March 20, 2003 : new set of wheels.

Eva came home from work today saying that she "had a surprise." I had one as well, as the house was spotless. :)

Her surprise was that her mother had gotten the car all set up for us and that she was going to bring it by tonight. We were hoping that Nichole and Jennifer would make it back from their day and a half in Amsterdam to come along. So we waited.

Eva called her mother and found out that the car was in Broechem, just waiting to be ours. Nichole and Jennifer finally arrived (Amsterdam seemingly not as wonderful a place as they had originally hoped/thought!) and though they were exhausted, the four of us trekked up to the apartment, bought an assortment-pack from the De Witte frituur across the street, and took it to her brother's place. I'm not so sure they were fans of fritjes either. Jennifer seemed to like most everything except the bitterballen, and Nichole stuck to her fries and ketchup.

Finally the moment Eva and I had been waiting for. The 6 of us got into her mother's people-mover and headed to Broechem. Still her mother wouldn't tell us any details about the car. It's "small and excellent" is all she'd say. Ok.

We rounded the bends and circled our way through the outskirts of Antwerp, and finally were on the very street. Achterlo. We pulled into the driveway still not being able to see it. (it was practically parked behind the house!) There it sat in all of it's glory. It was too dark to see, but we could see it's boxy 1980's frame and could tell that the color was light and the insides brown. That's all.

Apparently they couldn't get the back license-plate on, so Rita had asked her farming neighbor to attach it. Rita's and I drove the car down to his house, pulled in the driveway, and then her friend (not the farmer) had to re-park it in reverse.

Rita's friend took me into the car and pointed out all of the obvious specifics. This is the brake. This is the window-washer. This is the fan button. This is that and that is this. Here are your papers, on and on. It's a 4-speed with reverse at the right instead of at the left, etc.

What I've neglected to mention is that once we pulled the car into the farmer's work-garage, we realized that it's not a Diahtsu at all! It's a Nissan Micra! It does have a Datsun sticker (for some reason) to the left, but it's a Nissan! A wonderful reliable, still profitable company! ha ha ha. We laughed about this for hours.

The two men started doing the man-thing of trying to put on the license plate, and the four of us, well actually the three of us "girls" who consider ourselves somewhat tool-inclined, couldn't help but watch and get a little laughingly frustrated at the effort these two men were making. "I think it's time for the women to try to put the nut on the bolt," I joked and the 5 of us women thought that was pretty funny. Needless to say, we let them do it anyway. Sometimes one just has to let a "man" do his "man's job" or else he'll think he's inferior or something. Whatever.

So the car. Oh my god. It's beautiful. Apparently a couple had it for a really long time and only drove it from the garage to the grocery store and back to the garage. It's in mint condition. Spotless. The cigarette lighter has never been used. The car smells like new-car, old-car smell. It's got a wonderful brown interior. It's all heavy-duty metal and brown plastic. It's got beautiful brown seat-covers with fake fur on the backside. It doesn't have a radio, but that's for later down the road. We're going to love it.

After the plate was placed, we sped off down the road half-blinded by the fogging windows. Eva hunted for the defrost/defog and I wiped with my shirt-sleeve. 5 minutes later we were filling up with our first tank of gas. (consequently, this picture is a little bizarre, because I look wide and eva's legs look broken!)

We took it to the Pink House so we could meet Marc and his boyfriend. It's so great to see Marc so happy, and it seems that the both of them have landed a great guy. I had only 1 beer and then switched to juices. The 5 of us packed into the Micra and dropped Marc off back home. In route we stopped at a Nacht Winkel and I manned the car. I was a little tense about the whole driving situation, as now I could see our lives changing all over again. Mobility after having slight-mobility might prove to me life-altering! I could see the map of Europe opening before my eyes, unfolding to reveal endless miles of bi-ways and highways. It's just too exciting!

When they came out of the store Eva was without water (a road-tripping necessity) to which I was a little miffed. Granted to others this seemed a bit more miffed than I actually was, but that was car-stress-induced. (hopefully that will wear-off after we've had some time to get to know the car and for me to get used to driving here) Then out of nowhere this drunk guy and his cute big dog come to the car and finish up the conversation they were apparently having inside with the 4 of my passengers. The dog jumped onto the side of the car and I could have melted into the seat right then and there. Like I said, I'll become a little more laid-back with time. It just takes time.

We dropped Marc off at his house and the four of us headed on a road-trip. We went to Leir. Why not!? And then wound our way back home.

Oh bliss. Oh glory. Oh Debbie Diahastu turned Debbie Nissan. I don't know, will the name stick? Regardless, Eva and I are in love with our new set of wheels.

IN THE NEWS:
Allied forces crossed into southern Iraq today after a thundering barrage of artillery that signaled the start of ground war. Infantrymen on the move, their weeks of waiting at an end, cheered as shells screamed overhead.

The first shots of war set off global protests on the streets and drew dismayed responses from world leaders today. President Bush's main allies stood firmly by him as U.S. flags burned from Berlin to Bangladesh.