Hands on the wheels!
Ok so this is again one of my famous better-late-than-never post. My dad-in-law enrolled me to a driving school just a few months ago so that when I get to the US, I’m going to drive my husband to his work place and pick him up on our way home. Isn’t that so sweet? :) Actually, I did like it because I never had a chance to enroll to a driving school and get a real driver’s license until I quit my job and wait for my plane tickets haha!
I had 12 hours of driving lessons for 2 weeks before Christmas last year. My instructors were ok. I have 2 different instructors with different style of teaching. My mom-in-law asked one of our helpers to go with me during my actual driving lessons because aside from she’s a caring mom-in-law, I am going to be with a stranger for more than an hour a day and who knows what might gonna happen. Hey, I’m not being judgemental here but better safe than sorry. I heard some not so good stories about going through a horrible actual driving lessons.
Anyway, my first instructor was silent at first. He taught me how to park my car backing up and park in-between cars. It was really difficult believe me. For a beginner like me, I guess I now realize why he scratches his face most of the time.
My second instructor was the one strict. He reminds me of my teacher in Algebra when I don’t get it right, he will ask me to do the same thing again until I get it right - perfectly right. I got a picture of his personality when on the first day of meeting him we were asked to stop the car by a subdivision guard near our place. Take note, I was driving the wheels. I was trying to park the car so I slowly turned the car to the right side when the guard suddenly tapped the back of the car.
I was shocked! Now I know the feeling of the professional drivers when traffic enforcers tap their vehicles at the back and duh?! What’s my violation? We are not even driving in a public highway. The guard, aware that I’m a student driver, went to the side door of my instructor and told us to go back where we came from because as their rule, we are only allowed to enter and exit the subdivision with a sticker on the car. Now this is plain silly and the guard is obviously crazy! I live inside that subdivision next to them and we are on our way out. How did my instructor get in to pick me up in the first place? He entered that same area and they have been passing by that road for years and this is the only time we were being questioned. Naturally, they had a fight. The guard won’t listen to me and they were both yelling and threatened to use their gun to my instructor but my instructor who is also an offspring of Lapu-Lapu didn’t get threatened at all. After that moment of what-the-hell-is-going-on-here, we were asked to just go and never pass by that area again. Now after that incident, I got nervous with my instructor. That stupid security guard just made my instructor lost his temper so what else was left for me? What if my instructor really has a gun and points it against me if I don’t get his instructions right?! (Does this sounded like in a movie or something?)I should file a complaint with that guard on the next subdivision of ours but he’s an old man so when I got home I quickly told the story to my husband on the other line. Anyway, my first day with him wasn’t that bad at all. Thank God Inday was with me at that time, otherwise I would be running like crazy when my instructor and the guard pulled each other’s guns haha!
Though my instructor got pissed off, he was still professional enough to tell me that what I did at that moment was right. I did not panic and I did not yell at the guard. So why bother ask him why he did that, he might get pissed off again haha! He saw my weakness. I always eat the space on the right to avoid the cars on the opposite lane but it was not the right thing to do. I learned that a driver is supposed to get the space from the left side and not on the right to avoid the pedestrians on the side and to prevent the car from falling. He brought me to the most narrow public road in Quezon City where I thought only 1 and a half car could pass by. It was a lot of pressure but I tried my best. Luckily, I am now confident to pass by a busy street overflowing with pedestrians on both sides of the road.
Driving schools help specially for beginners like me. Their edge over a relative or a friend teaching you how to drive is like saving your precious relationship with them - you know what I mean! I’m just so lucky my hubee never ran out of patience when I almost hit the tree with his luxury car before our wedding 
So there. I guess confidence and perseverance should be the first on the list when learning how to drive. I already had my dream come true, to drive along the harrasing highway of Commonwealth Avenue. Now that’s something to me 
