My New Mercedes

Yes, I can say in all truthfulness that I currently drive a Mercedes.

Okay, okay. It's a rental. I was involved in a minor traffic accident a few months ago (not my fault!) and finally this week brought our Toyota Corolla Verso to the shop for repairs. The insurance company arranged for a rental and David stressed that the car had to be an automatic minivan (you may recall what a disaster my trying to learn to drive stick was last year) and we were assured that one would be waiting for me. I pulled into the Toyota dealership and wasn't at all surprised to see that the car waiting for me wasn't only a manual, it was a huge Volkswagon van that seated 10. These things never seem to go right the first go around.

I explained that I needed an automatic and during various phone calls heard the phrases, "She needs an automatic....Yes, automatic. She's American." When I was told that no automatic minivans were available, I said that a five-seater would be fine and said we would try again the next day.

When I pulled into the dealership the next day, I saw a little Ford Fiesta-like car in the rental car spot. It brought back memories of our first 6 months here when I tooled around in a tiny Fiesta and somehow stuffed my 4 kids in with me. The neighbors no doubt likened us to a circus act when we pulled in front of the house at the end of the day and kid after kid exited the teeny car.

The worker brought me outside and showed me not to the tiny sub-compact, but rather to this shiny new Mercedes. As beautiful as the car was, there was a moment where I wanted to say, "Umm, couldn't I have the Fiesta instead?" I would be nervous driving around in a Mercedes. But the moment passed.

Mercedes here makes everything from cars to buses to trucks. Their cars range from very expensive to much more affordable than in the U.S. This particular car is from the "much more affordable" line. It's a diesel which makes it a bit noisy and the interior is certainly not luxurious. No navi as we were promised. But the giveaway is in the back. What do you notice in the picture below that I don't think you can find in a Mercedes back in the U.S.?

Did you find it? Did you notice the roll down window? The kids think rolling down the windows is a hoot. Hey, that reminds me of a story...

A few months back, we arrived home from school in our Corolla that has power windows in the back. Right when we pulled into our parking spot in front of the house, James put down his window to look out and see how close I was to the curb, then pushed the window button before he got his head back in the car. At that moment, I shut off the car, and the frantic gasping/yelling began.

James' head was stuck in the window with the glass pressing hard up against his neck. I couldn't figure out at first if he was laughing, but quickly came to the conclusion that he wasn't. He could barely talk. We all went into panic mode and I hesitated for a split second before turning on the car engine. What if I turned it on and the window continued to go up? I took a breath, turned the car back on and yelled at James to push the button to put the window down. The window came back down, and James was left shaken with a mark on his neck. Still shaken myself, I said, "James, little children have died from that! (That's a true statement, by the way.) You need to be careful!" Later on in the evening, James rubbed his neck, looked at me and said in wonder, "Gosh, I can't believe I almost died today!" I gently explained that it never got that far, and David thought the whole story was rather funny. I can laugh now, but it wasn't funny at the time.

So, maybe roll down windows are not such a bad idea after all.