I Passed My Test!!!!!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

So this is how it happened. I didn't pass on Monday and so I went crying to my supervisor that I needed help. Instead of anything useful, he said "Do you're best and I'm sure you'll pass next time" All the while knowing that if I don't actually improve, I'll be taking this test up 12 or 13 times! No one is going to pass me just because I show up. They'll just feel bad failing me every time.

So I went home crying to Nick. The next day (because his Japanese is much better than mine) he called up the testing center, then called up some driving schools and finally called up a few private tutors that could help me out. After pulling a few strings he set me up with a very nice teacher for Thursday afternoon (more time off of work...bleh)

However, there was a problem that I'd been having since about my 5th time taking the test. As I kept improving, the proctors kept giving me more and more specific information for how to improve. My Japanese limits me to basic stuff so even though I was getting the gist of what they were saying, I couldn't understand the very specifics and that frustrated me even more. I told this to Nick and he decided to come all the way from Kitagawa* to translate what the tutor was saying to me while we drove around.

*Ino is where the testing center is. It's about 30 minutes west of Kochi city. I live about 40 minutes East of Kochi city and Nick lives about 2 hours East of Kochi city. Just to put things into perspective. He also had to take a little bit of time off of work as well. He gets more vacation time than I do but still.

On Thursday, I went to work until 2pm then hopped on a train to Kochi city where I met up with Nick who then drove me to the testing center.

Actually, right as Nick was leaving work early that day, he decided to take a back road home. He'd done this before, it was normal. Earlier in the week he had a close call with almost getting run over by a car. He missed it and nothing really happened. But on Thursday, as he was riding his bike home from work, he actually did get hit by a car.

It was some old woman who went through a blind turn too quickly. She hit Nick and he bounced back off the car only so that the car could keep going forward and drag him a few feet. His right foot has a pretty big scrape on it but if he hadn't been wearing sneakers, I'd say that a good chunk of it would have gone missing. Other than that, there are a few scrapes on his back and arm but nothing very serious. The bike is completely shot.

And he still made it into Kochi city in time to pick me up and take me to my tutor.

We practiced there for a few hours and that was about it. I took the test on Friday and everyone at the testing center was very proud. They were so happy to see how much I had improved. They really were all rooting for me. :)

And I honestly don't know how I can make it up to Nick. He knows it's a big deal what he did but the gratitude I feel is immeasurable.

And that's my story! I'll be driving like crazy for the next few weeks!!!!

6 shared their love:

Anonymous said...

YAY!!! NINA!! & YAY NICK!!

Unknown said...

Congratulations! I am sure it is a large feeling of relief!

Anonymous said...

1. Is Nick still feeling ok? Sometimes those kinds of bruises show up later.

2. Did that woman get a ticket?

3. Did she at least STOP to see if he was ok? Or offer to buy him a new bike?

4. What specifically did you change about the way you took the test?

--mom

NinaSama said...

1. As time goes by, he feels better and better. I was worried about extra wounds showing up after the fact but he's really ok.

2. The woman didn't get a ticket because Nick was so shaken up that he just wanted to go home. She drove him home and only after he took a shower did he think that he should have called the cops. It worked out in the end. Nick lives in such a tiny place that without even getting his name she showed up at his office the next day and worked things out with his boss.

3. The woman will at the very least be buying him a new bike.

4. I changed little tiny things like how slowly I go around curves and how fast I speed up on the straight of way or how close to the curve I am at any given time. Little things (ToT)

Anonymous said...

YAY!!!! Congratulations Nina! That's so crazy about Nick... and very scary too, I know Drew got in a car accident (when he was actually in a car too) and I was scared every time he got in a car for a week... SO I don't know what I'd think if he had been on a bike, he'd probably still be getting calls from me every 15 minutes. It was still very cool that after all that he was still there for you when you needed him. Have fun driving little one!!

Anonymous said...

You live in a forest with a little blue bear and a rainbow...It sounds maaaagical...

 
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