Recently I read somewhere that one of the reasons we feel overwhelmed and stressed is that we do not prioritize well the things we need to do, so we keep ourselves busy with less important things thinking that we are doing something useful, but at the end of the day the main issues are still not solved. The article suggested that we make a list of tasks that need to be done, or problems that need to be solved, and then focus our attention on the most important ones.

Taking the advice, every Monday I make a list. Making lists has become a task for itself.  Some topics find themselves present on the list every week, meaning that I have not yet solved the issue. One of the recurring ones is the unsolvable issue of my driving license. I don’t have a valid drivers license in France and hence I can not drive. That drives me crazy! The problem is the following. I have two drivers licenses from two very different countries: one from the axis of Evil and the other from the great Satan. To get an equivalent license in France, your american license should be from an “acceptable” states. Of course, mine is not from the right one, otherwise it would be too easy. Then, to my surprise, they told me that in principle, it is possible to get an equivalent based on an Iranian license, but this should have been done during my first year of residency in France. Once that time limit is passed, you are obliged to pass the whole exam, written and road test. This means spending more than a grand for a freaking piece of paper. For this reason, while I was in Paris, I lowered the priority of this issue and convinced myself that I can live without it. It is true that in Paris you really do not need a car, but once you are in a small city, soon you realize that you are quite limited in your activities because you can not move too far.

Few days ago, I took my courage in hand and went to sign up in a driving school. In France you can not just present yourself for the exam, a school has to approve your “capacity” (meaning that you are force to spend half of your monthly salary to this mafia of driving schools). The woman gave me the “list” of documents to prepare and things to do. The only good news is that since I can already drive, she might reduce the number of hours I have to take with the stinky teacher in the car! Looking forward to that.

For the moment, I have downloaded an Apps and I am training myself for the written exam. I feel like I am 18 again. Once I’ll have my license, I plan to do some touring in Alsace before I leave; the vineyards, the mountains, the pretty little villages around … Now that I know my time is very limited here, I am invaded with this feeling of pre-nostalgia. Like always.