"Yandao" BBDC Instructors

I will always remember the day I logged into Nuffnang and saw the words typed into Google along with "BBDC instructors". YANDAO? Seriously? You people look for good-looking instructors when choosing a driving instructor!?

it has come to my attention that apart from alpha inventions, random people are coming to my blog after typing "yandao bbdc instructor" into google.


so to satisfy their curiosity: there are no 'yandao' instructors @ bbdc.


FINE, it depends on how you define 'yandao'. perhaps this would give you an idea. besides, maybe some of them were good-looking in their younger days. but i must say the instructors dont really look the way they do in the photos. both shi fu & hau kw look VERY different and chan hy's hair is a lot longer, for example, and i almost think thats either not alex tan in the photo or ive been seeing the faux one all this while. sim kh however looks just like he does: some evil taxi driver. -_-"


go look at the current instructors of my new group though (g8033) - they look weird!



Original entry here. Today is the 2nd of January 2012 (yes I copied and pasted the entries and also saved it under the original date so as to facilitate your reading pleasure) and while doing this entry I clicked on that link above. The groups have indeed changed again, but my three instructors are still in the same group. They are now in a GOLD group (!!!) because they have higher passing rates. Proud of my instructors. Can't believe, however, that Alex Tan is also in a gold group - the most expensive group!

I also find it very funny that after 2+ years, the 'feedback' link on BBDC's website is still not working. HAHA.

good day at driving

DRIVING was awesome. surprisingly i drove very well despite having alex tan as my instructor. i was actually in an awful mood when i saw 'tan jj' on my allocation slip. unfortunately im still not up to the standard i was at before my first test. i still believe i was driving really well before my test. except maybe im safer now cos i keep checking rear view mirrors. my parking is not very good anymore cos i cant seem to get the car straight. again! i solved the problem with hau kw before my first test. thankfully i can still park decently well without sacrificing any poles.

went to fix my group so as of today, i am no longer under g8001. i feel like im betraying the group, but no! i am the most loyal, since three of the six instructors of g8001 are supposed to be in the new group (g8033). i hope there are no new changes to groupings cos im still worried about the car changes. they say they'll get me the honda city for my three revision lessons & the test though!

i just figured today was my last lesson with alex tan forever and ever, and ill never run the risk of getting ng hl and sim kh again! having the autonomy to decide who will teach me and not have to be told my fate by the stupid system a few minutes before each lesson feels quite good. although looking back at how i started out, it is terribly ironic that i am paying extra to fix instructors from g8001. that said, i have never had problems with chan hy & hau kw. in fact i think the only reason why i remained in g8001 was after i found out chan hy was in the group. though of course thereafter shi fu became more like a shi fu.


Original entry here.

Shifu

ronald siew for driving. cue laugh-out-loud response. this is the last time im gonna blog his name cos from now on, hes going to be known as my shi fu. (besides, i cannot believe ALL OF YOU reading my blog actually know him by name already.) the moment he saw me he came out of the car despite the rain and asked me "what happened?" even before he took the allocation slip. 由此可见 hes been wondering that since he saw me the other day at the front door. im wondering why the instructors dont communicate with each other though - i mean, shouldnt he know that im also under chan hy (i digress: if ronald siew is my shi fu i dont know what to call chan hy, but lets leave that for now. chan hy is not very shi fu-ish but he has obviously taught me a lot too) since i use g118 most of the time? shouldnt they ask around whether their (shared) student passed/failed? maybe shi fu doesnt have that many friends cos everytime i see him around bbdc hes either reading newspaper or roaming around alone. haha. whereas chan hy, like hau kw, is practically friends with everyone in bbdc. (hau kw does really weird things to his fellow instructor friends during lesson. weird, childish crap that i wont type here.)

and i realised shi fu doesnt quite care about the upcoming changes in instructor groupings whereas chan hy & hau kw appear to have rather strong feelings towards it. i dont even think they know their groupings yet (but i do, which is funny).

anyhow, i have decided that ronald siew's my shi fu because 1) most instructors have this thing about "my" students and "others". i figure ronald siew/chan hy would consider me their student while hau kw, ng hl and alex tan, dont. 2) hes the only one who showed a genuine interest in knowing what exactly happened during the test, right down to every single point i lost. chan hy too but ronald siew asked a LOT of questions about the mistakes i made. 3) according to drama serials, particularly chinese/ hong kong ones, teacher-disciple relationships (师徒关系) often start out on very negative notes - like cannot see eye-to-eye on several things etc. the other way is if the teacher saves the disciple's life as in 少年四大名捕 but thats a bit exaggerated for driving lessons. lastly, 4) ronald siew can seriously remember a lot about my strengths/weaknesses in terms of driving. it amazes and impresses me and really shows he cares about my learning progress.



i am very amused cos i just read through all my entries labelled 'bbdc' and its damn funny the things i said about shi fu in the past. i guess we just change our opinions after getting to know somebody better. besides, hes a lot nicer now than in the past. also, i note that i have always hated alex tan, and that i used to hate g8001, until one fine day i got chan hy, and then my opinion of the group changed.

actually the very fact that i can actually parallel park is (in its entirety) thanks to chan hy, so actually he should be the real shi fu. but its too weird being able to joke around with your shi fu.

Original entry (including other stuff about me blogging about driving) here.

Driving tuition

had lunch, rushed to driving. the cab driver was amusing & very nice. on the PIE he suddenly said to me, "did you see that?"


me (listening to jay chou on my ipod): huh?
driver: lorry cannot keep right lane!
me (thinking: uhhh okayyy???): oh
driver: lorry is considered slow-moving vehicle. if he gets caught sure got points.
me: haha okay.

after a long time, nearer bbdc, he continued:

driver: see some drivers drive slowly but like to keep right lane. road hogging! very dangerous you know.
me: yeah
driver: and then some drivers not very experienced they dont look far. must look far otherwise got obstruction you dont know.
me (thinking about myself not looking far whenever i drive): hahaha yeah.
driver: all this instructor got teach lah hor?

driving tuition.

i was terribly annoyed during driving lesson though. i just felt damn irritated with hau kw (and you know i am ok with hau kw). i hate the way he counts points. i rather instructors teach me with the hope of making me a safe and competent driver not just so i can pass my test, perhaps? i dont know. its not the first time he was counting points (and his best friend alex tan also counts points cos thats the only thing he can do) but today it just annoyed me. also, i think he was falling asleep during my parallel park. i couldnt be sure cos he had his sunglasses on (thats the reason why he wears sunglasses when theres no sun). i was very pissed off when i saw that he was nodding off. i am sorry if he wasnt, but hes not the nodding-in-recognition-of-having-done-the-right-steps type. if i was sure he was nodding off i'd have complained already. but for now, there are bigger/more important things to complain about.

i walked to the counter, nicely and calmly and talked to the guy about the whole changing instructor nonsense. he assured me and said they'll get the lessons for me before the test. then he passed me the list of new groupings for me to look for the instructors i am comfortable with and i found out good & bad news. ronald siew, chan hy & hau kw are in the same group. thats the good news. the bad news is that their new group is a honda jazz group which means if i fix them as my instructors i will have three days to get used to the honda jazz.

the honda jazz is significantly different in terms of size and height from the honda city if you're wondering. its a different car altogether.

by this time i was super pissed off. there is no way i am going to use another type of car for practice three days before my driving test, and i am already making a compromise by paying to fix a group. i got annoyed and asked to speak to the helpdesk guy's boss but he told me "i will forward it to her" and promised me he'll try his best to get me that car and those instructors. he better, otherwise i will find a way to talk to his boss.

(on a very random side note i think ronald siew, chan hy and hau kw must be very glad to no longer be under sim kh's leadership.) poor ronald siew cos i am still avoiding him. saw him again today but he was in the car and thankfully i wasnt using g118. i am sorry, i am just too embarrassed for having failed my traffic police driving test.

WHICH D_____ ALSO FAILED. she took the test today and messaged me some questions about driving while i was driving. when she replied after her warm-up i talked to her a bit and thought she was going to pass but she got something like 48 points and needed five attempts to do parallel park. i was damn amused when she told me, i couldnt stop laughing as i walked into vivo city. thankfully she wasnt offended cos shes amused too.


Original entry here.

Anyone is better than Alex Tan

ng hl for driving after a terrible cab ride in which the shameless taxi driver took an atrociously long route. the worst thing was that chan hy was slacking away at the side (haha) presumably cos the student who booked that lesson didnt come and bbdc's stupid enough not to automatically gimme his lesson. haha. granted, ng hl's actually ok. just damn naggy and he speaks super slowly. besides, anyone is better than alex tan. im just spoilt by the g118 instructors. 3 more lessons before i get to fix my instructors.

Original entry here.

the behind-the-scenes

When I learnt that its wiser to sign up for driving at the start of the year, and not at the end.

still, driving was awesome. chan hy. he told me a lot of stuff i cannot blog about (cos bbdc sucks, remember) but he also told me funny stuff like how the instructors' year-end test encompasses 70 questions (they're only allowed to get 4 wrong) and a practical test with everything under a time limit. in his own words, during the test even instructors mount kerb & hit pole because they're all trying to do it under the time limit. he also told me about the parking without pole business and apparently they havent determined the turning points and all that. but he said the instructors all know its better to do it without pole because when you go out there are no poles to help you but nobody has said anything for so long cos poles = easier.

the moment i walked into bbdc i saw ronald siew but i walked away quickly so he wouldnt have a chance to say anything to me. he had the "EH??" look on his face so im guessing he doesnt know i failed my test. ive been wishing i dont get him cos i think its superbly embarrassing that i failed my test. for some reason though it only occurred to me today that the only two instructors who remember and take note of each student's strengths and weaknesses are him & chan hy. they've damn good memory and you could say they care. so please please please please may bbdc do the right thing for once and put all three of them (+ hau kw) in the same group. if i have to choose between three of them i really wouldnt know who to choose. probably chan hy since im trying to avoid ronald siew. erps.

on a totally random note, the instructors in each group are further put into pairs to share a car each. for my group, the pairings are: ng hl & sim kh (g117), ronald siew & chan hy (g118) and alex tan & hau kw (g119). thank goodness i am under g118 most of the time. i wonder how hau kw can stand alex tan. heck, HOW CAN ANYONE STAND ALEX TAN. i would like to know if anyone has actually fixed him as their instructor.

chan hy says if i have any friends who wanna learn driving at bbdc, i am to tell you to sign up at the start of the year and not at the end cos they break up groups every year-end.


Original entry here.