My first phonecall when i arrived back here in the beginning of the week was to the driving school, or better: the adult education school where they offer driving lessons. I could start lessons immediately after getting an instruction permit, they explained, so this is how i found my way to the DMV, the Department of Motor Vehicles. I just got back from the DMV in Capitola, where i had an appointment this morning. A bit of an expedition to get to Capitola and back by bus, since there’s only one bus every half an hour, and of course i had just missed it by the time i got out of my appointment. Which went so differently from what i expected. I was basically looking for information and since i couldn’t get anybody on the phone i decided to go to their office to find out how it works, since i’m not a U.S. citizen, whether the identity documents i have are sufficient for them, etc.
We had to clear some red tape indeed, but then they also did the digital picture and fingerprint, a vision test and a driver’s examination. Basically i could have gotten the real permit (i was under the impression that the driving school just wanted some kind of registration at the DMV), had i passed the test. Which i didn’t: one could make up to 6 errors and i made 9 (i don’t even know how mph relates to kilometres per hour, let alone the different speeds limits in this state…). The first direction on the examination paper reads Study the handbook before you take the test but the DMV guy was very laid-back about it all. “Oh, just give it a shot, you might get lucky, and it can help you to learn anyway.” Amazing, leaning to drive on a “you might get lucky” note… i kind of like this, it’s already more fun than i had imagined. But so i got myself a handbook at the DMV (with a message and picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the first page…) and i’ll study it and one of these days i go back to take the test and i’ll actually have a permit. (All of this for $26 dollars, cheaper than a monthly bus pass…)
Exciting but i’m also freaking out a bit. Don’t like this idea that i’m forced out of trying to organise my life without needing to drive, which succeeding very well back in Europe. Don’t like how car-dependent this place is, don’t like it at all. I would prefer to much to be able to walk, take busses and trains à nd feel mobile in this place. But it’s simply not the case. So i keep on telling to myself: you’ll be learning a skill, it’s only just a skill, you’re not buying into an ideology, only skill no ideology…
