The trip to the testing center was more of an adventure than we had hoped for.

Testing is scheduled for 9am we were targeting to get there by 8:30.
Our plan was to leave at 7:30 and take a taxi. If that didn’t work we would take the subway, which might take about an hour.

We left the apartment at 7:45, running a bit late, but still with plenty of time for an anticipated half hour taxi ride.

After a few minutes we flagged down a taxi, we realized that we needed to look for the red “for hire” sign. We got in the cab and handed him the name of the testing center and the map. In broken English he said he didn’t understand and couldn’t help us.
Panic begins to set in as we realize we don’t have directions in Chinese to give to the driver.

Fortunately a few minutes later a cab stops and an Asian woman gets out. We ask her to give directions to the taxi driver. She does, but he won’t go to Kowloon, because his shift is ending. She does write down the directions for us in Chinese.

As it is now getting close to 8am we are really worried. We start walking toward the train station, but recognize that that would be futile. Happily within a few steps we get a taxi driver who understands the directions and agrees to take us.

Through much traffic, a tunnel and my wifi not working so I can’t track our progress, we get to the testing center at 8:30. We make our way up to the fifth floor and find the testing room, which looks closed. After a more minutes of searching we find the real waiting room. I look on the board and the girls names are listed. What a relief.
It also turns out that the other students at the testing center are taking tests for financial mathematics and actuarial modeling. I feel like posting a job description.

A nice English speaking Asian man comes out from the office and asks if we are there for the ERB. He says we can start early and finish early. The girls go in and get started in a nice testing room. It has video surveillance of every single station.

Someone is probably reading this over my shoulder as I type.

–Andy