Today, we started on Part 1 (of 3): the physical exam. As easy as the whole thing should have been, I have to wonder why I was even remotely surprised that it wasn’t that easy. First, we had to go to a specific hospital for the driver’s physical exam. This took a while to find, and we congratulated ourselves on actually finding the hospital parking lot AND the registration desk. We paid our NT120 (or $4 CDN) and took our paperwork to the appropriate office, which was simply labeled as “Physical Check-Ups Room.” Our pride was quickly shattered as we entered said rooms and was asked for our photos.
“Photos?” we said. The nurse then told us we’d have to drive to the DMV to get photos before we could get the physical done. So off we went (luckily, we had been at the hospital for less than a half hour so we didn’t need to pay) to the 10-minute-drive-away DMV. We trudged up the stairs and found the photo booth. I paid my 100NT for 8 beautiful shots of me, but when Kathy did it, of course, her machine broke down during the printing process. After another half hour, we finally got the photos, and went back to the hospital.
We were guided to a desk that was complete with scissors and glue. It felt like arts and crafts hour at the hospital as we laughed, chatted and cut and pasted our photos onto our driver’s license paperwork. I went in to do the physical first, which was in a room with no door, so thankfully, nothing invasive was done. My weight & height were checked, as well as whether I had two hands. Yes, I actually had to lift up my hands and wave them at the nurse. I was checked for colour-blindness, then I was asked to look into a microscope-like machine to check my vision. 
Were the “C’s” facing up, down, left or right? I answered this in Chinese and got confused with my words several times, but I guess I passed cause she gave me a stamp on my paper. The next part involved having me turn my back to the nurse. She never really explained what she was doing, and then I hear this tuning fork being struck by my right ear. My sense of logic told me it was a hearing test. I passed that too. The next station was the night-vision test, where I was asked to look inside another machine, again at “C’s” and had simulated 
headlights flashed into my eyes as I was asked to continue to tell the nurse which direction the C was facing. I’m not sure why one needed to go to this specific hospital to do these tests, but I’m not a medical professional so I really can’t critique.All ends well as I passed. Stage 1 complete. Now comes the difficult parts – the written test and the dreaded driving test with the backwards S curve. Stay tuned.
For another point of view on our adventure, you can read my friend Kathy’s blog: http://thisisthekat.blogspot.com/2009/12/show-of-hands.html
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