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Tagged from Gypsyprincess with Here there be Betty

Travel blogs tagged with Here there be Betty:

Time To Get Betty

16. Март [месяц] 2008 | en

Betty could also be called Blood, Sweat and Tears. But as melodramatic as I tend to be, I am not cruel. After months of taking every course offered to me, fitting in private students in every spare waking moment, trying to bludgeon to death Patrick for daring to breathe in my space, I now have Betty, my very own motorcycle! (And a total girl bike).

There is just one small problem, I am not allowed to drive her. We began to remedy this problem last July, before Betty arrived, when I went to a driving school near where I live. The term “heads up their ass” was created specifically for these people. In fairness, when I first came to Germany I had the time for lessons, but not the money, when I had the money obviously time was a factor. However this school seemed intent on refusing both my money and their services. Every time I tried to book on the bike time, or my written test, I got, “not now, ask later.”

So after finding Betty, we canceled my contract with the school and I went to a new school. This new school watched me sign the contract, and as soon as my hand left the paper he had his palm pilot out asking when did I want my first on the bike lesson. Wednesday the 19th it is!

Ключевые слова: Here there be Betty Germany motorcycle
Карта: N 49° 15.420 E 9° 732.170

Created at: 16. Март [месяц] 2008

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Starting To Click....Now Right Before Left And Everyone Will Be Happy

25. Апрель [месяц] 2008 | en

Something in me finally clicked. A big motorcyle is no different from a little one, I have got to stop letting this bike kick my ass.

And so I had a heart to heart talk with Betty, and we came to an understanding. I want to ride her, not her ride me. She took it well, and I had to be dragged off the compound, all the fun of riding a motorcycle came flooding through again, and she went to being an extension of me rather than a large machine I was trying to maneuver.

I learned to ride in Canada after visiting Patrick in Argentina and falling completely in love with bikes. (I wrote about my experience prior to Argentina here on Empowerment 4 Women), I honestly had no idea how long I would stay in Argentina, I was half planning on having him drop me off in Chile so I could find a job teaching English there.

I did not even have gear at this point, and the first day we met up in Buenos Aires we had to invest in gear. Or at least a helmet. I still was not convinced, and so I bought the cheapest helmet I could find, figuring I was there 2 weeks tops anyway. :-P

The Green Princess Of Coolness Helmut:

Alas, it turned out to be hard, kicked in the stomach, love. Even with the baby alligators living outside of our tent.

The truth was motorcycles offered a freedom I had never had before. And having a tent rolled up and attached to the bike so that we could crash and sleep anywhere (and we did, even in the bushes behind the parking lot for the Valley of the Moon).

After the trip I was home 2 weeks and enrolled in a course so I could get my license. The major difference between Canada and Germany: In Canada you are allowed to drive once you pass your written exam with another driver. In Germany you lose all rights to your future license if you are caught doing so. And so they put you on a path that clocks in at around 2000 Euro, as you pay 45 Euro for 45 minutes for each of your 12 required lessons.

They also treat the small bikes differently than the big ones. Learning on the 125 cc and passing on it would have meant I could drive the 650. Here in Germany it does not work that way. If I want to drive a 650, I need to pass my license driving one.

And I confess, though I loved Betty I was intimidated by her. I didn’t fully trust her. Until Wednesday morning, when Patrick took the day off work to take me to the ADAC compound when no one else would be there. (As a learner of either a car or bike in Germany your only choice to practice is paying for those lessons with your instructor, or on the enclosed compounds where 100 other new learners are bouncing and bopping their cars around). Though I was going there once a week, the sight of those new learners popping their clutches and bouncing up the street hardly inspired desire to put Betty at their mercy.

And on Wednesday we had the place to ourselves, and it just clicked.

Now it really is just the count down of the lessons. I have 3 in a row on Saturday, I hope to have it all over and done with by the end of May, though my guess is that it would be wishful thinking that it will be done in time for the Horizons meeting May 22nd – 25th. Not driving my own bike. :-(

Ключевые слова: Here there be Betty Germany German Motorcycle licence
Карта: N 49° 15.420 E 9° 732.170

Created at: 26. Май [месяц] 2008

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Drop Kicks And Throat Punches For All

16. Май [месяц] 2008 | en

So things were finally looking like they were moving forward in the “get German license department,” I have the written test scheduled for Monday, when I get a phone call today saying that my paperwork has been lost, and I need to call the department myself to arrange it to be resent. Yes, your driving school has to send paperwork to schedule your written test for you. Unlike in Canada when I just walked in during working hours and just asked for the test. Sniff.

This also means that this weekend instead of driving Betty I am on back.

Ключевые слова: Here there be Betty Germany
Карта: N 49° 15.420 E 9° 732.170

Created at: 26. Май [месяц] 2008

To logbook | Aвтор: Gypsyprincess