Freedom to drive!!!

When I lived in Seoul, South Korea I didn't have a car. The public transportation in all of Korea, but especially Seoul, is pretty much AMAZING! Subway, busses, even taxis are all cheap and easy to use. I was totally spoiled. I was super cranky when I moved to the Bay Area and discovered that even in a huge metro area in the US the public transportation was not sufficient unless you lived in the middle of downtown San Francisco. You have to have a car.

Coming to Kuwait I was told that I wouldn't NEED a car. My walk to school takes about 5 minutes and then you can take taxis. Technically that's true, but what was left out is that taxis can be a huge hassle AND they get very expensive, not to mention you have to fight with the driver for a fair price most of the time.

I've found I could easily get a taxi from my house, but pretty much everywhere I went it was very difficult to get a taxi back home. You can get numbers of drivers and have them pick you up, but that depends on if they are available, it usually takes 20-30 mins or you have to know what time you'll be finished, and it's more expensive. Any trip to the store costs $7-$10. I realized a couple months ago that this was all getting to me and my solution had been to just not go out and do anything. Staying in my apartment ALL THE TIME was getting depressing. I really didn't want to spend money on buying a car, but ultimately I decided that I NEEDED to get a license and a car or I would be miserable.

We had kinda been discouraged from getting a driver's license because the process is tedious at best and often rather difficult, but I had decided I really needed it. Just before Spring Break I got the ball rolling with some help from a guy at school and I got my license last Sunday, May 10. The whole process cost me about $330 just to get the license- and I hear it's going up. I had to take a couple of half days off school to get paperwork signed and processed. There is NO WAY a foreigner could figure this out on their own. Part of the process I needed to have an authenticated copy of my degree- which luckily I already had from my visa paperwork. It's a crazy process.

After lots of stamps, signatures, and an eye exam I was allowed to take the test. There's a written part with things like signs and stuff. I was confident about that one. I had done practice ones online and it's all pretty basic, but when I was called in to take the test the guy that brought me to the computer just did it for me. It was so weird. He didn't do that for the other people he brought in. Then I had to take the driving exam. I was nervous about this because I had heard from several sources that they just don't pass people the first time. I had two friends that had failed the first time. One had parallel parked perfectly but they said she didn't. To make an already too long story a little shorter- I did a TERRIBLE job but they passes me anyways-- yea!!

So I got my license on Sunday, and on Monday we got an email at school that one of the teachers had been stopped at a check point and detained because he was driving without a license. This is something they have been cracking down on here. I've read stories about several people being deported but it never says what nationalities. We just kinda assumed it was other nationalities, like Indian, or Egyptian. We had a meeting after school and they told us that the school was doing everything they could and using all the wasta they have (wasta is basically influence/connections) but the best they could do was get the guy deported that night instead of being detained for who knows how long before being deported. I was SOOO glad I had my license. The next day we found out that the school finally found enough wasta to get the guy out and not be deported. It was so crazy.

On Monday I bought a car- a 2007 Mitsubishi Pajero. Since gas is crazy cheap here I wanted a big car that I felt safe in and that I could haul a lot of people around in. I'm really looking forward to being able to help people without cars. So I got the car on Monday and I have been driving it every day. I LOVE it!! I knew I would be happier, but I'm really surprised at just how much happier I am now that I have the freedom to drive where ever, when ever I want. No more taxis EVER! One of my friends said he hasn't seen me smile this much the whole time I've been here. It was an awesome move. :)