Yeah, I sort of 'vowed' to myself that I will not be writing until the 16-hour driving lessons are complete. Stupid oath, because it's just an excuse for me not to write =P
Anyway, let's look back at what happened during the whole week of driving practice.
Day 1, May 11th, 2 pm - 5 pmWell, the instructor (let's call him Mech, since I have no idea what his name is and also he gave me an impression of a mechanic instead of an instructor) came to my house more than 1 hour late, and it turned out that Mech have to drop someone before he can fetch me. Then, without wasting time, we drove off to the famous Kelana Jaya Training Center (it's been there for years, I can't even remember when it was there in the 1st place).
Mech taught me about how to make the car move by releasing the clutch a little, and then he made me practice changing between the 1st gear and the reverse gear. Then he had me doing it alone while he went somewhere (I don't know where, but I reckoned he went for a pee or coffee or something)
After some time, he returned and had me making rounds within the tracks, which includes bypassing the slope without stopping, and well, the day went through pretty well easily.
Day 2, May 12th, 10 am - 2 pmMech improved by coming 40 minutes late. He taught me about the slope - it's Hell if you have a terrible sense of timing. It took me a few tries, retries and embarassingly, dead engines before I finally caught the right timing and the techniques to perform it perfectly. I found myself having trouble with the clutch, a nightmare that's scary enough to drive people into using auto transmission instead. But well, I was happy that I managed to force myself to do it right =D. Only thing that pissed me off was that some noob students from the nearby secondary decided to jaywalk at the slope area, which made me nervous of their existence. They never consider the chances that they could have been robbed of their lives under the hands of a road newbie. Idiots.
(Oh, did I tell you that, for the 4 long hours, Mech slept in the car for 3 with me driving the car like a timebomb that will explode anytime?)
Anyway, when it's time to go home, Mech did something I bet he'd do the same to the other students - forcing his student to drive back home. He had me cruising on the LDP, take the exit near Western Digital to the road that leads to my house, and in between there are a couple of turns and twists.
Day 3, May 13th, 2 pm - 6 pmIf the last 2 days were easy, this day easily fits the description of HELL. Mech had me going for side-parking practices, and I practiced it all alone that afternoon, sweating to the heat with the car at the brink of overheating. Mech managed to return before I exploded, and he had me going for a try for the 3-point turn, and then the slope. Then he had me going for rounds in side-parking - 3-point turn - slope sequence.
As a result or too much steeering, my arms and fingers felt like they do not belong to me anymore. But luckily Mech permitted me to have a break before he left for his coffee break, and I pulled the car to the side for some rest and get my hands washed, before continuing the same thing over and over again for the last 2 hours.
Mech made me drive back home again. I was lucky my hands were still functioning, despite it suffers the same pain in conjunction with my waist, legs and feet.
Day 4, May 14th, 11 pm - 1 pmToday came as a surprise for me. The white Kancil came in punctually, and me, dumbstruck while holding my lunch box, hurried out to find that a lady I haven't met before was there waiting for me. At first I thought there was some mistake, but the lady said that she actually came for me. Then, the next thing I knew, the lady let me drive all the way to Section 17, with Mum and Sis Jr. watching me driving away from home =_=".
After a few traffic lights, a roundabout, lots of turns and loads of yelling by the lady, we safely arrived to the place where my L license was to be collected. After that, I drove back to PJ via LDP, and out from the Western Digital exit, and once again the lady wanted me to drive through another round to Section 17 and back again (whoa~), and later we proceed to the KJ training center and I had a 'revision' on the 3 events before returning home.
(Later I found out that she's Judy's mother...)
Day 5, May 15th, 2 pm - 7 pm or longerThis came as a BIGGER surprise; 12:30pm Judy's Mum called, saying that the instructor that's supposed to fetch me had met up with a fire accident, so the lessons were postponed to the next day, 10 am. How fateful.
Day 4, May 16th, 10 am - 7 pmJudy's Mum was punctual as usual, and she let me drive again - this time, all the way to Puchong. Apparently she have a couple of students to pick up, and I'm supposed to be fetched by Judy but she was busy, so her Mum came instead.
The journey was nice; highways are actually easy because they are broad and there's some space for errors. Anyway, she took over when we reached the 1st student's house (Indian lady, married), and then after fetching the 2nd student (Peter, Chinese kid, 2 years younger than me)we were on our way to Hulu Langat, where out test venue was located.
On the way Judy's Mum briefed through some stuff tips about driving and the driving test, and once we reached there, we found ourselves doing the things we have practiced for the past few days. Then, the Indian lady and me took the trial test (Peter couldn't go for it that soon because he accidently left his IC and L license at home; it was later brought to him by Judy), and we managed to pass it properly. Then later on, we were tutored one by one by Judy's Mum for the on-the-road test.
That wasn't an easy thing to do; it involves a lot of stopping and handbraking, even though most of the time it sounds annoying to have to handbrake behind the barely visible white lines.
Anyway, the both of us got through that with another load of yellings from Judy's Mum, and later it was Peter's turn to do that, after he got through the trail test, of course. Because of that, all of us went back 3 hours late from scheduled.
I reached home at around 7pm, and boy, the 16 hours are over, and what I need too do now is to memorize all the steps and simulate the situations whenever possible to enhance my skills for the upcoming real test at Friday, 8am.
