Life in a Suitcase

Walang madaling paraan!!!

I thought I had an edge for owning a Qatar’s driving license and I drove for almost 4 years in Qatar. Siguro malas lang ako, kasi nung dumating ako dito sa UAE in November 2007, rules have changed na daw, at kahit may gulf license ka, you still have to go to the driving school and pass the required tests. For a gulf license holder, ang advantage mo lang eh you only take half the number of classes. Instead of 40 classes, 20 lang. And then, you also need to attend lectures, pass the signal test, parking test, and finally the road test.

I registered sa Emirates Driving Institute, hindi dahil sa ‘yun ang preferred school ko, kundi dahil ‘yun ang alam nung taxi driver na sinakyan ko. It was a good choice (choice ba ‘yun?) anyway kasi professional sila. At least on my experience, mababait yung mga instructors na nagturo sa’kin (hindi pala nagturo, kasi, kwentuhan lang kami while I drive…medyo may konting tips din). Even the lecture rooms are better.

I registered since April 2008 pero dahil I’m always out of UAE, di ko matapos-tapos ‘yung 20 lessons ko.

Isa pang malas, they changed the rule sometime mid this year again saying that gulf license holder can go directly to road test. If you fail, then you get some classes. Well, fair enough. I went to EDI administration to check if I can do the same and I was told that I was covered by the rule when I registered in April…grrrrrrrr…ok, tapusin ang 20 lessons, anyway bayad na ‘yun.

One time I had no travel schedule for almost 2 weeks, nilagare ko and finally got a schedule for signal and parking test.

It was easy. I passed. But it’s not over yet. Road test ang pinaka-importante and to what I heard, nobody passes the first try. My first test was on 26 November. Syempre, FAILED!!! I can’t figure out what I did wrong, but yes, it was my first. The worse part is that when you fail, you need to pay another 8 classes and the new road test.

I was okay not to pass because I already knew the never ending stories about this subject. What I can’t take is that the first guy who drove the car passed the test while he keeps on horning on pedestrians and he was driving too close to the right side of the road. There was a point that he stopped suddenly because a pedestrian was crossing, blew his horn and it was the examiner who pressed the hazard signal. It was his 4th try, so maybe that’s enough for him.

This morning I went back to the school to get a new road test schedule. Ready with my cash, I proceeded to the cashier and was surprised to find out that they increased the lessons to AED100 per class. I blew AED900 (800 for 8 lessons and 100 for road test), about PHP11,000, a price I need to pay for failing for no reasons at all.

Larry, my bro-in-law passed on his 8th try…congratulations. He doesn’t want to remember how much he ever spent to get this GOLDEN card. For more horror, or rather funny stories about getting a driving license in the UAE, click here.

My next road test is on 29 December…will it be a happy new year for me…ABANGAN!!!