-^-for posterity-^-

i woke up at quarter till six on a sunday morning. i was apprehensive. i didn’t want to take my driving test. i sat in my room after my shower and tried to read through the one hundred questions again and memorize them. i panicked a bit. i didn’t know them all.

a vietnamese friend picked me up and we went for coffee before the test. he was relaxed and tried to pretend i was. i couldn’t imagine why i was so nervous.

i had forgotten the helmet i was supposed to use during the driving portion of the test. it is actually julie’s helmet and it’s disgusting. it’s large and purple and gold. it only has a small, square hole for your eyes and that’s covered by a visor. it also didn’t help that it was about 90 degrees outside.

we went home and i put the oven on my head. we headed to the driving center. we didn’t know where it was. well, my friend told me yesterday that he knew where it was but it turns out he didn’t. he said it was seven kilometers away and we drove about three at normal speed. he then slowed down to a snail’s pace looking for the building. i was supposed to arrive early to pick up my test number because i’m a foreigner and things are done very differently for me. we pulled in late. my stomach was flopping, i was sweating and i think one of my kidneys was looking for a way out.

the test ground is a square, dusty, concrete area surrounded by a rope fence. the testers sat behind a desk and looked ominous. they spoke into a microphone and everything was a jumble of static and vietnamese.

today there were about three hundred people taking the driving test. i was number two hundred and sixty. that meant that i would have to wait for another two to four hours. we went to have coffee.

my friend said i could drive. i drove out of the driving test facility before i had taken the driving test. i thought about that for a bit and smiled.

we came back and i was bumped up to the front of the line because they said i had to go to saigon this afternoon. i really didn’t have to go anywhere but i just nodded and pretended not to understand completely. i was the last of fifty people taking the written test.

the room was stuffy and rectangular. there were benches and two people to a bench. a group of men sat at the front of the class with ties on. they all looked professional. i was nervous, as i said. i sat down and filled out the necessary forms.

the test came. it was twenty questions out of the one hundred that i had studied. it came in a laminated booklet that was glossy and professional looking. my friend said that i would have friends in the test taking institution because i was a foreigner and a volunteer teacher. they didn’t want me to fail. somehow my book magically had all of the answers previously marked. i guess there was a mix-up along the way.

i passed with flying colors, i’m proud to say.

the next section of the test was the driving section. fifty people are mounted on motorcycles in front of a course that looks terribly ominous. their number is called and they proceed to drive. they first drive through the large figure-eight. next they drive a long, thin, strait line. the third step involves weaving. the last leg of the test was a straight section with oddly shaped wooden bumps.

i was the last person to go. i placed the oven on my head and secured the latch at the bottom. i felt like an astronaut. i weaved through the figure-eight with ease. i drove down the straight line a bit too fast but i staid between the lines. i weaved flawlessly and i maneuvered the bumps like a pro. that part i passed on my own. i had a terrible song stuck in my head the whole time.

we left and my license will arrive in about three weeks. i’m excited.