After I graduated from college, I took a five-month break to remove all the stresses I had in school and to unwind my mind from stress, I decided to learn Driving. My dad taught me the basics of driving for almost 1 1/2 months. Our village became my driving range and I eventually had the command of the car. I finally decided to have a formal training in A1 driving primarily for two purposes (1) I need driving exposure..... It's different when you only know how to drive around the village (2) CONFIDENCE... Yup! After my 1 1/2 months of training it still scares me to go on major or national roads....

  I enrolled a 5 hour course in SM Bicutan which includes:

2 hr orientation
5 hr one on one training
8 hr lecture on defensive driving
2 hr free lecture on MPH

Orientation: it pretty much tackles the things you need to check before driving, car basics, driving basics etc. But I really suggest you guys attend the orientation because It'll save you pre-driving orientation time on your actual training.

Driving:

I had a Crosswind XUV as my car for the practice (it's the car I requested because it's what we have at home). I also have my student permit with me which was atleast a month old.

Day 01 ( 1 hr driving lesson)

Our route is from SM Bicutan to Paranaque Doctor's Hospital and back to SM. My instructor is Sir Aries, before hitting the road, he asked me a couple of questions what I know about driving and what are the things I haven't tried. It's important to be honest because your instructor will base his lessons on your skills. So for the first hour he taught me proper spacing between cars while driving, uses of side mirrors, head checks, signals etc. My instructor also taught me perpendicular parking and proper braking (I think I break so hard because I really want to go back alive HAHAHAHAHA!!!!)

Day 02 (2 hrs)
 Our route now is from SM bicutan going to NAIA, then to Sucat road going back to betterliving via San Antonia Valley then back to Dona Soledad then to SM bicutan. This was one of my most satisfying experiences I had, this was my first to go around Paranaque and there is no traffic! Sir Aries also commented that I improved on my braking ( every after session I always practice) and car distances.

Day 03 (2 hrs)

I had a different instructor today and we just went around betterliving to practice types of manuevering and uphill/downhill driving. My instructor commended me for not practically stressing with uphill/downhill because he told me that most his students freak out. We also went to the service road to experience different traffic conditions. This session actually practiced my patience and my left leg, after this session my left knee was actually in pain due to the traffic. HAHAHAHAHA

Lectures:

I had my first lecture in SM bicutan and I was really bored to death :( maybe because the instructor talks so fast and he just reads what's on his presentation. On the other hand my second lecture which was in Glorietta 5 was fun and fast! the instructor was so engaging and he's really funny that I didn't mind looking at the time!.


I already got my driver's license before my lectures and even after having my license the lectures are still useful because it teaches practical techniques on driving, traffic conditions and being a smart and defensive driver.

I can officially call myself as a "driver" (LOL). Driving is a continuous lesson and every hit on the road means a new lesson that can either bring us back to our homes alive (LOL HAHAHA!) or not (nobody wants that!) but anyway, some few points to the aspiring new drivers there:

I really had the urge to learn driving because of my chosen profession so it's quite inevitable for me to learn it. But for others, always find a reason why you want to drive, I learned that when you are not interested in what you're doing, it would really take some time to have a grasp on it.

ALWAYS BE CALM. (Enough said)

BE A QUICK THINKER WHEN DRIVING. You hold the lives of the pedestrians and yourself too (or your family too)

WHEN IN DOUBT, DRIVE SLOWLY OR STOP/BRAKE. Seriously for new drivers, when you're really in doubt stop and relax, let the other drivers honk at you and never mind them, because whenever in doubt and you didn't think about it properly, there will always be trouble.

SEE YOU GUYS ON THE ROAD!!!!