Going for a Drive

As I've written before, getting a visa can be complicated here. What I did not mention is that it can also be very, very entertaining. Let me explain.

To get a long term resident card here in the Czech Republic, we had to go to a government office and get our pictures and fingerprints taken. This allows us to stay in the country for the length of our employment contract (one year).

Since we still struggle with communication in adult sentences via the Czech Language, we were escorted to our appointment by the assistant principal in his car.

Did I mention he was a Driver's Ed instructor?

We got into the car and were informed that a student would be doing his driving lesson by taking us to the visa office. What followed was a series of starts and stops, engine stalls and near misses, accompanied with a healthy dose of car sickness. On a positive note, I learned the Czech word for "clutch" and "brake." I think they may have learned the American face for "terrified."

After all that, it only took fifteen minutes to get our pictures taken and our fingerprints done.

So to make a long story short, (or a short story long, or a medium story medium) all is well that ends well. At least for us anyway. I am not sure the student will be a licensed driver anytime soon.