David went to work bright and early on Monday morning and I was supposed to have a driving theory session at 8:00 AM. As luck would have it, there was a scheduling conflict and it was cancelled. I did have a session on Thursday and at the end of class time my instructor told me that the driving school had scheduled me to take the theory test the following week.
Catherine said that she thought it was too soon and that we should wait until May. Apparently, translators are only allowed into the exam room on one day per month, so if I missed my "day" I would be forced to wait 4 more weeks. I decided to give it a go, who knows, maybe I'd get lucky. I was taking practice tests and generally missing 10 questions out of 40.
The tests are VERY tricky. I started taking practice tests and generally missed 10+ questions out of 40. There is always one right answer and one wrong answer, but there COULD be up to 3 correct answers. By the end of the weekend I was feeling better about the possibility of passing. We had contacted 3 translators and none were available. Monday morning I received a call saying that one had been located and would be available to help me on Thursday.
I arrived at the testing center and waited for my translator to arrive. Her name was Pam and she was originally from India. Her english was superb. There was one other man that she was translating for during this testing session and he was from Israel. He was extremely anxious and "had" to pass….he was somewhat amazed that I wasn't nervous. I told him I was taking it having gone through only half my classes, so it was more of a "practice exam" for me.
It was finally time (10:45 for a 10:00 exam) to enter the testing room. I was the first one in and seated about half way back from the front. Once everyone was seated the explanations began. The test is done via video. Each question is shown on a projection screen and you have a remote control to record your answers. Seems easy, right?
In theory, yes. While I had a translator, so did the 15 Turkish people taking the exam and then there were 5 French people in the room too. So that the translators couldn't "cheat", they were not allowed to look at the screen. They sat in the back of the room staring at a blank wall (sort of like a "time out"). The French proctor would read the question in French, the Turkish translator went 2nd and my English translator would finish. Now, because the translators were not allowed to "cheat" and see the video, they had to rely on their memory to translate the question from French into the second language (each question had 4 possible answers) . CRAZY, right? I would have thought that they would at least be given a copy of each question, but hey, it's France.
That made the test a challenge. There were several questions that were particularly tricky and I really needed a clarification (ex: whether or not the question said "at 300 meters" or "for 300 meters" or what the digital sign over the road way said because it wasn't part of the typed question, therefore unknown to the translator).
Unfortunately, because the translator couldn't turn around and SEE the typed question on the screen, she was unable to clarify several questions. My new Israeli friend was beside himself. I thought that he was going to be asked to leave the room, as he continually tried to ask the translator a question (strictly forbidden). However, all she could do was restate the question and the 4 possible answers.
At one time, after you completed your test, they would give you the results right away. Apparently, several of the proctors were actually assaulted by people who had received a fail. (missing 5 out of the 40 is a pass) Because of this, I did not find out how I did immediately. I was fairly certain that I was going to either JUST pass or JUST fail. Well, I stopped by the driving school yesterday and was told that I JUST failed….yep, I missed 6 out of the 40. I will have to try again in May.
The other "new" happening here involved checks. I had to pay my translator for her services and we were not certain if she would take cash or if I would have to pay by check. I had no idea how to write a check here.
We had actually just received a check as reimbursement for a purchase I made in the states for our church and I didn't even know how to go about depositing it into our bank account. Since that check hadn't been deposited, I was at least able to compare and figure out "what" must go "where" on the check.
I was able to pay the translator in cash, so I dodged that bullet.
At lunch that afternoon, I mentioned check writing to the Italian wife of David's co-worker and guess what? She had an EXAMPLE in her purse!! It had all of the necessary information and where to write it and she even had the French numbers on the page. I mean, can you write out 265 Euro? (deux cent soixante-cinq euro) I still haven't deposited our reimbursement check…that will be an adventure for another day.
I am off to the US tomorrow morning. I will be going to DJ's SAE Mom's weekend. Or, maybe I should say "afternoon". Fraternity Moms Weekends and Sorority Moms Weekends are different animals.
For Sarah's Theta Moms Weekend in February, I arrived on Friday afternoon, we visited in the hotel room for a couple of hours, and then we went to dinner with her pledge class friends on Friday night. There was an activity at the Theta house on Saturday morning, we had lunch with her boyfriend Saturday afternoon, had dinner with the entire Theta house on Saturday night and she and I finished the evening with a movie at midnight. Sunday morning brunch at the house and then a trip to get our nails done.
For DJ's SAE Moms "Weekend", I will arrive for a brunch at 11:00 AM on Saturday. They will have a fundraising auction following the brunch and then an evening activity with a sorority. (Happens to be Theta, so that makes me happy) Then I am dismissed. I could probably forego a hotel room and drive back to Indy late that evening. Fortunately, I have talked my son into Church on Sunday morning and a brunch date…otherwise I'd be flying home for 12 hours with my son.
I hope to cross paths with many of you during my week in the states, for those of you who I do not see, maybe a lunch date in August!! I wish you all a blessed day!
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