Today I nipped out from work for a bit in the afternoon to waltz on down to the DMV for my driving test. I wasn’t too worried about it – perhaps too little so, as I didn’t even think to really revise the road rules book until about two hours beforehand. I did, though I don’t think it made a difference. The test was pretty straight forward – drive around for ten minutes, don’t hit anything, and see how you went.
I passed, to cut to the chase. I lost 13 points; 15 being the limit for a pass. I think it was out of 60, from memory. It was a bit rough, though, as half of those points were for the same thing over and over again – not looking for psychotic American drivers trying to pass illegally on the left-hand side in a turning island. Yeah, you get that soooo often in normal driving. :/
But I passed, nonetheless, so I have a nice and shiny… er… scrap of.. paper… .. d’oh. For whatever reason they don’t actually provide you with your license there and then… but then I can’t remember how it was with my licenses in Australia; maybe that was the same.
Anyway, right now my car is filled with temporary paper – hand-written insurance form (which the DMV nearly didn’t accept), temporary license, still no license plates – they take six to eight weeks to arrive, apparently… I know there’s a 30-day leeway period after a private sale before you’re required to get plates, but, I’ve also heard that it really doesn’t matter whether you have them or not. Some cars don’t… lots don’t have a front number plate, just a back one; in California I think you’re only required to have a rear number plate.
But anyway, that’s all good, so I’m now all cosy resident and whatnot.. I did note though that I didn’t have to get a Californian license – if you’re a resident alien you can use your home country’s license indefinitely, provided you don’t “assume the responsibilities of a citizen” or some crap; i.e. vote, and whatnot. Which I didn’t think I could do anyway… but, whatever. :D
