driving miss daisy

I know I wrote about driving already but in the last few weeks I have experienced a handful of fantastic moments while in the car. These moments came after much worry on my part. You see, I have always considered myself good with directions which, knowing my mother and her ability to get lost in the same neighborhoods over and over again, is a miracle. Living in DC I rarely got lost and more than once my roommates relied on me for directions. The fact that I knew driving directions in DC is incredible seeing as how I didn't have my own car and only drove there a handful of times. Moving here I knew I was going to have to drive and I was going to have to find my way around. The worry of being in a new city was compacted with the foreign language problem as well. I was going to have to decipher street signs in both French and German.

Luckily for me the car I drive is equipped with a "sat-nav" or to the Americans out there, a GPS. I have never relied on a GPS and I was thankful that there was one available. One thing was important though, I did not want to rely solely on the sat-nav. I wanted to learn and become familiar with the roads and the different routes. I can proudly say that I am using the sat-nav less and less. In fact, just this last Sunday I went all the way to church without once turning it on. I was also able to get home without it as well. And so these moments continue, driving back from Basel after dropping Em off at work and being able to take a side trip to pick someone up all without using the sat-nav.

In reality, relying less and less on things like the sat-nav make me feel more and more at home and like I belong here. There is also a great sense of freedom that I feel, knowing that, when necessary, I can get in the car and get to where I need to be.