Well, I forget how many hours the YDC course was - 30 hours or something? But as I said, I failed the first driving test I took with the examiner beside me in the car. That was in Ontario. The examiner said I failed because I didn't have enough confidence - HAH!
I finally got the stupid thing in Michigan. And how that happened was that I got a church music job in a town about 15 minutes away from the school, but of course the school was in the country, and there was no public transit to the church. So my dad and mom (who were in Africa at the time) had a bank account at my bank, and I had signature on it so that I could take care of any little things that came up while they were gone - they authorized me to use a certain amount of money from their account to buy me a car, as I certainly didn't have that kind of money in my own account! My uncle was also a student at my school - it's a long story, but many of my relatives have gone to that school, even returning there for grad school while I was there... - anyway, he took me car-shopping, and I found one I liked that he approved of, and I got it.
Now the only trouble was, I didn't have but an Ontario learner's permit, which wasn't good in Michigan, and choir rehearsal was starting the next week. So we went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) closest to us, I wrote the written exam for Michigan, passed, and got my Michigan learner's permit. You had to take the driving portion within something like three months, and you could drive as long as you had the holder of a regular driver's license with you. So on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, my ever-patient uncle would walk over to the dorm from where he lived in married student housing with his family, and we'd hop in my car and I would drive to the town where my church was. He'd take a book or some studying along with him, or he'd take the car and do something in town, while I was in church or choir rehearsal, and then we'd head on back to school. I'd park the car in dorm student parking, and he'd walk back to married student housing.
Well, one Sunday morning (not too long after that - certainly within a month) he got tired of walking back home after church, or he was in a rush to get back, or something. And he had me drop him off at home. Which was on campus, all of two minutes drive from the dorm. I was scared spitless that Campus Security would pull me over and I'd get in trouble, but what could I do? My uncle was going out of his way to help me - and I had a guilty conscience about how much of his time I was taking up with this. So I reluctantly and very slowly, *very* gingerly drove back to the dorm and parked the car.
And then it dawned on me - I could *drive*! By myself!
Well, the next day I called the DMV and made the appointment to take the driving portion of the test. And I passed! And I've been driving (and loving it) ever since.
Although, now I don't have a car, so I have to take public transit... That's gonna change tho' - now that I have a job, I'm saving up, and hopefully when I get back to Canada I will have enough to get some sort of a car...
Anyway, that's my story... Anyone else have any interesting 'learning to drive' stories?
Melisma (sliding back under her Rock to watch the fun)
