They pulled the trigger!

I received a tremendously exciting email yesterday from Mom ... my parents are coming to visit in Tanzania! When I saw the British Airways confirmation number in my email box, I pretty much freaked out. Now, when I return from the States on January 12, Mom and Dad will be with me. I'm so, so happy and excited. My immediate instinct is to begin planning trips for them, asking around with all my friends whom I should hire to take us to some of the most beautiful places around. They may have to travel some without me, since I won't have a lot of time off from teaching. But I think we're also going to try to schedule one of our benefit concerts during their visit, so the Arusha community can hear some real classical singing. =) YAY.

Yesterday was also momentous because I drove a car here for the first time. I know ... it's sort of ridiculous that I hadn't yet. But I've never been a big fan of driving, I'd only had a handful of lessons on the stick shift (thanks parents), and the traffic situation here is pretty daunting. But it was actually the prospect of having guests, like Mom and Dad and Tyler, and being unable to drive them anywhere that really gave me a kick in the butt. The driving lesson with Liza went really well. I didn't stall, the gears were easy to use, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I remembered about the necessary foot action.

Of course, there's the whole British driving rules thing. The driver sits on the right and drives on the left (and, er, tries not to cling to the edge of the road, where all the fruit carts, bicycles, and zoned-out pedestrians are). I forget -- is the clutch on your left in the States? It is here, and obviously you shift with your left hand. Jasper, the giant 1986 Landcruiser that Liza drives, doesn't have power steering. Turning that wheel is a serious arm workout. His brakes are also extremely stiff, and Liza usually uses the downshifting technique to get him to slow down. It's like riding a huge ... elephant? With a REALLY strong engine.

In case you can't tell, I'm excited about learning to drive.

Happy rainy Monday.