Sunshine, Sangria and Romance - I'm blogging at Night Owl Romance #AuthorTravel #books @NightOwlRomance

Guys, today I'm blogging at Night Owl Romance!

Click HERE for the full blog post.

I did it!

Yep, you are not at the wrong blog. What you see above, *is* a Dora the Explorer video. The question is, why on earth would I post it? *grin* I have two very good reasons:

1. It's a great, fun, catchy celebratory song

2. It goes with my grand accomplishment...

I got my Driver's License!

Yes, after months of hardship, stress, anxiety, crying spells, losing money and feeling like I could never accomplish the darn thing, I finally did it and passed my test. It was hard and it took me down a dark road (I don't know if you guys remember but I've been posting about this since January (How to drive in Spain) my latest post on the driving trial being Overcoming Obstacles) that I barely allowed you guys to glimpse into because I didn't want to bring you down, but. at last, I finally did it. 

Now, I hope never, ever to have to drive a manual stick shift again. I'm sticking with automatic! 

I have to wear this sign in my car (aka my mom's car) for the next year. :-)

PS: No Wednesday Brief today, but I promise to catch up next week. Meanwhile, you can get up to date on older installments of Light of Time or check the other Briefers: 

Nephylim  

MA Church  

Cia Nordwell    

A.R. Von 

Lily Sawyer    

Victoria Adams 

Tali Spencer

Julie Lynn Hayes   
Andrew Gordon

What's going to happen this week... and how to learn to drive in Spain

It’s another manic Monday, Readers! I have grand plans for this week here at the blog. T’n’T’s Confidential brings authors CR Moss and Susan Taylor to visit. Wednesday, I’ll be continuing my Wednesday Brief, Clare, which ended when the young girl fell into a puddle of blood. (Read it here). Since Six Sentence Sunday is officially over *sniff*, I’m going to start participating in Sexy Snippets. But today, Monday, I’m really nervous because I’m taking my first real driver’s lesson!!!!

Learning how to drive in Spain is no mean feat. It isn’t because people here only drive stick shift (automatic cars are a new thing that fortunately are slowly but surely kicking in) but because it costs one helluva’lot of money. Rumors abound about driving school mafias and under the table payments.

This is how things work here:

First of all, you must keep in mind that you must learn how to drive at an official driving school. No, your parents, godparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends…no one can teach you how to drive except a teacher from a driving school. Why is this? The reason for this is because driving school cars are special and they have two sets of pedals, one for the driver and another for the co-pilot, aka, the teacher.

With that in mind, you turn to look for the best driving school you can find that won’t cost you a fortune. Registration fees range from anywhere between 100 Euros to almost 500€. Usually, they include classes on the driving manual, the actual book, and access to old written tests. Sometimes, they’ll throw in a few driving lessons. In my case, my driving school included 10 driving lessons on a simulator and 10 lessons in a real car.

There’s two ways to pass the written test. One, you study the book on your own and go take the test (that’s another 80euros to pay). Two, you go to class and go take the test. On both instances, what they recommend you do is take all the old tests you can until you memorize the answers. I chose option one and passed the test with only 1 mistake.

The written test is the easy part and the cheap part. Driving lessons are priced anywhere from 26 to 35 or even 40 euros per lesson. I’m not sure if it’s by law, but most driving schools will not allow you to take the driver’s test without taking a minimum of 10 classes. Do your math… yep, 10 classes at say 28euros per class is 280 Euros. Normally, people take anything between 20 to 60 classes. Don’t do your math, the figure is just scary. *shiver*.

To take the driver’s test you have to pay another 80euros. This fee only allows you to take the test twice. If you fail both times, you have to pay again, and so on and so forth until you pass. I’ve known people that haven’t passed until the 5^th or 6^th time around.

The worst of all this is that even after investing all this money in learning how to drive, Spanish drivers aren’t good drivers. In 2010 there were about 500 more deaths in Spain than in Great Britain, just to cite an example.* Madrid is popularly known as “the jungle”, so imagine how that abodes.

Anyhow, I’m deviating from what I wanted to say…I have my first driving lesson today and I’m terrified. Ahhhhhhhhh!

*http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/statistics/index_en.htm

Will Smith and Gabriele Muccino

Last Monday January 12 actor Will Smith and movie director Gabriele Muccino came to my university to present their latest movie "7 pounds".
This movie, which came out in the States in December is being shown in cinemas starting today (January 16).
After previewing the movie and a few minutes of impatient waiting, Will Smith came into the auditurium embraced by applause and camara flashes. Behind him followed director Gabriele Muccino.
After the faculty's dean asked a question, the students were allowed to do the same. Unfortunately, it was the dean who was giving out the microphone and hand picking the students that were allowed to ask (he only gave the mic to the right side of the auditorium, the left side were several hands were raised -including mine- was ignored).
The first boy to ask, showed some cheek and after getting his Prince of Bel Air dvd signed, and a hug from Wll SMith, he asked his question. I don't recall all the questions that were asked, but in general...
"What would you say saves your soul?" (Smith answered that his wife, while Muccino said it was his children and being a father).
"What movie genre do you prefer?" (Comedy)
"What advice do you give to students who are pursuing a cinematographic career?"
...
I don't remember the rest, although there were only 2 or 3 more.
After that short bit, in which Will showed his friendliness, his domain of the spanish language and his good humour, they left.

It was a memorable day which left everyone in that auditorium with a big smile upon their lips.

Happy Three King's Day

Today fifth of January, many homes celebrate the arrival of the Three King's, The Three Wise Men, or the Three King's from the East. These three men,Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar (Gaspar, Melchor and Baltasar in Spanish) are said to have visited Jesus after his birth bearing gifts.

Years ago in Spain, Santa Claus did not exist and the Three King's were the one's in charge of bringing gifts to the children.
Across the years the presence of Santa Claus has come to play an important part in Spanish homes, but the Three King's are still the main characters during this festive season.
Spanish children send their letters to their favorite King: Melchor, Gaspar or Baltasar and await eagerly for their arrival tonight.
So strong is the tradition that many towns (even small villages) prepare a royal mailbox for the children to deposit their letters in and if not the Royal mailman goes to each village picking up the letters.
Even if there is no mailbox there usually is a "Cabalgata" or parade, in which the Three King's riding on their camels appear before the children throwing candy.
The most recognized Cabalgata is the one celebrated in Spain's capital, Madrid.

Melchor in last year's Three King's Parade.

Lacrimas Profundere Live

Last night was amazing, I got to see and meet the wonderful gothic-rock band Lacrimas Profundere.
Cheers!

Drummer Korl
Base Peter, and guitar Tony
Lead singer Rob, and behind him, Oliver, second guitar