Share the Gift

I really like this short video the church put out for Christmas.  So I will share it today.

Winter Bazaar

Last Saturday ASB held a winter bazaar and invited parents to purchase a table to sell food as well as new or used items.  My friend Gorana and I have been make jewelry together since April, so we signed up for a table.  We met each other last year because we are both in the same Spanish class for parents of ASB students.   We made leather beaded bracelets, Chen Lu wrap bracelets and some Christmas jewelry for kids.  Nathan and Ciara wanted to participate too, so they made Rainbow Loom Christmas keychain charms.

I also made fabric gift bags and several batches of cracker toffee bars, which is a recipe that I make every year.  I called it Christmas Crac, after our favourite cereal here in Spain called Golden Crac.  It's very easy to make once you get the hang of it.  I did burn two batches though.  Here is a recipe, http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/12/saltine-cracker-english-toffee.html. 

I can't say that the bazaar was a great success for us, but we did have excellent weather.  It was a beautiful sunny 17 degrees. We sold a few things, mostly bags of cracker toffee.  Nathan and Ciara sold 4 Rainbow loom charms so they earned 4€.

In any case, it was fun to talk with other parents and I got to watch Rylan play an exhibition game of flag football.  This is Rylan's second year playing football at ASB.  He really enjoys it and he's getting pretty good.  He was named MVP of the game as he scored more touchdowns than anyone else.

Arantxa, Socorro, Amerigo and Chris vist the winter bazaar

This was our table

Some examples of the leather bracelets Gorana and I make

More leather bracelets

flag football game

Rylan the MVP

For Goodness Hake!

I have decided to cook fish more often because it is a big part of the local diet.  I have never been a big fan of cooking with fish because of the bones but I love to eat it.  I want my kids to experience a variety of fish dishes, not just Bob's "tuna surprise."  So my challenge has been to find fish dishes that are not hard to make, but my kids will eat.

Hake (merluz in Spanish) is very abundant and relatively cheap here, so after a quick search on the internet, I found a recipe for Hake Bobotie http://www.fishisthedish.co.uk/recipes/greatforkids/main-meals/954-hake-bobotie  which is a South African curried fish bake.

Here is what my hake bobotie looked like:

Here was my family's reaction:

For the record, it was pretty good.  And I only had to eat it for 2 more days.

We have a teenager!

On Friday Dec. 12th, Nathan turned 13 years old.  We celebrated his birthday on Monday Dec. 8th because it was a holiday here in Spain.  We decided to buy a family membership for Tibidabo which is a small amusement park in Barcelona.  It's quite a nice place to visit because it's on the top of the Collserola mountains just behind Barcelona so you get amazing views of the city.  We had never been before, so it was exciting for the kids.  Because we have 4 children, it was actually cheaper to buy a family membership than for our whole family to buy day passes.  As well, with the membership we got a 30% discount off day passes for 6 friends which worked out perfectly because Nathan wanted to invite 4 friends from school and Manju and Asvin came with us as well.

Now that Nathan is a teenager, we let him and his four buddies go off on their own, and we really didn't see them for the next four hours.  It was a cold day, but at least the park wasn't too busy so the kids were able to go on ride after ride, without waiting in any long line-ups.

I am definitely too old for amusement parks.  I felt pretty dizzy on any ride that rocks or spins.  Fortunately Bob was there so that we could take turns riding with Cole.  Unfortunately he was too short to go on most of the rides by himself.

Nathan and his friends had a blast and all of our kids can't wait to go again.  Now that we have a family membership, we can go for free for an entire year, so all of our kids can have their birthdays there.

Jin, Steven, Ignacio, Mathis, Nathan, Cole, Rylan, Ciara and Asvin

The Cathedral right beside Tibidabo park.  It is lit up at night, and you can see it from anywhere in Barcelona

A rare picture of Bob and I together

Cole and Avsin on the viking ships

Ciara, Bob and Cole actually waited over 30 minutes to go on this ride 

Asvin and Nathan with Barcelona in the background

A trip to Vic

This past weekend, we attended the Medieval fair in the town of Vic.  Vic is about 1 hour north of Barcelona.  Bob's co-workers highly recommended going as it is apparently the best Medieval fair around.  So we set out on Saturday afternoon and spent a good 3 hours walking around the fair.  There was definitely a lot going on.  I was impressed that all the venders as well as performers were dressed in Medieval costumes.  There was plenty of food to sample and activities for the kids.  It was pretty crowed though, and in 3 hours, we had only seen about half of the fair.  I guess it means we need to go back again next year :)

The blacksmith

Ciara getting her head chopped off

A knight getting suited up

Our favourite stand at the fair, strands of giant licorice 

It's okay to sell swords, bows and arrows to kids as long as it's a Medieval Fair.

Main Cathedral in Vic

Inner courtyard of the Cathedral

Gothic carvings

Balloon Swords

Judo

Nathan had to make a website about him doing Judo for his technology class, so I thought that I would share a bit of the footage we took for the website.  Nathan and Ciara both go to JudoTao a judo club in Can Vidalet, just about a 10 minute drive from our place.  They both train Tuesdays and Thursday evenings, Ciara at 6:30pm until 7:30pm and then Nathan from 7:30pm to 8:30pm.  It ends up that either Bob and I have to spend a large portion of the evening shuffling the two of them back and forth from Judo, but we are more than willing to do it.  I'm just happy that they both enjoy it and really want to progress.  I think that practicing Judo has also increased their confidence.  I hope that it keeps up :)

Nathan putting Rylan in a hold

Ciara's Cupcake Party

Ciara's actual birthday was on October 24th, but we finally had her birthday party last Saturday.  As she started school again just a few days before her birthday, I thought that we should wait for awhile so that she could invite any new friends that she made in her class.

For the party, we hired Cristina Vacas from Mis Dulces Pastelitos to come and do a cupcake decorating workshop for the girls.  Cristina is the girlfriend of Socorro and Amerigo's son.  Socorro showed me her website a few months ago and I have had the opportunity to eat some of her cakes so I knew that she did really good work.  Each girl got to decorate 4 cupcakes and learned some decorating technics.  They all did a fantastic job, and in the end everyone's cupcakes looked professionally decorated.  They each got a fancy box to take their cupcakes home and a certificate.

I think that the party went really well.  The girls had fun and it was a great opportunity for Ciara to socialize with some of her classmates outside of school.

Cupcake Workshop

From left to right: Rut, Carlota, Noelia, Cristina, Martina, Maria Belen, Maria, Ciara 

Ciara's Cupcakes

Girls receiving their certificates

Rylan and the Piano

Rylan decided to start playing the piano again!  Really the driving force is not his love of music, but his love of video games, but at least he's playing.   Both Nathan and Rylan have had an on-again-off-again relationship with the piano.   They both started playing about 2 years ago but I didn't push them very much.  I really just wanted them to learn to play for fun.

When we first moved to Spain, we didn't have a piano so no one played.  Then we bought a small electric piano at Alcampo in December last year.  I started teaching Nathan and Rylan piano lessons again, but somehow the boys lost interest or we got too busy.

We decided last Spring that during weekdays, the kids would not be allowed to play video games.   But I made Rylan a deal that if he played 30 minutes of piano, he could play 30 minutes of video games.  This worked for awhile and then Rylan decided it wasn't worth it and he stopped playing piano again.

Now all of a sudden, he wants to play.  I basically just let him choose whatever music he wants to play, I teach it to him and he plays it until he learns it.  Last week he learned how to play Jingle Bells and this week it's Deck the Halls.  He says that he doesn't like playing the piano, but I know that secretly he enjoys it, because even after he's played his 30 minutes I'll hear him playing his songs just for fun.  I'm happy because Rylan has a talent for music.  He prefers to play by ear, although I am encouraging him to read music too.  I don't know how he does it, but he is able to memorize a song after only hearing it a few times.  Anyways, let's hope this keeps up.

Ciara and Hideyo

When Ciara was doing homeschooling full-time, we had lots of great helpers.  One of them was Hideyo Roberts, she is another mother I met at the American school.  Hideyo is Japanese and married to an American.  She was a school teacher in Japan and she is also a certified NLP practitioner (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and life coach.  After getting to know her last year, I really felt like it would be great for her to work with Ciara.

Ciara and Hideyo met every week while we were homeschooling and they hit it off right away.  When Ciara had to go back to school, we struggled to find a time for her to meet up with Hideyo.  One month later, and we finally figured out a time and place.  Hideyo volunteers at the school library every Tuesday, so right after school on Tuesday Ciara works with Hideyo in the school library.  They had their first lesson this past Tuesday.  Hideyo helps Ciara with her math and memorization as well analytical skills.  She is also able to incorporate some NLP practices at the same time.  Ciara is really excited to be working with Hideyo again.

All in all, I'm really happy that Ciara is attending school and enjoying many different extra-curricular activities.

Quick update

I haven't blogged in a while, but wanted to mention that last Saturday Ciara went to Martina's house for the Spanish portion of her "intercambio."  Ciara was really looking forward to going and when we arrived at Martina's house I could tell that Martina was really excited for Ciara to come over too.  I dropped Ciara off at 4pm and planned to pick her up at 5:30pm.  I was a little late to pick Ciara up, but when I arrived, Ciara, Martina and Martina's little sister were busy making pizzas and having a great time.  They begged me to let Ciara stay a little longer.  So I left and came back 30min later. Ciara was happily eating the pizza she had made in the shape of Hello Kitty.  I was so glad to see that the girls had a good time together and that Ciara had the opportunity to speak Spanish with someone around her age.   It makes me think that I should find intercambios for the boys too.

On Sunday, Bob had to speak in another ward in our stake, so the kids and I rushed to get to church on time for choir practice.  I am the ward choir director and even though I never know week to week who will show up to choir practice, we always manage to get enough people out on the Sundays that we are supposed to sing in sacrament meeting.  This is the first time that I have ever been a choir director and I get to do it in Spanish!  Nathan has joined the choir.  I am really impressed that he is there to support the choir even though singing is not his favourite thing.

The choir sang in sacrament meeting and as always, a few extra people showed up to sing that never showed up to choir practice, but I appreciated their help.  After sacrament meeting, I went up to primary and taught the CTR 5 class.  Last week, when I taught this class (which includes Cole) it was terrible.  I could not keep control of the class, I wasn't able to teach the lesson, and the kids were fighting with each other.   This week I prepared a little better and I figured out a way to help the kids pay attention and take turns to speak.  I brought in a stuffed penguin and I called it "el pinguino de la palabra" meaning that only the person who is holding the penguin has the right the talk.  The kids enjoyed passing around the penguin and participating in the lesson.

I am definitely feeling more comfortable at church, now that I am not too nervous to teach primary or direct the choir.  Bob has been called on to speak regularly ever since we moved here, just like back home.  The kids are also feeling much better about going to church.  Ciara participates in primary, Nathan taught in Young Mens for the first time on Sunday and Rylan proudly told me that he was talking to another boy in primary in Spanish.

On Sunday evening we hosted our first "noche de hogar" (Family Home Evening) with the missionaries.  We wanted to try and reach out to more members in our ward, especially new members and less-active members.  We had 11 people over including the missionaries.  I thought the evening went pretty well and the kids seemed to enjoy having people over too.  We definitely haven't been entertaining as much as we did in Brampton, so it felt good to have people over like we used to.

So Barcelona is starting to feel more like home.  This was going to be a quick update, but it turns out that I have a lot to share and a lot to be grateful for.

Progress Reports

Yesterday I spent almost the entire day in parent-teacher interviews.  Last week the progress reports were issued.  I was not looking forward to these meetings.  In the past I have had both good and bad experiences with parent-teacher interviews but on the whole, I do not enjoy them.

The worst parent-teacher interview I ever had was back in Brampton Ontario with Rylan's grade 1 teacher.  Rylan was just beginning his first year of French immersion.  He had been in grade 1 for about 2 months at the time of the interview.  His teacher was new to the school and a fairly new teacher overall.  It's hard to remember exactly what she said, but it was all negative.  She conveyed such a low opinion of Rylan and had such poor social skills that I left the interview in shock.  I ran into my neighbour at the school and actually started crying.  Those who know me, know that I am not an emotional person, and I very rarely cry in public.  I was so angry and frustrated I even wrote the principal a letter the next day so that he could address my concerns with the teacher.  If she could make me feel so terrible in 15min, what must the children in her class be feeling as they interact with her every day?   A few days latter, Rylan's teacher called me and apologized.  I think that she genuinely changed after that incident, and as I suspected I was not the only parent to complain :)

That being said, I went to 6 parent-teacher interviews yesterday and they were all positive.  Overall I am happy with the teachers at the American School in Barcelona and their feedback.  I met with Nathan's math, science and social studies teachers.  He is still doing very well, teacher's love Nathan because he is such a hard worker and nice person.

Ciara's grades are pretty mediocre, but with Ciara, I have stopped caring about her grades.  I just want her to enjoy learning, complete the work she needs to do and be happy with herself.  I don't want to get caught up in every evaluation.  It's actually very difficult for me, because I want her to get good grades, but as I learned through homeschooling, in the end her wellbeing is more important than good grades.

Rylan has always had his problems at school.  He is an active kid, his mind is always busy and so he can easily become distracted.  Rylan is probably our most naturally intelligent child, but he wants everything to come easy and when it doesn't, he gets frustrated.  In November last year, his teacher wanted us to have him tested for ADHD.  I was dreading this assessment, but knowing that it is so common these days, I was not all that surprised.  I avoided taking Rylan for outside testing hoping that his ability to focus in class would improve over time.  But his grade 3 teacher, and the school counsellor kept insisting we should do it.   Finally, feeling the pressure to provide the school with an official diagnosis, I took Rylan to see the neuro-pediatrician they recommended in September to be tested.

One pre-assessment, 3 rounds of testing, one results debrief, 530€ ($753) later and we really didn't find out anything new.  Rylan tested normal on all of their tests, but in the end the neuro-pediatrician recommended that we put him on Concertin, which is a dopamine enhancer.  The basis for his ADHD diagnosis were the observations of his 3rd grade teacher and the questionnaire he filled out last Spring.   Bob and I were both not convinced that drugs were necessary so we decided to wait to talk with his 4th grade teacher before we filled out any prescriptions.

So I was a little surprised when Rylan's teacher had nothing bad to say about Rylan's behavior in class or his overall academic performance.  She told me that Rylan did not raise any concerns for her. Sometimes he was reluctant to participate and took a bit longer to finish his work, but nothing out of the ordinary.   He stays on task, does not disrupt, is respectful of others and (to my great shock) she said that he has the tidiest desk in his class!!!

We are going to hold off on the ADHD drugs for awhile longer.  We did learn some valuable lessons though: a teacher's opinion of your child is subjective and you have to consider it carefully, but not trust it completely.   Maybe getting Rylan tested was a waste of time and money, but I was also reluctant to get Ciara tested for learning disabilities and in her case it turned out to be a very helpful.  So the other lesson we learned is that: you just don't know.  Children are a great mystery, and every day we discover something new.  It's fun, challenging, scary and always an adventure!

Primary Presentation 2014

We participated in our first Primary Presentation in Spain last Sunday.  This is a presentation that happens once a year in our church, when the primary children (ages 3 to 11) give talks and sing songs during the regular congregational meeting.  I am the first counsellor in the primary presidency and we recently got a new primary president and second counsellor.  Our new president is wonderful.  She is a relatively new member of the church, less than 2 years, and she had only been in primary for a few months before she was called as the new president.  The best part is that she really enjoys working with the primary children and I really enjoy working with her.

I think that past presentations have always been a pretty big deal, but this year as we are a new presidency, we wanted to keep it simple.  I was responsible for teaching the songs and we gave each child a small speaking assignment.  It was probably the shortest presentation this ward has ever seen, but I tend to think that a shorter presentation is usually better than a longer one.  Cole, Rylan and Ciara participated and all of them did a great job.  Somehow Rylan was assigned the longest part in the presentation, but he read his part really well.  Everyone was impressed with his Spanish pronunciation.  The singing was pretty bad, but we tried our best.  At least we will know how to better prepare for next year.

Ciara's Intercambio (exchange)

Last January, when Ciara was going through a very difficult period, the school counsellor suggested that we talk to Nuria Tamayo, who is a music therapist.  I was desperate to try something, as we could not figure out how to help her.  Nuria was amazing with Ciara.  Right from the beginning, Ciara felt comfortable enough to talk and before long she was singing, dancing and even writing her own songs.  Her attitude changed noticeably, and we were very surprised at how much she was able to express herself with Nuria.   Unfortunately, after about 4 months, Ciara no longer wanted to attend music therapy.  I am not sure why she changed her mind.  Nuria and I were both disappointed, but we talked about maybe doing a language exchange with Ciara and her daughter sometime in the future.

So a couple of weeks ago, I remembered my conversation with with Nuria and decided that it would be a good time for Ciara to try a language exchange as her Spanish has improved a lot and she is much more open to meeting new people.  When I contacted Nuria she was more than happy to do the exchange.  We decided that her daughter Martina would come to our house first for the English portion of the exchange and then the following Saturday Ciara would go to Martina's house.

Martina came over on Saturday at 11am. We decided that we would make cheesecake.  It was great, because Ciara and I have not really cooked together since she started school 4 weeks ago.  Once the cheesecakes were in the oven we headed outside with the boys to play at the park.  Martina and Ciara got along quite well.  They didn't talk much, but they both had fun.  I hope that all goes well when she goes over to Martina's house next week.  Hopefully they can become good friends and learn a language too.

Autumn Cleaning

Today is a cool 18 degrees celsius.  If we were living in Brampton, Ontario, the kids might be tempted to jump into the backyard pool.  Up until this past week, we have enjoyed really nice Fall weather, but last week it started to rain and the temperatures have really cooled off.  It feels much colder than 18 degrees because of the dampness.  The kids are still wearing shorts and t-shirts to school (with a hoodie in the morning), but the locals have already begun to wear their winter coats and boots.

I have become a climate wimp.  I feel cold all the time.  I wear fleece jackets inside and outside the house all day long.  The kids are constantly asking if we can go back to Canada for Christmas.  They miss the winter.  They have this romantic idea of winter in Canada: snow forts, tobogganing, ice skating, snowball fights...  All I can remember is the freezing temperatures, runny noses, slippery roads, wet boots and mittens.  Reality is somewhere in between.  I will enjoy the winters here in Spain while I can as there will be many winters in Canada to come.

With this Ciara's 3rd week back at school, things are still going well.   We have never had any issues in the mornings when it's time to get ready for school.  She seems a lot happier this year and although she is still not participating much at school, she continues to be very social outside of school.

On Sunday, she told me out of the blue that she was going to clean her room!!!!  Ciara hates cleaning her room, and she loves cutting up pieces of paper as part of various arts and crafts projects.  She feels completely comfortable amongst the chaos and mess.  It is a constant point of contention between the two of us.

So on Monday after her Discovery session, true to her word, she got right to cleaning and organizing her room.  She cleaned everything on her own and her room looked significantly better after she was done.  I hope that she will enjoy being in her clean room now and want to keep it that way :)

Before

After

This may be one of the few times I have ever seen the surface of Ciara's desk.  It's usually covered with stuff.

Our first Fútbol game in Spain

We still have not managed to go to a Barça game (FC Barcelona).  It can be very difficult to buy tickets as well as expensive.  But this morning Cole had his first soccer game with ASB.  It was kind of fun to attend a kids' soccer game again after so many years.  Nathan played soccer in Brampton for 3 years, but never really got into it, by the time he turned 6 years old he was done.  Rylan and Ciara played recreational soccer for a few months, but were never part of a team.

Now that Cole is playing soccer for the school team, I feel like we are a little more Spanish :)  We get to stand on the sidelines cheering for our team like thousands of other soccer parents all over Spain.

Verina is Back!

Today Ciara was able to have her first Discovery session after a long break.  Once Ciara started attending school again, we planned to continue her Discovery sessions with Verina via Skype every Monday and Wednesday afternoons at 3pm.  Ciara has permission to leave school at 12:50pm those days so that she can continue working with Arantxa and Verina.  Unfortunately, the week Ciara started school Verina got sick and was not able to do any sessions until today.

It is good for us to be back on track as the Discovery sessions really help Ciara learn to process information more effectively.  It seems like a slow process at first, but it's amazing how much it has helped Ciara with her reading and spelling.  I notice with Ciara that basic concepts need to be reenforced again and again, and this is what Verina does during her Discovery sessions.

By the way...

For those who still haven't figured out what I was for Halloween, I was a piece of salmon sushi, seaweed and all.

The Cat Tent

I sent the kids off to school this morning in a huge thunder storm.  I was feeling a bit guilty as they walked away in the heavy downpour, but I have to remember that it hardly rains in Barcelona, so maybe it's a bit of a novelty.  They got to use umbrellas which is always fun :)

Last week while I was visiting Socorro (my Peruvian friend, who also happens to be Arantxa's grandmother), she informed me that Arantxa had received a cat for her birthday.  I immediately remembered something that I had seen on Pinterest the day before.  It was a cat tent made from an old t-shirt and a couple of coat hangers.  At the time, I thought that it was so cute it almost made me want a cat  (of course I will never ever have a cat because I am allergic to them).  I was so excited to find out that Arantxa was getting a cat, because then I could make a tent for her cat!

I asked Bob for an old t-shit and grabbed a couple of metal coat hangers from his closet.  I found this easy how-to video on Youtube http://youtu.be/lGgqN1bjl9I.  My tent is a bit different.  I sewed up the arm holes and used an elastic band to tie the ends of the shirt at the back of the tent.  I also added a fluffy cushion at the bottom (made from the same material as my Halloween costume) for added comfort.

The cat tent

Inside view

Side view

Arantxa came for Ciara's Spanish lesson in the afternoon and Ciara and I presented the cat tent to her for her Birthday.  She was very grateful because she didn't have a cat bed yet.

Arantxa's Cat enjoying his new tent

Apart from the cat tent, I also tried something else for the first time today, I made Moroccan food.  I think I have only had Moroccan food a couple times in my life, but I was looking for recipes that used prunes and I came across this one: http://www.farmtojar.com/recipes/moroccan-beef-and-sweet-potato-stew/.  It turned out really good, at least some members of the family liked it, which is usually all I can hope for.

Because I'm trying to get the kids to eat more fibre, especially Cole, yesterday I tried this recipe that also uses prunes: http://cooks.ndtv.com/recipe/show/date-and-prune-brownies-106644.  The brownies turned out much better than I thought they would, and no one suspected that there were prunes inside.  I didn't have dates, so I used extra prunes.  Hopefully everyone will be regular for the rest of the week :)

Halloween

The kids have really been looking forward to Halloween this year, because there is a big party at school and they get to go trick or treating.  As the Spanish do not do trick or treating, the American school organizes trick or treating around the vicinity of the school.  About 20 houses participate.  We always participate because we live right behind the school.   I also volunteered again this year to help out with the Halloween activities at school.

Ciara was very excited to be a "goth girl" for Halloween, because she does really like vampire stories.  Rylan and Cole were Minecraft characters.  Rylan was a Creeper, and he painted his costume pretty much on his own and Cole was Steve and he also helped to paint his costume.   Nathan didn't have to wear a costume to school.

I made my costume this year from an idea I saw on Pinterest.  Of course I thought that it was a pretty clever costume, but probably less than 10% of the people who saw me knew what I was supposed to be.  I got everything from a sheep wearing a parachute, to a snowman, a Ninja Turtle and even a bumble bee.  I will post the picture and you can decide what you think my costume was.

goth girl

Minecraft Steve and Creeper

Tell me that it's not obvious what I am supposed to be.

The Next Door Neighbour

Here is an update on Ciara's schooling.  So far she has not been upset about going to school every day. I spoke to her teacher and she says that Ciara is doing fine.  Once she got really frustrated with her math homework, but other than that, she has been doing her homework without any problems.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Ciara all of a sudden started playing with our next door neighbour.  Since that day, they have been talking to each other almost every day.  Now they have started writing notes to each other as well and putting them in the mailbox.  I am very happy that Ciara has found someone she really enjoys being with and vice versa.  Elena is only in grade 3, but I think that it is easier for Ciara to associate with girls younger than she is because they have the same interests.  It's like Ciara finally has the little sister that she always wanted :)

Here is a link to a funny Halloween video I made today:

http://www.storybots.com/halloween/view/hTPRcEe1jA

Getting a Spanish Driver's Licence

Since I have expanded the scope of this blog, I can write about some interesting things we did in the past.  Back in February, I took the preparation course for the written portion of the Spanish driver's licence exam.  Even though I have been driving for over 24 years, anyone from Canada or the US (as well as most other countries outside of the EU) have to take the exam to get a Spanish licence.

I didn't think that it would be a big deal because you can take the written test in English.  We were warned after we arrived in  Barcelona that the written test was not so straightforward, and they were right.  So after 3 weekends of classes and over 4 weeks of studying, I took the written exam and passed, thank goodness!  I was also able to pass the driving portion of the exam as well a month later.  The whole process took almost 3 months and over 800€ (about $1130 CND).

Studying for the written test involved taking a series of practice exams with questions that could appear on the test.  The problem is that a certain percentage, like say 30% of the questions make no sense, so you have to just try to memorize the correct answer.  There are only 30 multiple choice questions on the test, but we had to do over 80 practice tests in order to be sure that we had seen all the possible questions that might be on the exam.  This meant doing hours and hours of practice exams.

Here are a few examples of exam questions, and you will see why you need a little more than common sense to pass the exam.

This is one of the best examples of strangely-worded questions.  I don't know how many times I have read this, and I still have no idea what it means. 

The exam was full of useful information.  The correct answer is in green. 

 

More useful information, for the next time I plan to drive a cycle convoy vehicle on a road with a hard shoulder fit to traffic.

Now I know that dawn and early afternoon are favourable to drowsiness.

At least now I know how to treat older drivers dealing with complex driving situations because before I used to regard them as children.

You'd better slow down, because bursting out fatigue sounds painful.

I see an age discrimination lawsuit here!

I don't know about you, but I'm going to give priority to the tram, even if I have the right of way.