So I’ve been putting off learning to drive for a couple of years now, I don’t know why but I kept pushing it back. I guess I never really felt the need to, since I don’t go to many places to begin with. I used to really rely on public transport like Angkots to get me around, but since the development and rise of ride sharing in Indonesia, I’ve been using them a lot for everything. If you can consistently get good vouchers and promos those rides can be basically free! But since the pandemic the prices have gone up significantly to make up the difference on lower overall rides. It’s gotten to a point where a single trip would cost the same as a week’s worth of gas, and that’s where the viability runs out for me. 

So, recently I got in touch with my local driving course facility, and I booked some lessons with a manual car. I think it makes more sense to start learning with a manual since it would be much easier to switch to an automatic than the other way around. But it’s definitely harder to start by learning manuals when you’ve never been behind the wheel before. There’s so much more you need to worry about, the threat of stalling, trying to shift gears smoothly and needing to control every aspect of the car at once. 

But honestly after you grasp what everything does and what you’re supposed to do, it’s only a matter of performing it consistently and smoothly. The first lesson I had was a bit unexpected, it was my first time behind the wheel, and after a couple of laps around a quiet neighborhood, my instructor seemed confident enough in me and told me to go on to the real roads. I wasn’t expecting this at all during my first lesson, but I did manage to drive on real roads without any major mistakes. It was a scary road too, barely wide enough for two cars to pass through, and there were a million motorcycles zig-zagging through, and several big trucks coming from the opposite direction at speed. But I managed to keep it together and got through it, even drove myself all the way home, which was not what I thought would happen for my first lesson.

I’ve had a couple of lessons since then and I think I’m progressing very nicely. I've been practicing hill starts, which is very important in a manual car, since you don’t want to roll back too far and hit the car behind you. Also learning to move backwards and forwards comfortably which is important for parking. I still have to get used to crossing lanes and downshifting quickly when I need to stop and not stall, but overall I’m pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished with not a lot of time. I hope acquiring this new skill will help not only me but the people around me.