Into Pink

The trip to the city hall turned out to be less painful than I had first expected. Every other time I've gone, I've had to wait in a huge line for at least an hour until it was my turn. I guess most people had better things to do on a Wednesday morning than stand around in city hall. It's a good thing it wasn't busy. I ended up standing around waiting in the wrong line for at least 5 minutes before I looked around and saw a nice huge sign that said, "receptionist" in Dutch. *sigh* I got my number and took a seat to wait it out.

As aforementioned *grin*, the wait wasn't too horrible. My number appeared on the little displays in the waiting room and I headed over to the counter. I handed over proof that I was who I said I was, my paper saying that I passed my driving test, and 49 guilders (or was it 59?). I signed a little piece of paper, and I got back my oversized dutch driver's license. This thing is almost as big as my passport! And to top it all off, it's BRIGHT PINK. I just wish i had a scanner so I could show you what it looks like. Has to be the most garish driver's license I've ever seen. *chuckle* Of course, I suppose part of the reason that it's so big is that it says "driver's license" in 11 different languages on the "cover." And rather than using words to describe what I can and cannot legally drive, it uses pictures, numbers, and big X's. Pretty clear, no matter what language you speak, I guess.

It was quite a bit of trouble, but at least this thing is valid for 10 years. None of that stingy 3 years, no sir! I can drive all over Europe for the next 10 years legally. Not bad, not bad...

So there you have it. I'm the proud owner of my new Nederlandse rijbewijs.. erm, I mean, permiso de conducción. No, I'm sorry, I mean my kørekort. My führerschein? Ajokortti? Permis de conduire. Ceadúnas tiomána...