Car Talk

Elizabeth II is not well, but it's hard to tell just how unwell she is. The first 10 minutes or so after we start her up, she has difficulty shifting properly into gear -- she zooms up into a high gear without reason and then drops down to the appropriate level after a few seconds. But after the first 10 minutes, she seems to run just fine.

I bought a car repair for dummies book for the trip and have been perusing it in order to understand Elizabeth II's symptoms better. It might be something as simple as low transmission fluid levels, or it might be something that will require rehauling the transmission, which will be horrendously major and expensive. Dad and I tried checking the transmission fluid ourselves, but after 10 minutes of poking around under the hood, we realized that there was no dipstick, and when we took it to the garage, the mechanic confirmed that the Jetta has a closed system, so there is no external dipstick. In fact, it seems like Elizabeth's transmission is almost like a manual system, requiring a hoist and special tools to check even the fluid.

We're going to take her to a transmission specialist tomorrow who can look at it, since the garage here can't even diagnose her until next Friday. I'm really hoping it's just a matter of low transmission fluid. The trip can't start until the car's ready, so there's a lot riding on Elizabeth II's health.

In the meanwhile, we're going to look for a minivan for Dad's business, which will also allow us to get around town if the Jetta is out of commission for a while. My dad, who is always pursuing one business venture or another, is getting things ready for four Korean students to come over here and take classes. This means getting a house for them to stay in (done), furnishing the house (to be done), finding a tutor (getting done), finding an RA-type person (to be done), getting a minivan for transportation (getting done) and getting a cook. The last task is done because my grandmother has been commissioned for the job. Yes, my 70-something-year-old grandmother has flown over to the States for the third time in 6 months, and she expects to stay here at least 6 months or so, cooking for these college kids and teaching someone to take her place (oh yes, that's another item that needs doing, but that can wait until after the kids arrive).

I asked her if she wanted to do this job or whether she was just doing it because my dad asked her to, and she replied, "I don't like having nothing to do. I like working. If you just stay at home and do nothing, you get weak and sick and then you don't even die that fast. I want to work and be active and then pass away in my sleep."

How many 70-somethings do you know who would willingly uproot themselves to go cook for 6 months in a country where they don't know the language? For that matter, how many 30-year-olds would? Or even 20-year-olds? She's a rare person, my grandmother is.