Every day presents a new challenge here in Germany! Yesterday, it was my car. I am now driving a Renault Clio because Hertz called and said that I had to come get a car with snow tires. It was rather alarming when a message popped up on the instrument panel that I couldn't read because it was in German. Now the question, keep on driving or not? I parked the car and checked all the tires for a flat, there was nothing leaking out from underneath the car and there were no strange noises, no smoke coming from under the hood, so I opted to continue, how serious could it be? But how would I find out what the message meant? I decided to devote my lunch hour to looking at the owner's manual to try to sort things out. A lot of help that was, because it is in German also. Thank goodness for illustrations, under the section of On Board computer, there was a message similar to the one on my car. Come to find out, all that drama was a result of trying to use the windshield washer. The button on the windshield wiper control that usually washes the windshield on an American Car, activates the on Board computer. I still don't know what the message meant, but when I pushed the button and held it down, the message disappeared. Crisis averted! It's wonderful how the little things in life can make your day! The only car story that tops that one is when I was in Germany the first time in '94. I had flown to Donaueschingen to meet my horse to ride in a show there, so I was driving a rental car and trying to find my way to the showgrounds. I turned down a very narrow road, like so many others here in Germany, only to find out to my horror, I was on a bike path! So I quickly put the car in reverse to get out of there before anyone wondered what the stupid American was doing on a bike path with a car. Only problem was , no matter how hard I tried, the car would not go into reverse. Now what am I going to do? I'm not sure whether it was embarrassment or adrenaline, but I jumped out of that car and pushed it backwards off the path, which must have looked even more astonishing to any onlookers. It was only later that I realized that you had to push the gearshift down to get it into reverse! For those of you looking for some additional bedtime reading, Candy Lawrence from Chagrin Falls, OH has interviewed me to do a story about our Olympic Quest. The first installment is due out shortly in the December issue on www.corralonline.com with the second installment due in their January issue. Thank you Candy for helping me get the word out! We are on the countdown now, our flight home is on Jan. 9th. Since I will be flying home on Martinair on a cargo plane, I have to make a trip to Amsterdam to take a safety course so that I can be certified to travel as a member of the crew for the trip home. That should be interesting! Meanwhile, I am making the most of my last 3 weeks here, soaking up all the information I can in my lessons and keeping up my strength by eating lots of Weihnachts Stollen (Christmas fruitcake). Plans are in the works to have a homecoming of sorts in February for friends and supporters in FL to show slides and talk about the trip. Of course we will have something similar for our OH supporters when we go back in the Spring!