Surabaya- A Joki Job

At 5.30 am, I prepared to go to Surabaya. My cousin, Priska, called me few days ago to help her friends do toefl test. She asked me how much their friends should pay for this toefl test help. I said ‘I’ll leave it for you’..I can do it for free but some people say that it is a job not charity/social event. The bus I got on was quite nice, not so crowded. It might be in the morning, on Saturday, so people don’t go to work on the weekends. The night before, I studied toefl test by virtual toefl on my laptop and a toefl book. I don’t hope much for listening section because sometimes the audio/stereo system for listening section doesn’t work well, ya it happens in every place that holds toefl test. They should provide headset or nice stereo system so the listeners can listen to test well, not always closing our eyes to get the best sound but it doesn’t work.

I arrived at Bungurasih Bus Station. It was 7 am, I slept on the bus. That was just a nap! I texted Priska to pick me up and she said ‘Just wait’, she just showered! Lucky me, I had Lupus with me, my fav book. I read but a bit worried because some people say that this bus station has got high criminality. So while reading, I put my ears and eyes on..Just in case when a thief or hypnotist came into me, I could ran away..A beard man passed me by, I was afraid and prayed but he was just passing. My fear played a lot that time. I should be rilex and got positive thinking. A crowd of punk boys looked at me, oh My God..they would probably rob me..I prayed again, but they just looked at! I should not have judged people from the book. Priska were still not coming though it was 7.30. so for half an hour I waited! Like Robyn said that Indonesia is a never being on time country, that’s strongly true! Back on my book, the noise of buses distracted me. Phww, the weather was so hot..if I put an egg on the ground..it could be over-cooked! Worried of my skin, hahaha..darker, ya it can be worse : so dry and dying. I covered my nose with a handkerchief; people might think that I had got serious disease related to breathing. Ya the black smoke from buses looked like a black ghost that went into your nose, poisoning your lung, then painting it a black color..so bad! Urine smell blew up, grrrhhhh..it should be people who pissed in everywhere like dogs. I hate that, always!
Priska came ‘Oh thanks God’, my heart jumped in joy. ‘Oh oh, we are in trouble’, she didn’t bring a helmet for me, she forgot! Ya, I got on her motor worriedly. She felt the same..Ya this is Surabaya not a small town like Pasuruan where you can go for a motor without helmet on. We drove till someone yelled at out, but we didn’t notice at his words. Then, two fat policemen were standing on the sidewalk. I squeezed Priska’s shoulders ‘Pris, Policemen there! Just stop as if I will take angkot!’..Priska stopped and I got off, we were trembling in Fear. Thanks God, the policemen didn’t see us but I thought they did. I suggested her that I take angkot to play safe. But the angkot would take time, and the toefl test would be on 8 am. Priska turned away to wait for me on other street to avoid the police. I rushed to catch her up. Ya ya, finally Ojek was our final choice. An old man with cigarette-smell, ya didn’t really like his smell..but I should like it for couple minutes while he was taking me.
On the toefl place, all friends of priska’s were coming, there were 6 people. 3 girls and 3 boys..they are all medical students. Geez, I was around genious people but they were not really good at English things that’s why they needed me;P. We threw a strategy to spread the answer while doing toefl. It’s simple, so I sat on the middle and a left and a right person would copy my answers and showed it to the people on their back.
Listening section is always not nice, the stereo system didn’t work well..it bothered a lot because I could hardly hear anything. But I gave I a best shot..never rely on my listening section so for grammar and reading section should get the highest score to help the listening section’s score. They worked so fast, I just finished my answers and they did too, I didn’t know how they could easily calm down to copy my answers while the teacher never left her seat. If I were them, I would have butterflies on my stomach. Once on elementary..I dropped the book when I tried to cheat. I was very afraid and wanted to die..The teacher picked that book and asked all students to submit their book on the teacher’s desk. My first frightening experience on cheating, so I always think a hundred times if I want to cheat.
‘Have you ever taken this test before?’
‘Jreeeng’, that question came out from the teacher who kept an eye on us, the toefl participants. Ya..My heart was dancing fast, wanted to die! Or she was suspicious that I could do the toefl fast and calmly while others were trying to copy my answers. Ya ya, I was hired to help them do the toefl test on one of education office in Surabaya. The toefl test is one of the requirements for their academic matters.
I said ‘No’…Whoaaa, it just came up on my mind. Actually I am a bad liar, people will find me lying whenever I say untrue. I just got my power to say it otherwise she might send me out.
Then, she kept trying to knock me down ‘Ehmmm, I am familiar with your name’
‘Well, Ma’am..you know that Sarimbit is kind of cloth’s name so you’ll find it everywhere’,
That’s smart answer, I praised my self..’so now just step back, you young lady’, I talked to my self
Well, I admitted that I was afraid of her attitude. Then, we finished..Oh thanks God, it was like in hell..I asked Priska’s friend how it was going. They said that the lady was unmoving and they found it hard to spread the answer from me. Priska and Rifky, her boyfriend, were waiting outside and told us that they were also worried when that lady didn’t give us a chance to breathe;P.
‘Arggg, where is my helmet?’, one of friends lost her helmet and another helmet. So there were two helmets lost. The lady came and said sorry.. What a bad day!

Priska didn’t take me to the bus station after the test but we went to Rifky’s place, boarding house. Ya we just came into his room. I always compare this condition to Malang. Ya in Malang, we can’t do that otherwise the landlord will kick us out. Oh Surabaya, it is so free..We ate our lunch and chatted..Ya, Rifky is an easy going person that’s why I feel comfortable at talking to him. Then, Priska took me to her place not quite far from Rifky’s place. Her room was so clean, unlike my room that looks like a storage. We talked anything about my big family in Jember, and something burst into laugh. Ya, though we meet once in a blue moon but we are quite close. At 6.30 pm, she took me into bus station. The buses were full of passengers, ya I had to get in though I didn’t get a seat. I was standing around an hour then an Arabic old man offered me a seat, what a relief. A old lady next to me just got a seat when she was begging to a young guy who sat on a seat. The B.O was mixed, great..I thought I would die right now. I couldn’t stand, people also smoked. I just want to cut their heads off! My head was spinning, also my stomach..I felt my mouth tasteless..a few minutes, I would threw up but I mustn’t! It took almost three hours, God…it should be only 1,5 hours but the traffic jam was on. I was dreaming my house and my bed, and I was safe and sound.