Yesterday was the first day of my driving lessons in the Netherlands. However, this has been my 3rd teacher since I first tried it in 2005. Driving as a topic evokes strong emotions on my part because I must admit that I do love driving. I have been driving for 9 years in the U.S. and prior to that in the Philippines for a couple of years. I enjoy driving immensely and not being able to do it is one of the major source of frustrations for me in this country. As you see, I cannot just exchange my American driving license here. Unlike lucky citizens of for instance Singapore and Japan, I could not exchange it!

So anyways, while taking lessons using a manual (called stick shift in the US) transmission equipped auto it all brought back memories of me and my Dad waking up at 6am on a weekend to take driving lessons. And boy I thank my Dad for taking it seriously and teaching me thoroughly that now when I tried driving a manual it all came back naturally for me and it felt really good knowing I could pick up a car and just drive. However, the roads in Amsterdam and most of the Netherlands are way too busy and rules are quite complicated so that is why I totally need to practice with a teacher first before taking the test. And besides, there is no other way to go through it but with a certified instructor unlike in the states where all you need is a learners permit and a license holder to accompany you. My theory exam expires in October so we have planned to take the test before then. That theory exam in itself was also a pain since English tests come only once or twice a month plus it was so confusing I ended up passing on my third try.. Embarrassing indeed but that’s life here, it’s not all that easy compared to my former country which I dearly miss by the way.

And what about my instructor? At first impression, I feel more comfortable with my new teacher, who is I think Moroccan compared to the last 2 Dutch guys. Maybe it was his age (younger) and temperament but we’ll see how it goes the next few days. But so far I had fun driving with this teacher. He picked me up from work at 5pm and we drove all the way to our place in Amsterdam. Convenient indeed! I am looking forward to my next lesson next week!