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Ugh. Clean up. Shower. Pack/buy lunch. Pick up Feliz. Send her to art class. Go to parent-teacher meeting. Pick up the car at the repair shop. Buy costume for school event tomorrow...while taking care of my 1 year old boy. Super crazy day today!

Seriously, how do moms with a dozen kids do it???

Yay!!!

I passed my driving test yesterday! I can finally drive around!

I was a bit nervous before the test. Fortunately, the test officer chatted with me about the Philippines and my life in Brunei and that helped me a lot to calm down.

Getting a Bruneian driver's license if you're a beginner isn't easy. First you have to apply for a Provisional License at the Land Transport building in Sungai Akar. Bring your passport and IC card, fill-up the form, and pay 5 dollars.

The provisional license is only a learner's permit, you are not legally allowed to drive without a licensed instructor. There are not many instructors, and only some can teach in English.

After deciding on an instructor, you will need at least 10 hours of sit-down lecture about safety, road signs, etc. This cost 150 dollars.Then, you have to take the written test.

The test had multiple choices. There were two parts. First part was about road signs and the second part had questions regarding safety and road knowledge. You have to answer all the questions on the first part correctly or you will fail. The second part allows a maximum of 6 mistakes. Most of the questions were common sense, but you must read them carefully because some of the questions were deliberately tricky.

You can schedule a re-test after a week in case you fail.

After you pass the written test, then you can start having actual driving lessons. The lessons cost 15 dollars per hour. You need at least 10 hours of lessons before you can take the actual driving test. The driving test only allows manual transmission, so of course, learning on automatic was not an option.

On my first day, the teacher and I went straight to the road. I had never driven in my life before that, so that was really nerve-wrecking for me. The learner cars (the white small cars with green roof) have an extra brake and clutch pedal on the teacher's side though, so that was a bit comforting. 

Then you have to practice 2 round courses inside the Sungai Akar practice area. This is where you learn how to drive on a slope, how to make a 3-point turn, how to make U-turns, how to drive around tight angles and S-roads, and how to make very precise reversing and turning in order to parallel park and rear-in park.

Basically, if you slide down the slope, hit any curve or parking pole during the test, you will fail. If you pass these, however, then you will be tested on how well you drive out on the main roads.

The instuctor will teach you 6 routes near Sungai Akar, although the test officer will only choose 1 during the test.

If you pass, then you can finally apply for a Driver's License! If you don't, then you have to wait at least 2 months before you can take the test again.

Fortunately, I passed! I am so happy and relieved. Public transportation (even taxis) is almost non-existent here in Brunei. It 's quite inconvenient if you don't drive or if you don't have a car, unlike in Korea. As it is, we've been paying a lot for a driving amah to bring/pick-up Big Girl to/from school and to drive me to places whenever Mr. Big is at work. On the plus side, I was forced to finally learn how to drive.

Next thing to do: Find an inexpensive used car that is not too old and  in excellent condition. Wish me luck!

5th Birthday

Big girl turned 5 three weeks ago. Her actual birthday fell on a school day so we just had a simple family dinner on that day. Roast chicken+mashed potatoes+chocolate cake---her favorite meal!



with her brother





5 candles!

A few days after though she had her party with her friends at Jollibee Yayasan Mall. We first thought about having it in the Jungle gym, but it was closed for renovation. Now we're happy that we didn't do it there because I think that even though the playground area was small, the party program at Jollibee included dancing and fun games.

Jollibee is a Filipino fastfood chain that is also popular here in Brunei. The birthday package includes a set meal plus all the party stuff  (emcee, parlor games, invitations, balloons, prizes, etc). And for every $300 you can have its mascot Jollibee for free (or pay $50). The party and games went really well but the highlight of it all was when Jollibee came out and danced in front of the kids. They really went crazy!



my happy girl

 

Dancing time with Jollibee..."I want nobody, nobody but you..."





fun, fun time

  

more dancing



Big girl had a really good time. According to her, it was the best party she had ever had so we were very pleased.

Updates, Updates...

I'ts really hard these days to find the time, energy, and great will to regularly update this blog. What can I say? I have a busy 5 year old and a toddler who needs full-time attention and supervision.

So what's new?

Big Girl had her 5th birthday two weeks ago. More info and pics later...She cut her first tooth before that and got a shiny coin from the tooth fairy.

She also started Year 1 a few weeks ago. Time flies really fast! I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up...

I got a teaching job at an international school. I will start working again in January, and I'm very excited about it.

I've been taking driving lessons for several weeks now, and I think, I'm finally ready to take the test. Wish me luck!

Mr. Big's is currently enjoying his school term vacation.

We just had a nice 7-day adventure at KK (Kota Kinabalu). More entries about it later...

Till then!