I have been driving around Orange county for three months now since I received my driver's license ID but it took me about two to three months to get it after passing the driver's test. Why? Because I don't have a valid Identification to present to DMV (no thanks to Immigration backlog issues). I prefer not to get into the details to spare you from my frustrating USCIS experience.
November 2015 marks my second year in CA and within those days I longed for freedom, to do most things on my own and to go to places without having to depend on my husband at all times. I felt those desires while I was adjusting to my new home and if you have read my previous post on Belongingness and Sense of direction you would know why or could probably relate on how I badly needed to learn about geographical orientation. I have been living independently before I got married so it came naturally for me to strive for self improvement when I emigrated from the Philippines. Now my life is so much easier since I started driving. Before I used to bug my husband to take me places. Now I have driven myself everywhere to get wifey things done before he gets home from work. Below is a video of me driving from my place to the orthodontist's clinic at La Paz, Mission Viejo.
There are still times that I freak out when I'm driving 70-80mph specially when I'm changing lanes on a very fast speed. I still have to get use to keeping my graceful body succumb to the robot like head movement whenever i check over my shoulder or else I will end up swerving and that's exactly the reason why I don't drive more than 20miles to unfamiliar places yet. I know I need to do more freeway driving and I'm pretty sure that I am so darn close to mastering the technique. Hence, I'm ecstatic to be driving on my own.
November 2015 marks my second year in CA and within those days I longed for freedom, to do most things on my own and to go to places without having to depend on my husband at all times. I felt those desires while I was adjusting to my new home and if you have read my previous post on Belongingness and Sense of direction you would know why or could probably relate on how I badly needed to learn about geographical orientation. I have been living independently before I got married so it came naturally for me to strive for self improvement when I emigrated from the Philippines. Now my life is so much easier since I started driving. Before I used to bug my husband to take me places. Now I have driven myself everywhere to get wifey things done before he gets home from work. Below is a video of me driving from my place to the orthodontist's clinic at La Paz, Mission Viejo.
There are still times that I freak out when I'm driving 70-80mph specially when I'm changing lanes on a very fast speed. I still have to get use to keeping my graceful body succumb to the robot like head movement whenever i check over my shoulder or else I will end up swerving and that's exactly the reason why I don't drive more than 20miles to unfamiliar places yet. I know I need to do more freeway driving and I'm pretty sure that I am so darn close to mastering the technique. Hence, I'm ecstatic to be driving on my own.
I have to thank my husband for being a strict driving instructor. Our parents and friends did not agree from the idea of having the husband teach the wife to drive because it usually leads to a fight which can lead to an unproductive driving lesson. They suggested to get a professional driving instructor but that can be very pricey. There are a few driving schools that offer good deals on driving lessons but my husband has weekends free so we have decided to do at least 1-2 hours of driving practice until I was ready to take the road test. I completely understand where our parents and friends are coming from but you know what, if there's one thing I learned from having my husband as my driving instructor, it's to suck it up when we're on the verge of a squabble. I know he wants me to be a responsible driver so I call him my perfectionist driving instructor and I appreciate that because good driving is a skill that takes time to develop, might as well learn it the right way to avoid road accidents in the future, correct? You probably heard the racist joke about how female asians are so bad at driving. Fortunately, it's not applicable to all asian women that's why I strive to always improve my driving skill to become a badass driver not a bad asian driver.
As of now family, relatives and friends are asking what's next on Jem's to do list? Well, since I am now driving, I am focusing next on my career path. I absolutely like to continue on learning new things but I would like to take that vacation to the Philippines which is going to be next month before I go back to the career world while planning for conception. How would I do it? I think this is the part where I would like to borrow the comical and controversial politician's response "I'm just gonna do it". If you can guess who said that line, high five!.
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