Scared to Death!

I took my FIRST driving lesson today.
For the 1st 5mins, I thought I was gonna DIE.
Or rather, someone else would die under my car.

My heart is palpitating north towards my throat as my knuckles turn white from gripping the steering wheel a notch too tight for dear life. My instructor seems to find comic relief in my apparent driving distress. He's actually laughing. Hah! He doesn't know yet... I come from Singapore - we drive on the wrong side of the road.

Never been behind the wheels before, I DON'T even know which is the brake or the accelerator. My instructor known as Mr Apple speaks rudimentary English with a Spanish accent. I didn't catch his explanation about 1,2 and 3 driving modes(only when I got home that Emmanuel explained to me it is the various gears). Together, Mr Apple and I understand each other well enough with "Gasoline", meaning "Accelerate" and "Brake". He has an instructor's safety brake on his side of the car. THANK GOD someone thought of that.

After 45mins, I completed a 3-point turn(with Mr Apples' help, of course), cruised up and down Washington Heights, stopped for pedestrians to cross, braked gently behind buses and cars(no vomiting), flicked my signal buttons for left and right turns like a pro and finally managed to exceed 25miles per hour close to the end.

I didn't kill anyone today. Hurray!