Dwiving in Gewmany

Saturday I had my first experience German driving. Sunday the training wheels were taken off. There are a few vital differences between American and German driving.
In general:
(1) There are about a zillion street signs to keep straight
(2) This includes signs that say that the previous max. speed limit has now become the min. Sometimes there is no sign for this. Or maybe I just don't see it...

I blame the number of signs for the fact that I may or may not have entered a one way street, passing the do not enter, and going left when I was definitely told to go right. This was still in the training wheels stage so it's ok.

On the freeways:
(1) People actually follow the pass on the left rule, making the far left actually the fastest lane and the far right actually the slowest.
(2) Semis actually go the speed limit and are some of the slowest drivers on the freeway.

It has not yet ceased to thrill me to look down at my speedometer and see that I am going 130. Then I remember it isn't actually that fast. The number still feels good, though.

In more residential areas:
(1) Roads are more narrow than in the US.
(2) Parking is almost anything goes.
(3) The combination of (1) and (2) is terrifying, causing driving on the left and sometimes pulling over so that cars coming the other way can proceed.

I personally had a bit of a face off with a large van. It was one of the most nerve wracking events of my life. And him rolling down the window and giving me directions in German was hardly comforting. Thank goodness my GPS had been speaking German to me so I could understand when he was saying "left" and "right". In the end, we both came out unscathed (discounting the emotional scars which I have sustained).

In the end "I feew happy of mysewf! Everybody! I know you can believe in yourself! If you believe in youwself you will know how to dwive in Gewmany! If you don't, you just keep pwacticing! You will get the hang of it I know it!"

I'm not sayin'; I'm just sayin'