license 2
how it occurred to me at 8pm last night that my japanese license expired today is beyond me but thank god i did – the odds of me having the luck i had previously to pass the driving test the first try are slim.
for those of you at home who curse the rude people at the DMV, please be thankful that:
1) it doesn’t take a full day to obtain a driver’s license and
2) that when you have to renew, you don’t have to do it until 5 years later (at least in SC) and can even do it by mail!
here – you have to go through a 10-step process that takes roughly a 1/2 a day!! i arrived at 8am and left at about 11:50am! this includes standing in line to be told you need something that the previous station should have told you before you got in the next line and an extra step because i moved and didn’t have my preprinted postcard they send you.
also as a grand waste of money and time you sit through a 2 hour class (including a 30min video) because it’s your first time to renew your license. this would be especially ridiculous if i didn’t understand japanese but regardless of that it was a repetitive talk of unimportant topics – the juice of it could have been done in 30mins…though the drama in the video where a drunk salary man kills a pedestrian, goes to prison, incurs billions of yen in fines that his wife now has to deal with forcing her to eventually want to end it all was entertaining.
at least i have my license for another 3 years!! especially with all the driving i do.