coriander in pho

I mentioned here that one of the things I wanted to do, and passed, is learning how to drive. I couldn’t drive, and there were times I wished I could. I remember when Rey was still a baby, and she got a fever. It was midnight, my husband was out of town for a business trip, and I didn’t know what to do. I pulled an all-nighter and took Rey to the hospital in the morning.

Late last year, I thought to myself, “here it is,” and decided to have a driving lesson. Ari and I passed this place several times, so we decided to contact them.

The process was quite smooth. The staff told me upfront that the payment would be different since I’m not a Malaysian, which, understandable. They also told me the necessary steps to apply for a driving license in Malaysia. In general, the steps are:

• Attending a 6-hour in-class session (theory lessons),
• Passed the theory test (you need 42 correct answers out of 50 questions) ,
• Attending the driving lessons: 10 hours for lessons in the circuit, and 6 hours for lessons on the road.
• Passed the Qualifying Test at the Institute (QTI) — someone told me that the QTI was added as part of the compulsory steps after an accident that involved a JPJ (Road Transport Department in Malaysia) staff member with a driving test attendee during the JPJ test (the final driving test.) After a series of investigations, the driving test attendee had just finished their driving lessons (5 days before) and immediately took the JPJ test. Considering the possible lack of technical skills, the government then decided for driving institutions in Malaysia to add another layer of complexity: QTI. This to ensure driving test attendees are actually qualified to attend the test and drive properly on the circuit and on the open road, be it for a test.
• Last but not least, the final boss: Passed the JPJ test. During this test, JPJ staff will be there and grade our performance. Some people said that QTI was harder than the JPJ test because the evaluators are usually really rigid to ensure only those who actually can attend the test can pass, but some said that both are equally terrifying, hahah.

There was no problem on my end in attending the classes since I am now a housewife without time constraints during the daytime. I took the driving classes on weekdays, and I was pretty happy. Since it was during the weekdays, there were not a lot of folks practicing, so my instructor and I got the circuit for ourselves to practice. It was fun, though, seeing a lot of folks practicing to drive and seeing the cars moving slowly and carefully. My heart is happy seeing cars actually giving signs when they are going to turn or switch lanes, hahah.

Also, I got the chance to see the folks learning how to drive motorcycle there. The driving institute also offers driving license and lessons for other types of vehicles: Motorcycles, lorries, bus, even tractors! I was surprised when I learned that even three-wheels motorcycles (commonly used for differently-able folks and those who usually carry goods around) need a proper license.

It kinda amused me seeing the motorcycle-driving students paying attention to the traffic, even stopping and looking both ways several times when they are at a junction, while in reality, some people with motorcycles can be quite reckless. I really hope that with more people taking driving lessons like this, it will help us to build better traffic and road conditions.

I had a stumbling block when I had my JPJ test. I failed at the first time, in February, on the side parking/parallel parking section. While the car was in the allotted parking box, the side mirror was not. The JPJ staff informed me this and encouraged me to retake the exam. Which, I did. I took a repeat exam back in March, during the Ramadan month, so it was… Interesting. I didn’t fast at that time, but for some reasons, the intense pressure that commonly felt during Ramadan month (most moslems see the Ramadan month as our purgatory level anyway, hahah. It’s the month when we do our best in everything and work hard, which, can be felt even twice or thrice harder thanks to the dry fasting) and while I was able to pass the side parking section, I failed — again! — on the three-point turn! It was quite tricky as: 1. You only got one chance to make it right (compared to side parking when you got 5 minutes to park), 2. You only got three chances to stop/hit the brakes, and 3. No hitting/driving over the straight yellow lines.

@syazwanfarizal Awak rasa ujian tiga penjuru mencabar or biasa2 je… cer komen… #surfinehitech #etestingjpj #lesenmemandu #kp02 ♬ bunyi asal – •speed songs•

“Frustrated” was the right word, yep. Everyone around me told me to keep my chin up and take a break since we approached Eid, and I should use the opportunity to keep learning. Ari helped me by taking me to empty parking areas in Putrajaya so I could practice on the weekends.

I had my (re)repeat exam yesterday, and I’m glad to share with you all that I passed! The driving instructors encouraged us to stay calm and drive slowly during the exam, and the JPJ staff also mentioned that they won’t be as strict as the first time, as they know we already have a certain level of driving skills, as we (re)practice after the previous failed tests.

I admit, I was so nervous when I approached the three-point turn, but I’m so glad I could make it smoothly. I kinda felt that the JPJ staff knew how nervous we were, so they decided to look away/pretend not to look when we did our three-point turn, hahah!

Now that I have passed the exam, I will need to go to the JPJ office to finish up my driving license application process in the next couple of days. As of now, I’m so happy I finally got the coveted P car stickers! P stickers on cars mean that the driver is new/just freshly passed the exam, so other drivers who are usually more experienced would know and take precautions when driving near these P drivers, hahah.