Driving a Stick Shift For The First Time

 

When I was six years old I drove a car for the first time.

A bumper car of course. 

 

Today, February 1^st 2016, I had my first experience driving a car on the street. This time for real. Not a bumper car. It was both exciting and challenging at the same time because I drove a manual transmission car in the hilly San Francisco. Yes it was horrifying starting the car on a hill.

Previously, I had only driven twice. Both times in an automatic car while driving around a parking lot. When I first came to the United States two years ago, one of my couch surfing hosts in Los Angeles let me drive a car for the first time. I drove around and around in an empty parking lot until the police came ten minutes later and asked us to leave.

I only started learning to drive again two days ago, as I realized my learner’s permit expires in less than a month. My fiancé had agreed to teach me to drive when I first got the permit, only to have to postpone until the last minute due to his busy schedule. I am happy that I got started before having to reapply for another learner’s permit – which is an arduous process.

It took my two hours over two days driving in a parking lot until I hit the road. Still, I wasn’t a hundred percent ready driving a manual car on the rollercoaster streets of San Francisco. My fiancé drove me down towards South San Francisco where we found fewer cars and gentler hills. It wasn’t exactly flat, so I had trouble starting the car on hills while it rolled backwards.

One of the most challenging things in driving a stick for me was starting the car without stopping the engine. 50% of the time when I came to a full stop and started driving again I stalled the car. 25% of the time when I stalled the car I stalled it again and again trying to restart it. For me, that’s the most frustrating part. And 70% of the time I started the car feeling like riding a mad horse.

Another thing I noticed driving a manual transmission car was that you need muscles. As an all-around athlete, serious swimmer, amateur weight lifter and someone who goes to the gym every week, I had trouble pulling the stick shift to reverse gear. It just wouldn’t move. Every time I tried, I could feel a pull in my biceps. I spared no effort each time and it worked only half of the time. I hope it’s just because of the particular car I was driving. Otherwise, I’d have to hit the gym more often in order to drive a manual transmission car.

Now I understand why I couldn’t find muscles anywhere on my fiancé but his biceps.

Like many first-time drivers, I was overly excited and nervous while turning onto a busy street of El Camino Real. After driving around and around the residential area until my fiancé almost felt car sick. I was overwhelmed when I finally came close to a major street, but I gained confidence at the turnaround stop.

The fiancé sitting next to me started to have ants in his pants and asked if he should take over from there. Although I was scared, I kindly refused and decided to give it a shot as I started feeling comfortable driving. I knew this is what it takes to become a true driver. As the green light came on, I gathered my courage and smoothly turned right onto the bustling street. Along with other cars imagining that I was just playing one of those Cart racing games when I was a child.

Under 30 mph. I was feeling great. I wasn’t as scared as I thought I would be. Quite the opposite, the fiancé next to me was horrified since it was my first time driving on a major street. He kept asking me to slow down and slow down. I slowed down…well, I was the slowest. There were three lanes and I was already in the slow lane, all cars were passing me by. I was going well under the speed limit. But fiancé couldn’t keep his composure anymore as I came to a cross road where the situation seemed complicated. “Stop now, just stop.” I stopped at the intersection, then we switched places. He took over.

And my first day of driving on the street ended like that.

In general though, I did great. No damage or running off the road.

Learning to drive at age 20 is no big deal in the United States, but a big deal to me. Even though the legal driving age in China is 18, few people have the opportunity to drive before their mid-20s. Having a car is viewed as luxurious in China, and a symbol of wealth and power, whereas in the United States it’s simply a necessity for many.

Today, people in China believe that the key survival skills in 21st century are: knowing how to use a computer, speak English, and drive a car. They even title it as the “new standards of literacy.” Which inadvertently made many of the great Chinese writers “illiterate.” In fact, the standard only made me “literate” a few days ago.

When asked about choosing a suitable husband for their daughters, Chinese parents often have these three standards: have money, a house, and a car.

Same thing as cars are viewed as luxuries in China. Many regular, inexpensive western products have become remarkably popular and “luxurious”, and are sold at unreasonably high prices in China. Fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, KFC, Subway, and Pizza Hut are extremely popular and you can spend a fortune just buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The same applies to Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Louis Vuitton bags, Apple products, etc.

Western culture has been silently creeping into the lives of Chinese people and changing their perspectives dramatically. Without even realizing it, we are driving into the revolution of assimilation.

With cars becoming more and more popular in China, the major transportation for many Chinese people is still the bicycle. We use it as an actual means of transportation, whereas in the United States, bicycling is more of a recreational activity. Some Chinese believe that in the future having a car will become the symbol of the poor. My father even said that once.

Granted, cars are invading the world and are produced at an exceeding rate like never before. There are so many cars causing traffic ubiquitously, the wealthy might just decide to quit driving and fly everywhere.

I’m glad I learned to drive. Particularly a manual transmission car. At least now I don’t fit in the “new standards of illiteracy.” Most importantly, if one of those escape the jungle popular movie plots ever happened to me in real life, I’d be able to drive the bad person’s car to escape from cannibals. And not be strangled just because the bad person happened to drive a manual car.

Who knows I’d even enjoy driving that much. Being stuck in an iron cubicle and waiting forever in traffic doesn’t sound all that romantic to me. Nonetheless, it’s a great skill to know.

If I have a car, I would drive as little as I can. I surely would miss those days being able to walk and bike everywhere. I managed to survive 20 years without a car. My parents have never owned a car. As much convenience as a car brings, it is not a necessity. It’s particularly true now that we have great inventions like Uber, Lyft, and Zipcar.

 

It’s been great to use my feet and legs as an actual method of transportation.

How long haven’t you used yours?