First Driving Lesson
Do you remember yours?
The first time I was sitting behind the steering wheel was in my mother’s 1980-something white Honda Civic, in which I got so nervous trying to get the car moving that when it moved too fast I’d mistaken the braking pedal with the the accelerator and ended up wrecking the Honda by hitting a tree in front of our neighbour’s house.
Since then, I didn’t dare to continue the lesson - until I started working full time and therefore had to travel to and from work by catching public transport, which pretty much meant having to endure all things that came with it:
- The humidity since there was no air-con and the car was always packed with lots of people
- The random guy who sat next to me and opted to spread his legs selfishly while others had to close theirs together because there wasn’t a space left to move for even an inch
- Being sexually harassed by the guy sitting next to me who’d try to take the opportunity to pin me down by accident whenever the car made a sharp turn
- Having to catch the running car every Monday morning because for some twisted unexplainable reason it was always the day where the numbers of cars were running short and yet there were more people wanting to go on them.
Eventually I had enough of it all, and I made a decision to start learning how to drive again and this time I wouldn’t make the same mistake of enrolling myself to a private driving lesson class. I’d been there before and I learnt jack shite out of it. I paid Rp. 600,000.- for 12 sessions and the whole time the teacher was only teaching me how to shift gears and how to brake - pretty much all the crap I could’ve learnt by myself. I even had to ask him to teach me how to park backward and he only gave it to me at the last session, at my house. To make things even worse, the first time I had the lesson, before he dropped me home and everything, he told me that it was customary for me to give him tipping money.
Can you believe that? He actually asked for a tip. And he wanted it for every session. He even mentioned the amount. He sez, “Five thousand rupiah is enough. That’s how much people usually give me.”
I ended up having to shed a grand total of Rp. 660,000.- for stupid driving sessions and the only things that I’d learnt out of it was that there were 5 gears, and that the pedal on the left was the clutch, the one in the middle was the brake and the one on the right was the accelerator.
How about making the car stop without having to step on the brake whilst you’re in the middle of an ascended road? How about finding the biting point while shifting gears and having to grab something out of the window - like the freeway or parking ticket, for example? And how about parallel parking? And those are only a few of things that one should know when driving a manual car.
Before I started on my own driving lesson, already my mother regaled me by saying things like “driving is a lot of work, you know. You get really tired after you drive because you have to pay extra attention to a lot of things simutaneously - if you think it’s all fun and easy once you know how to drive, you’re wrong”, or “the worst thing that could happen when you’re going through an ascended road is when your car engine stops all of a sudden because you forget to shift to a lower gear and then the car slides backward and crashes the car that’s lining behind you.”
Already my head was filled with the nightmares that hadn’t even happened - yet. However, I was adamant to learn again. I mean, come on, I was 25 years old. It was embarassing not knowing how to drive being that old and all, even more so when I saw eighteen years old chicks cruising in their Honda Jazz and all, while I was still relying on others for transportation.
So I used my dad’s Toyota Avanza (”It’s a company car so don’t worry about scratching” sez Dad) every evening after work and drove it around the neighborhood whilst getting used to the feeling of being in a car and generally tried not to let my nerves took over my sanity, because every time I got on the car and started driving I’d sweat like crazy and the imprints of my fingers would leave marks on the steering wheel because I’d gripped it so tightly as if it had a mind of its own.
But taking personal driving lessons at night time had its advantage - I got used to driving in the dark that when I did it in the brightness of the daylight, it was easy-peasy for me to do so.
However, my mother was right - driving is tiring. When I used to be a workaholic and finished the day at around 7 - 8 pm, the tiredness would get me when I was driving home and I had to struggle really hard to keep my eyes open, and then I’d wistfully thought about the times I used to doze off to sleep when catching public transport.
By having to drive to work, I actually had to get up earlier (which I loathe) and I had to face all the stress that drivers get when encountering other obnoxious drivers who selfishly take over your path without indicating, or when being caught in a hellish traffic jam and ended up hurting my left knee from having to pedal the clutch slowly because I had to keep shifting from first to second gear and back and forth.
But being able to drive had a lot of its advantage too - when my dad was sick and had to be taken to the emergency room, I was glad that I didn’t have to wait for a taxi because I could drive him myself to the hospital. Or when my beau and I decided to visit my future in-laws in Semarang, he and I took turns in driving so that each of us could rest whilst the other was driving.
Sometimes I gloat over the fact that I could drive a manual car - some girls drove automatic - and dare I might say, I am even a better driver than my beau (he totally disagress due to his large incapacitating ego), because I could park backward to a sloping path without having to turn my head around (unlike him) and rely fully on the side-view mirror.
However, people often told me that I hadn’t really qualified to drive unless I’d been involved in a car accident. Perhaps this was true - I’d been in two, and I was a changed driver afterwards. Before the accident I thought nothing bad could happen to me even if I drove up to 120 km/hour, but now I’m a firm believer of never-go-above-80-unless-the road-is-empty.
People can get so caught up the stress of driving and the competition to go faster, but it’s not worth it. I’d learnt that in my final lesson.
June 29th, 2008 at 2:58 am
Hey hey…it’s indeed an achievement for a girl to be able to drive a manual car
and you just have to think that if you can drive in Jakarta or any big city in Indonesia, you can drive pretty much anywhere else in the world (never mind where the steering wheel is located)
I didn’t exactly go to a driving school back then, it was my dad who taught me to drive when I was 15 (with a lot of scolding included of course) and I had to learn how to drive with an oversized Kijang and it was damn difficult to do a parallel parking that time.
But now I am actually happy at the fact that I did learn how to drive before I came here (although I still need to take a theoretical exam before I got my license) and that my Indonesian driving ability (with all those angkot, becak, sepeda motor, sepeda) really made me into a fine and smart driver her
…now that I think about it, I might get spoiled because it’s damn too easy to drive in here
June 29th, 2008 at 4:01 am
hey girl..
I first learnt to drive when I was 10. My uncle Tony in Wellington, NZ, secretly taught me to drive his old mini cooper, but when mom found out, he got what was coming.
at 13, in Jakarta, I stole my mom’s car when she and dad were out. I took the car to a friend’s house to show off, but then I didn’t know how to reverse, so when I tried to do it, I hit a lamp post. Needless to say, I got busted and punished for it.
I stole my parent’s car again several times, blackmailed the driver into letting me drive to school and so on until I was 17 and finally got a driver’s license and a car of my own.
Fun times… this post brings me back memories of my own..
thanks they!
June 29th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Hey Therry,
The stump has many faults and one of them is not visting here more often. Although I will have to be careful if AM is still around as I think she still has a jar awaiting certain value parts of the Stump
June 29th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
my first driving lesson would be at….
I forgot…
well, its true that if you could drive in jakarta/any big city in Indonesia, you could drive anywhere easily.
but before that, try to drove at pantura facing all that container, truck, and night busses.
after that, you’ll pass to drove anywhere without fear.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:16 am
I thought the title of this post meant something different that had absolutely nothing to do with cars, oh well!
June 30th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
i don’t believe in side-view mirror..:)
June 30th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I’m still having my first driving lesson for UK lesson. The first in my 15 years driving career :). Not easy!
June 30th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I learned to drive back in Wellington, NZ when I was 17-18 years old. Each time I come back to Indonesia for a holiday, I would still be terrified to drive in the country. Until finally, 3 years ago, I finally braved myself to do it, after getting sick of relying on the unreliable driver.
I’m now a slick driver in the city!
Loved all your post Ther!
June 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
waaa my first driving lesson is quite a story, I asked my brother in law to teach me, using a very old mobile service truck owned by AUTO 2000. the steering was soooo happy I need to spin it as strong as possible, just to make a right turn at the football field
June 30th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
hmn.. I only drive automatics.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:31 am
Hey, I drove my brother’s car yesterday and was terrified for the first 30 minutes, seeing all the motor riders keep cutting my way or make turns without signaling. Not to mention nobody never stays in the line!
But after 30 minutes I got better.
Now I’m afraid when I’m back to UK my instructor would yell at me, again, saying that I drive like a maniac/drunk…
July 1st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I don’t drive and won’t drive in Jakarta. Am a coward
July 1st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
My teacher fall asleep during the driving lesson in a highway. Go figure !
Driving in Jakarta is quite enjoyable, I meant to see some barbaric driver suddenly cutting the lane without sign and many aggressive behavior. Truly miss that when I’m overseas. LOL.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 am
hahaha.. i knew girl, but you sure have to try it.
maybe you should try driving old car, the one that had handbrake at the right hand of the driver chair (early eighties kijang “doyok”) or the one with the shifting gear stick behind the steering wheel (the old L300, the new one already had shifting gear stick in the middle of the car)
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 am
Hoooplaaahh…
My 1st driving lessons?
Oiiiiich… lemme think for a sec…
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Aha…
I was 12years old at that time (7th gr. or so) got me a deal with my chauffeur, he teach me how to drive and i gave him cheating codes for his son for playing games in Nintendo (forgot the name of the game)
But, on the 2nd lesson i hit a tree… so, i made another deal with him, he cover the accident to my dad and i gave him my discman (*why?) cuz’ my dad won’t ask him to pay the cost…
~ugly version mode on~) geesh i’m a spoiled brat lah when i was a teen 
“come on… dad won’t charge you, trust me” (*whining)
come on, pleaseeeeee, pretty pleaseeeeee… (*whining + trying to look cute like the “puss in boots” in shrek2
Anyways… After the 5th lesson, i hit someone’s car and i was like thinking ok… need another object to barter and excuse to my dad. Alas, it (the car that i crashed) was my dad’s boss and he’s in it (Damn)
Long short story…
My dad knew what i did, fired the chauffeur (*soweeeeee)… and dad sent me to a rotten pesantren for a week (@$#*!!!) aaannnndddd… yes they failed to make me back to my sanity wakakakakaakakaka…
(*singing george michael song)
Freedoooooooooooom
ehe ehe…
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi, thanks for dropping by your words on my blog.
I’ve actually taken video of myself while I first sat in drivers’ seat after short briefings from my father on how to drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbfFYyGf5lc
It was huge scary part for every new driver I guess, now that I’ve CA driver license, i don’t wanna recall those days back.. real hilarious whenever I remember
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:38 am
OOT:
blog na sekarang disini yah!? yang di blogspot udah ga di pake lagi kan?! mau di ganti link na
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
My first near death accident never stop me
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
.. ..
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
to walk..
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huahahaha.. Hattrick!!
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
Hmmm… no need to embarassed Therry, you can never stop to learn even when you’re old (weeeew, wisey-ass is talkin here) ehe ehe…
I finally got my own car in 2007 after i bust my ass, workin 24/7, 9-5
wakakakaka… not much it’s a cute SUV, but, it got strong AC to make me go BRRrrrrrrrrrrrr 
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Beep Beep, just been overtaken by Therry
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Benefits of sex?
Sure, there is someone in bed the next morning to make me cofee…..
LOL
Damn, I am so sexist.
LOL
July 4th, 2008 at 6:46 am
…and the topic has changed from Driving, to ‘driving miss therry to ectasy”.
PB!! You’re moving to her just coz I didn’t do that thing with the veggie? ah well.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Good to get back in touch haven’t been able to access lately.
I bet by now you have mastered applying lipstick, while texting your friends, flashing the lights and honking the horn all while swerving in and out of the traffic. A skill really under valued in most countries in the world.
I think i started driving a tractor first. I have progressed a long way since then!!!!
GJlast blog post..Toxic Shock
July 5th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Hmm.. inget waktu dulu awal-awal nyetir… waktu belok hampir aja nabrak rumah di sudut gang .. gara-gara kurang cepet muter stirnya..
cclast blog post..Stay healthy with Junk Food
July 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Cool.
Don’t drive anymore, with the gas price and all — and because I suck at it. I prefer using ojek, swifting left and right through traffic.
PS: Therry, review the Journal on your blog puhlez?
I think it’s a good idea to gain traffic from personal blogs and personal stuffs. It’s working well so far for everyone else, right? But it’s okay if you don’t wanna!
Marisalast blog post..Shuffling Songs (You May Never Heard Before) from Indonesia
July 7th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hi Therry,
Don’t feel embarassed; I’m 24 and still don’t know how to drive!! And the thought of driving in Jakarta scares me to bits… and so does taking Jakarta public transport. I have to rely on my cousins’ charity instead to drive me around
astilast blog post..My Indonesian Pride
July 8th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Hi T
I grew up near water so I learned to sail long before I ever got behind the wheel. We were lucky in that my high school offered a course in Driver ed for credit. After a few days in class we were paired off with an instructor and hit the roads. My partner was something of a head - I can still remember him moving his head back and forth in time to the windshield wipers - about the same time I started using a seatbelt full time.
head - OLD slang for someone smoking ganja daily
Cheers
PJ