I will be assimilated...

After a month of waiting, I've finally found out through the school when my integration exam is scheduled for: April 14th and 15th. I'll receive the official letter next week, as in only two weeks before the exam itself. Apparently they don't think that people need more warning to ask for time off of work.

This isn't for citizenship, this is Inburgering (integration). This is the exam you are required to take within 5 years of arriving in order to be allowed to stay. I'm taking a higher level version, the Staatsexam I, because I like to make life hard for myself. Ok, this time that's not true. It's because then I don't have a 'culture' section to be tested on, just the language. I know several Dutch people who did the online practice tests for the culture section and failed miserably. Just as I imagine most Americans would fail our naturalization test. After I pass all the sections for this exam, I receive a diploma that is supposed to be the equivalent of a high school student's language skills.

One reason to do the higher level is because it's required to be able to do certain things in regards to working, such as taking training classes. Ultimately I'd like to take the even higher level, Staatsexam II, so I can have a nifty piece of paper to waive at any future employers or the University, should I feel like taking some classes. It would have made much more sense to start out working on the Staatsexam II, but for some reason, the city doesn't pay for the exam or classes in that case, just for the level I. Cuz you know, they wouldn't want you to learn that much Dutch.

The exam takes place over two days, as there are 4 parts, each 2 hours long and they think that 8 hours of foreign language exams (plus breaks, etc.) is a bit much. I agree. However, that means that I will have to travel back and forth each day to whatever city it ends up being in. The closest on the list is a bit over an hour away. Since I really don't want to drive so far away to a strange town without an official license, I will likely be taking the train. There's a Russian girl in my class who will be taking it the same days, so likely we'll travel together.

The four sections are reading comprehension, writing, listening, and speaking. Being a very visual learner, I have no problems with the reading and writing. The listening isn't too bad either. My biggest problem (every day) is with the speaking. Dutch word order is yoda-esque in that, aside from the simplest sentences, most of the verbs end up at the end of the sentence. I'm pretty bad at starting to speak and just going through translating word for word, in which case my verbs are always horribly misplaced. There's just something about someone staring at me waiting for an answer that makes me just blunder ahead instead of stopping and assembling the whole thing in my head before speaking.

I don't anticipate any problems. We've practiced in class with exams from past years and I've passed them all. In fact they seemed a bit too easy for what I keep being told is a 'higher level' exam.

Should I pass, I'll be pressed to participate in two Dutch traditions. One, notify everyone Dutch style, which means treating everyone to cake, pie, or vlaai (that pie-esque concoction deserves its own post later). Two, were I a kid who just passed the exam to exit high school, I'd also hang a backpack, books, and other school supplies out the upstairs window, or from our flagpole, if we had one. The latter, I could probably get out of, but I'm sure the former will have to happen. The next few weeks will be chock full of practice and review, then I can be free of 3 evenings of classes a week. Huzzah for having my time back.

Driving Miss Me, part I

I don't have a Dutch driving license, but I'm working on it. Technically, I already drive all the time. If I got into an accident, I wouldn't get in trouble for not having a license. I would, however, not be insured. My American passport served as my license for the first 6 months. Unfortunately, it took at least that long before I even wanted to try to drive here. I was just sure that I would forgot one tiny rule difference and get into an accident.

It's been 20 years since I took my driving test in the US. I'm going through it all again now, Dutch style. Maybe it's different now also in the US, but for me, this has been a difficult 'adventure'.

In the US, the theory part consisted of walking in to the DMV, standing in the insanely long line, receiving a paper packet and sitting in an area with desk cubbies to fill out my exam. I then dutifully turned it in, got scored and received my learner's permit. With that, I could drive for a year as long as I was with a licensed driver. When it came time to take my practical exam, my mom and I took the parental car to the next town over, as our own town was notorious for having a very hard exam. You had to parallel park and everything! Oh the horror at the idea of having to actually be competent! Instead I took an exam that consisted of driving about 4 blocks in a big square. I got in trouble for not slowing down enough at crossings where I had the right of way, but that was the only glitch. I'm not quite sure what was up with that choice of exam, since generally I'm a person who challenges themselves, who got involved in plenty of stuff when I was younger that makes me now think, "WHY did I put myself through that and do it the hard way??"

Either I've wimped out in my old age or the omnipresent difficulty of living in a foreign land has put me in a mindset where I want things to be generally easy. Cue Dutch Driving Instruction twirling its villainous mustache at me while cackling.

The Dutch driving age is 18. You can drive a scooter at 16 and they're pretty popular here among the high school crowd. And much, much safer than driving one in the US. The drinking age here begins at 16 for beer and wine. I rather like the idea that kids can get used to being drunk before they can use a car. Crashing a bike while drunk is not nearly as problematic. And very common, according to T. At least now I know to look forward to it with the kids (sigh).
Driving schools. Multiple. In my hometown, there was just one. Granted we were a rather small town, so the school had a definite monopoly. Here, as long as you are certified and do continuing education and have the correctly outfitted car, anyone can do it. We didn't go with the recommendation of a cousin and picked one based on website.

If you've never driven, you're better off buying one of the complete packets offered by driving schools. These run around 2k, but are intended to give a completely new driver as many lessons as it takes to be competent enough to pass the test. This also includes the exam fee, which is around 200 euros. After my first lesson, they confirmed that I could indeed drive just fine and that I only needed some 'loose' lessons to make sure I could pass the test, knew all the specific Dutch signs, etc. I think I drove a total of two weeks or somesuch in high school. We had 3 students and the instructor in the car. Each person would drive a bit, then switch. You were expected to get the most practice driving with other people using the learner's permit. Not so here. You aren't allowed to drive except with a driving instructor, in their car. They are all clearly marked with a big L on top of the car and outfitted with extra pedals and mirrors and whatnot for the instructor. When you take your exam, you will use their car and they will ride along with you, presumably to know what to fix if you fail.

Not knowing how things really work and having gotten a lot of instruction from T, I just signed up with a driving school to begin the driving lessons. Not having done the theory exam first was a mistake as I spent the first few lessons being yelled at and not understanding why a lot of the time. They have a weird slant on 'conservation' here in regards to driving. Things like taking your foot off the brake while at a stoplight (and putting on the hand brake if you would roll) to save your brake lights. Braking as little as possible to save your brake pads (and instead just letting off the gas, even if that means starting to slow insanely far away from your stop). Driving a very specific speed in each gear to use gas the most efficiently (instead of just switching based on what the motor sounds like or the rpms). These things are actually covered in the theory book and having not read it, I didn't understand the irritation of the instructor.

I didn't like him anyway. He seemed oddly arrogant and kept taking personal calls on his cell unrelated to work. Plus, he was sneaky about the price. He advertised a certain price for 45 minutes, around the same price that most places charged for an hour. What was not mentioned anywhere was that he only would give lessons for 1.5 hours. So you end up paying double what you'd expect for a lesson. It's not illegal or anything, just sneaky. Not to mention 1.5 is really a bit long to try to hold good concentration for such a thing. After about 4 lessons, I got an email saying that they were no longer giving lessons and were instead concentrating on motorcycle lessons. I was getting towards the end of my pregnancy anyway and although I fit behind the wheel, other things were becoming difficult, like turning enough to look behind me.

Post-pregnancy we signed up with the school that the cousin had recommended. What a world of difference! A nice husband and wife team who speak calmly to you no matter what you're screwing up. They immediately put my name in for the driving exam, confident that I only needed a few more lessons and knowing that it would be several weeks before there was an open spot. I finally feel like I am making good progress at filling in those little knowledge gaps and I have an end date in sight.

Part II to follow with my experience taking the theory exam and the differences in driving here and in the US.