The Japanese Driver's License is one of the most difficult process' of living in Japan - regardless if you are a foreigner or not. If you are Japanese, you cannot drive until you are 18 and pay thousands of dollars to go to driving school and pass the test. For foreigners, the process involves "changing" the driver's license over to a Japanese one. This takes about 5 different steps.
- Have your license translated into Japanese.
- Gather materials and submit it to driver's license place for an appointment.
- Take the written test.
- Take the driving test.
- Repeat number 4 until you get your license.
So I talked to everyone I knew to see what I needed to do to pass this test. I compiled it all and nervously took the test last week - FAIL. The instructor told me a few things I needed to do differently. One thing that would really help would be to go to driving school for one session and have the instructor there, practice with you to show you what you need to do to pass the test. BUT Japan just got out for summer break so to make the process even more difficult, it would be hard to get an appointment. But miraculously, (and the generous lady at the driving school) got me and two other ladies from OCSI in for Thursday. The school was really helpful. (I also got to sit through it three times - once as a student, twice to translate)
SO TODAY: I was ready, I was so ready. I was nervous, of course, but I wanted this over with and done.
I was number three in line. I got in, was executing everything well, including the two most difficult, the z curve and the s curve (a really narrow area in the shape of a z and s) right after I got past the s curve I was at a stop sign. I was told to turn LEFT. So as I got ready to turn I RAN OVER THE CURB!!!
That is an automatic failure. I think the instructor was really bummed as well. He said I did everything perfectly. (In my defense, one thing you have to do is hug the line of which ever-way you are turning, so I WAS DOING THAT! Except I hugged it too much and so... yeah...) He said that if I had stopped while on the curb and back-up I would have been fine, but unfortunately I didn't feel that I was on the curb until I was rolling off of it. Bummer bummer bummer! I was so bummed. But with a smile on my face, I thanked the instructor and bade him goodbye until next week when I come back and try it again.
All before the test, I kept repeating two Bible verses in my head, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thankgiving, present your request to God. And the God of peace which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus." And BOY was I anxious! Phew but each time I said that verse, I felt a little calmer knowing that God is right there beside me.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge him and He will make your paths straight."Before I fell asleep last night I was joking with myself about how the paths straight in this verse were the z-curve and the s-curve and that God would bring me through it. I think I had made those two obsticles my primere focue instead of the whole driving test. Once I got through those, I thought I was in the clear. The rest of the course was going to be a piece of cake. It was like God saying "don't take your eyes off of me, I'm still the one getting you through this." *Bump into curb*
It's like I was Peter in the water. Maybe there was a big wave and Peter kept his eyes on Jesus the whole time, and then maybe it got a little calmer and he thought, "oh I can do this now" and let his eyes off, which made him fall.
Lord may I never keep my eyes off of you. May they be constantly focused on you, through the hard and through the easy, through the storm and through the calm.
Blessings,
Sarah
