorcycles.  When there is a double row of traffic stopped at a red light, a motorcyclist will often squeeze between traffic, riding down the middle line, making his (or her) way to the front of the row.  They wait in between the cars until the light changes, then speed off before the cars even get started.  (Keep in mind, this is against the law in The Netherlands but often overlooked by police.)  Personally, I think the motorcyclists are crazy to do this, how do they know no one is going to switch lanes or toss their door open.  Why should they get privileges because their vehicles are smaller?  On one hand I understand, it speeds things up for them... but at such a stupid risk.  And it's not only at traffic lights you'll see them squeezing between cars, I've also seen this on the highway during traffic jams!  My mother used to ride a motorcycle, and my step-dad still does, and in a million years they would never make this decision (plus in The States you'd be pulled over right away!)  Have you seen any crazy motorcyclists in your area?

(Sorry for the quality of the pic, but that's what you get with your phone at a stoplight!)

Driving Decisions

 I probably have no right to complain about people's driving decisions considering I do not have a license, but I am going to anyway!  As mentioned in previous blogs, I walk everywhere, while out and about I can't help but notice odd decisions people on the road make.  I don't know if it's legal to post pictures of people's vehicles so if my blog gets shut down you'll know why.  Also, if this happens to be you or your car, sorry but c'mon!  In one 10 minute walk I came across 3 situations worthy of taking photos (there's a big chance you'll see a follow up to this blog). 

The first shot is of a man who decided to park in a non-parking zone vs. an actual parking spot.

While walking along I actually saw him make the conscious decision to block a driveway (a non-parking zone with a large X painted on it) instead of parking in the open parking spot directly in front of him!  It makes me wonder what he was thinking, was he trying to avoid putting change in the meter yet risking a more expensive parking ticket, does he know the owners of the driveway, or does he not know the rules (he had a Polish license plate)???

The second shot is of a car frustrated with work traffic.

The traffic around them is at a stand still because of a light about a block away and this person decides to pull out halfway and sit there.  According to the laws they should be stopped behind the triangles on the road.  Instead they decide to block a bike path and also risk a ticket.  I understand people want to get home from work and some intersections can be frustrating but seriously.  It's not just rush hour for cars but also for bikes, now every bike and scooter has to swerve to avoid this car.  And for those of you that know the intersection, you'll also notice the black car in the corner of the photo is blocking a pedestrian/walking path.  This all might be understandable if they were both rolling through the intersection but like I said they're all waiting on the light to change.

The last shot for today is of a prize winning parker!

I think it takes effort to park this bad.  If you could see the light blue car from the side you'd see it is a dinky (small) car.  How on earth do you get out of your car and walk away leaving it like that, with one adjustment they'd be in the middle of the spot.  They obviously can park straight they just can't judge distance.  I also question the person next to them, why would you squeeze into the spot next to this car?  I hope for them the parking lot was full when they made these decisions.

I can think of a couple family members and friends that also make these kinds of decisions, so please don't take this blog the wrong way.  You are allowed to make whatever decisions you want, as I am allowed to laugh at them!