The RubeTube

Today was my final day of driving at A-1 driving school (here's for my "first day" entry). I finished up the last three of the fifteen hours that I signed up for. I was glad to pair up with Alfonso for one last time; he's been my instructor for all but two of my fifteen hours. He's a really great instructor and by the end of driving school we were casually chatting about non-driving topics, including mahjong, his pastime.

I'm very confident now with my driving. There are still a few mistakes here and there but mostly due to inexperience. I can handle everything now: humps, overtaking, rainy weather, highway driving, uphill/downhill, backing, maneuvering, and all sorts of parking procedures. I even changed a tire today just for practice (not because of an actual flat). And I finally graduated from the "10:10" steering wheel position to a more comfortable "9:15". Alfonso was really tough on me in the beginning but in my last five hours he already said I was ready to drive in "the real world".

I've always been a quick learner and I managed to get the hang of driving relatively easily. Part of the reason why is that driving feels like solving puzzles to me, and you know how much I enjoy puzzles. It's like "How do I make the car do this?" and "How do I get from point A to point B?" Driving's a challenge for me and that's what makes every driving session fun as well.

Next step: finish the requisite A-1 classroom lecture on road rules and driving etiquette. Then it's time to get a non-professional driver's license. And finally... get something to drive? Uh oh.

Labels: :), A-1, driving, learning

Today was my first day of driving at A-1 driving school. I've been meaning to learn how to drive as soon as I had loads of free time, and I totally blew it because now I'm already employed. It's still not too late because I can still hope to finish before the work piles up.

I signed up for 15 total hours of driving (for 8,200 pesos) the previous Saturday and I attended the two-hour orientation this past Thursday. I spend my first two hours earlier this afternoon. I got started on a Toyota Altis (2005 model, I think) with manual transmission, under the guidance of my driving instructor Alfonso. My legs were a bit long for the driver's seat even if I pulled it back as far as it can go. Oh well, nothing I can do about that.

I did my driving along Doña Soledad Avenue (near SM Bicutan), in a nearby subdivision whose name I forgot, and the busy Bicutan instruction. Here are the lessons which I "passed":

• Pre-driving check-up routine, a.k.a. BLOWFATCH (tm)
• Identifying the car controls, pedals, and dashboard instruments
  
• Steering wheel handling (10:10) position and turning
• Observing safe following and stopping distances
• Proper way of shifting gears (only up to 2nd gear so far)
  
• Maintaining lanes
  

And here are the topics which Alfonso said I need practice on:

• Starting and stopping procedures (i.e., without killing the engine)
• Left and right turning

Also, we did a little of the following:

• Uphill/downhill driving
• U-turn
• Parking (not parallel)
  

All in all, considering that I have zero driving experience, I think I did well in my first two hours. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I had loads of fun even if the engine died a couple of times. But nothing a little practice can't fix. I don't have my own vehicle but I can still take my Dad's car out for a spin from time to time. As the song goes, "Gusto kong matutong mag-drive kahit na wala akong kotse."

Labels: A-1, driving, learning