Scooter Shenanigans

Here's a little overview of the latest:  

Last Tuesday I moved to Luodong to be nearer to my schools.  Thursday was the first day of school and I spent both Thursday and Friday at Dong Sing elementary.  It’s pretty small (only 1 class per grade, except for 2 classes of 5^th graders).  I really enjoyed it.  The kids are mostly all really sweet and the rest of the staff was so kind too.  The staff was so impressed with my few phrases of Chinese, I couldn’t help but love them!  Seriously, they were very welcoming.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will spend at my other school, which is bigger, but I’m not sure by how much.

Also, Tuesday morning we had our scooter test and I somehow managed to pass the road test.  We had to take a written test first and then if you pass that you can get a 50cc motorcycle license or take the road test if you want to drive something more powerful.   I wanted to get a heavier one so I decided to take the road test.  We got some time to practice going around the track before it was time to take the test, but since there were only two scooters between about 10 of us and there were Taiwanese people practicing too there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunity to practice.  Basically the test consists of driving down a narrow strip (maybe about a foot or a foot and a half wide) that you need to take at least 7 seconds to drive down without putting your feet down.  That part was really hard to go strait and slow.  After that we could resituate ourselves and enter the rest of the test which consisted of driving around about a three foot wide lane and stopping at a stop light, a stop sign and railroad tracks.  Also using your blinker for the two turns.  The first several times I practiced it was pretty rough, but by the last time, I knew if I could do it just like that I would pass, but even so when it came time for me to go I was a bit nervous (although on the outside I think I was fairly calm and collected).  Just about all the other ETAs were watching and so were a fair number of random Taiwanese bystanders.  The man who was testing us helped me line up my scooter before the slow part and I took off.  I went too fast so it only took me six seconds to go through but fortunately you have two chances to do that part.  The second time I was able to do it and I was so encouraged by all the cheers of the ETAs!  So when I started the next part I was feeling pretty good.  I stopped at the stoplight, but after that things rapidly went downhill.  I failed to use my blinker but still made the turn okay, but somehow one second I was driving down the lane and the next second I was smashed into the tires that lined the track.  Yes, I ran into the wall, which was the one thing I really didn't want to do.  I played it cool though and just casually swung back onto the course without putting my feet down.  If you put your feet down outside of the course it’s 16 pts off (and you can only get 30 pts off before you fail.  Not using your blinker is 8pts).  Going off the track was also 16 pts and I think crashing into the wall is an automatic fail.  But after I got back onto the track I did a good enough job with the rest of the test (except for using my blinker…still didn’t do that).  Anyway, once I finished one of the ETAs asked the man giving the test if I passed and the guy just kind of shrugged his shoulders and gave a slight nod.  I’m convinced he didn’t see me crash into the tires (I had noticed during other people’s tests he wasn’t playing the closest attention).  So that is how I got my scooter license. 

On Friday I was able to take a scooter of my own home and I drove it to Yilan (about 12 kilometers away) to visit my old roommates and neighbors.  It’s pretty fun to drive, although slightly terrifying at the same time.  I also got a bit lost both ways so it wasn’t ideal but I’m sure that will get better with time.  Also, I mostly use my blinker now so I’m already improving since the test!

Anyway, that about covers the latest excitement around here.