Impresario (XXI)

One news paper advertised about having a short course or college or some kind of vocational school in tourism industry. It’s a shortened one year program majoring hotel industry. I was kind of interested with the advertisement, and after discussing with some relatives I went to see the course and found out what it was all about and of course the most important was about the course fee itself. The college / course were under Impresario foundation, and that was the name of the course / college. I collected some brochures and took it home. Now I had to think where to get “the sponsor” I went to see uncle Zainal, he was the co owner of Beringin Restaurant, the other owner was my grandfather Masri Jamil who is the half brother of my grandfather Djamarun Rasjad. I expressed my intention to uncle Zainal and about my plan to take the course, without thinking much he gave me the necessary fund for the course fee. I conveyed my gratitude, and was going home happily.

The next day I went back to the course to get myself registered. The fee itself was not expensive really, it was only Rp. 300,000.- I got myself registered and went back home afterwards thinking that I would work at a hotel someday. I thought it’s cool to work wearing nice uniform or suite. But all I was thinking working at hotel was greeting guest at front desk and putting the smiling face with nice suite.

There were about 25-30 students enrolled in my class, there we were given few subjects such as hotel management, front office, food production, housekeeping, English for hotel etc. The lecturers were mostly practitioners in renowned five star hotels as well as lecturers in other hotel academy or tourism vocational schools, so yes the lectures were qualified enough. We had class almost every day and very often before and after the class we used to gather chatting and joking. The class mates were Faisal, Iwan, Zailani, and others. Also besides chatting and joking we often sang some song followed with a guitar played by Zailani, there was one song that we always sang it “I saw her standing there” by the Beatles.

to be continued...

Sabang Hotel (XX)

Both test results already came out, and I had to accept the fact that I had failed. Now here I am an unemployed person, hiks…. Practically I had nothing to do, thank God I have a lot of relatives that at least I could count on so I could still survive. I used the situation for visiting my old friends including to Novi’s house, you know the girl I used to have a crush on when I was still in elementary school. I paid a few visits to her house, one night at her house we’re having a chat at the verandah and her father also joined us, we talked about lots of things. Novi’s father asked me about what I was going to do with my future after failing from the test, he gave me some inputs and suggestions about taking short courses like short course on plumbing, I had no idea why on earth he suggested that kind of course, I just nodded, doing that at least he knew that I was listening to him even though that idea didn’t interest me at all.

I was thinking that taking courses about computer might not be a bad idea. So I started gathering information about computer courses. I went to some computer courses to get information regarding the packages and the course fee. What I was looking for was the very basic knowledge about computer such as introduction to computer, DOS system, Word Star, Lotus, D-base, etc. I believed so much that having knowledge in English and computer was very important to be able to compete in the work area. Saying that I had zero knowledge about computer but I felt my English was not very bad after all, well I would say it was considerably okayJ

Reading daily news paper in the morning suddenly became a habit, looking for information about courses as well as job vacancies. But as a high school graduate only wouldn’t give me enough opportunities for at least decent works. My aunt Ulfah’s husband whom I called uncle or om Kusnan was always saying to have other skills, so I wouldn’t be only a high school graduate but a high school graduate plus (SMA+), he was also saying that it was very important to pursue higher education, and added that it was not cheap. I visited My aunt Ulfhah Kusnan family quite frequently, and got my ID (KTP) there too proving that I was a legal citizen of Jl. Anngur Barat III/12 Jakarta Selatan.

I had an experience, there was a job vacancy I read from a news paper, it’s Sabang Hotel, it’s located on Sabang Street Central Jakarta, I didn’t remember the position required, it’s something like helper or assistant in and F&B Dept or Room Division. I was going there wearing sort of formal clothes bringing an application letter with me complete with my high school diploma put in a red folder.

“Good morning sir, I’d like see the personnel manager” I asked a security guard

“ What’s your business?” the security guard asked me back

“ I wanna give this application letter” I said

“Ok go that way on the second floor” replied the security

I went on walking to the direction the security guard told me, and took the steps upstairs to the second floor. The office where I was going to was not in the main hotel building. It’s in an annex building behind the main building. I knocked the door, and somebody opened the door for me.

“How can I help you? Asked the guy

Then I explained my intention to the guy, he then showed me to the person I was looking for, I was asked to be seated. We had some talks and short interview, which was my very first job interview in my entire life. The personnel staff asked me a few questions regarding the position applied, and I tried to give my best answers to every question given to me and was sure I was a bit nervous because I had no clue about the position I was applying, it’s just because my desperation as an unemployed person if I may say so, and I wanted to test myself if I had guts to apply for a job.

“We’re very sorry Arief, the position needs a person with at least two years experience with some degree too” explained the personnel staff to end the conversation.

I tried to smile and said thanks to him, and walked away. ”stupid me, what the hell am I doing daring to apply for a job without having qualifications and experience” blamed myself for doing that. I walked slowly towards the exit while thinking the embarrassment I just had and stupidity I just did.

“Hi man, you want to apply for a job? I can help you” a stranger approached me

“Yes why” I was wondering what this guy was trying to do to me

“Come with me” said the guy

I followed the guy but still wondering what this guy was up to

“I have an inside man who can help you to get the job, but it has to be trough me and we need to give him some money under my recommendation” the guy went on saying

It was like I was hypnotized and I just trusted the stranger that he could really help me to get the job. The word “recommendation” hmmm that’s a new word to me, I might have ever heard the word before but surely I didn’t really know what it’s supposed to mean. I was just guessing that it meant something good to me and I liked the word sounded any way, I really felt I was so naïf then. He asked me how much money I had in my pocket, of course I didn’t have much while showing to the guy all the money I had and proving him that I wasn’t lying and I agreed to give him Rp. 10,000.- and left me with some change for bus fare. I was thinking again and wondering whether this was the way people can get the job by having an inside man and bribing. He took me to the public telephone box and making a call to someone. He was talking to someone from end of line while taking my folder and trying to read my application letter, and mentioning my name and saying that under his recommendation to accept me. He hung up the phone and convinced me that I just wait for further notice, he also kept my folder with my application letter and certificate in it. The stranger left me and I was taking a bus going back home while thinking and hoping I would get a letter from Sabang Hotel informing my employment.

I told my uncle Risjar regarding what had just happened to me, he kept quiet and made me realized that I had just been deceived. That the first lesson I learnt that we don’t easily trust a stranger and we don’t bribe for work.

to be continued...

Welcome back to Jakarta (XIX)

That day I arrived in Jakarta, I went straight away to my uncle Risjar’s house in Rawamangun it’s not too far with the house where I spent my childhood in, here I am back to Jakarta I said to myself. I got a warm welcome from my uncle and aunt and cousins. God I can’t believe that I am in Jakarta again. I also managed to meet my old friends from elementary school and junior high school. I also visited my old neighbors and the owner of the house our family had rented from for about seven years. Nothing much changed though I could see the house I used to live was still like before only the paint had started to fade and not too well maintained. It was now lived by bunch of students, apparently the house was rented to university students from IKIP Ramamangun.

The days were passing by, I was still waiting for the university admission test (UMPTN) to come out, I would say that I wasn’t that excited of the test result, knowing that the possibility to be accepted was small because the majors and universities I selected were among the best and most favorites. So I was also thinking about a back up, but I didn’t really think going to private universities at all like many other people were thinking and aiming, because that option was not feasible for me. So instead I was taking a polytechnic test at University of Indonesia in Depok. My elementary school friend I Gede Surya Sempana and I were taking a train to the University of Indonesia campus complex to have the test. When we got there we registered and had a series of tests. Like usual I wasn’t much convinced that I would pass the test knowing that I wasn’t that successful when doing the tests, and also not to mention the very tough competition we had.

Finally the day I had been waiting for came, the UMPTN test result came out, it’s there in almost every national news papers, I hurried myself to buy and read Kompas daily news paper to see the result, there was a big announcement with the list of students who passed the test. I checked the paper thoroughly in every page, I couldn’t find my name there, I tried it again and again hoping that I missed it, but still I couldn’t find my name there. My name wasn’t there meaning that I didn’t pass, after all I knew that I wouldn’t pass though. There’s one opportunity left, that was the polytechnic test result, unlucky me, I also didn’t pass.

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Goodbye Mother (XVIII)

The exams were over and the results were already out, thanks to God that finally I graduated from high school. But the struggle wasn’t over yet, I still had to prepare my self for the university admission (UMPTN) I went to Padang to have the test, we were given up to three choices. My choices at that time were University of Indonesia majoring international relationship and University of Sriwijaya majoring English literature. Most of my high school friends of course chose University of Andalas as their first choice. There were techniques that we could have adopted in order to pass the admission test, that was by picking majors and universities that were not too so called wanted or that students were not too interested in, for instance by picking mathematics in University of Cendrawasih in Abepura Papua. My uncle Bahagia Rasyad has proved it by firstly picking University of Samratulangi in Manado, and studied for about a year or so then took another admission test, and finally passed again. At least doing that meaning that we can still pursue our target and still going to university until first or second year before getting that we want. But we also had to be prepared with the consequences such as losing some amount of money and starting again from first semester as well as leaving friends from that university and the good thing is we can keep our studentship there until graduating if we don’t get what we want as our choice.

The result of the test will only come out after one or two months, during those times the high school graduates would usually find other private universities or polytechnics as backups supposed they were not accepted from UMPTN, well we don’t lose a thing right. I was planning to hear the test result in Jakarta, if I pass then great I am already in Jakarta or if I am granted the second option then I will go to Palembang from Jakarta, that was on my mind even though I got no clue where I could get the money from, was just hoping that my relatives would hand in hand help me, but if I don’t pass then there would be no chance for me to go to private universities as it would surely cost a lot and I don’t think I would dare enough to ask for “sponsors” from my relatives for financing my study.

I told my mom regarding my plan, she couldn’t say a thing but fully support me even though deep in her heart she would cry because I would live far away from her, which had never happened before. The plan was made and the days of my departure were closer. I tried anything that might be able to remind me of my village (kampoeng). One night before I left there was a wedding celebration and a traditional band performed there, traditional songs were mostly played, there was a song that I listened to it’s a song called ”Teluk Bayur” Teluk Bayur isThe West Sumtra Port and the song was about saying goodbye to the land of Minang Kabau, I attentively listened to the song sung, without being felt my eyes turned red, they were filled with tears but I could still hold it so it did not wet my face, for sure until now every time I hear the song, my mind would definitely fly back to my village.

Finally the day where I had to leave my beloved mom and family arrived, my mom already served me breakfast with her last cook. I hugged and kissed every member of the family. This time I could no longer hold my tears, my face was bathed with tears, as long as I could remember this was the second time where I cried and sobbed, the first time was when my beloved great father passed away. Besides my beloved mom, my grandmother’s mother Iyak looked so sad and couldn’t stop crying, I hugged her a few times before I left, She had been physically handicapped for years, one of her legs was dead and could not function. We can’t imagine the effort she had to make to move just ten meters, but the love she gave to her children and her grand children and her grand children’s children was countless.

“be careful Arie, take a good care of yourself” She said to me.

“Yes Yak” I replied.

I could still remember what her face was like, and that the last face I ever saw, a few year later she passed away.

I walked down the house and headed a small bus which would take me to the bus terminal, the small bus was owned by one of our villagers and the house was not too far from mine. I didn’t expect that all of my neighbors were sad with my leaving, they all came to me and shaked my hand hugged me, some of them even slipped me some money, not much but I really appreciated it. I kept walking and still crying and crying and so were they. I got in the bus and still couldn’t stop crying , tears kept rolling down my face. This was the very first time my mom and I got separated. Good bye my beloved mom, goodbye my family, goodbye my friends, good bye my village Manganti, goodbye all.

to be continued...

Back to School (XVII)

The holiday season was over and I had to go back to school, by the time we’re entering second year, all the students were divided into three majors, physics (A1), biology (A2) and social (A3) classes. I was in biology class or A2. There I had some new classmates since some of them were from my classmates from the first grade. As usual I was always sitting in the back of the class, Oyong, Johny, Boim, Al were all sitting not far from me. We had a school band Oyong was the guitarist, Al was the Drummer, Boim was the vocalist and I was only a cheer member.

Often after school time we wouldn’t go home directly but we would stay at Oyong’s house for a couple of hours. We would usually sit in front of his house facing the street, the house was not far from the school so we would see every other students walking home from school. Oyong would hold his guitar while others would be busy thinking what other next songs to sing. I would contribute to sing some songs my self, I would pick party doll, always somewhere, soldier of fortune, etc.

Once a week we have a sport subject, which required us to come at noon after school time. I would not go home then since my house was quite far from school, so instead I would stay at Johny’s house or Yendra’s house for lunch and break before noon. We would wear training suit and were asked do some warm up and stretching before the lessons or games started. Every now and then we also had a swimming lesson and we would go to “Batang Tabit” it’s a public swimming pool but also used by schools for swimming lessons.

I joined the student exchange program AFS (American Field Service), the test consisted of English test (grammar and essay), discussions and interview. I failed in the first test and I was quite sure, I had bad mark on essay. I was very weak on essay, the title that I picked was “ If I were elected an AFS student” there were only two students out of about 50 participating students who passed to the next tests and finally there was only one student from my school who was elected an AFS student out of five from west Sumatra province and he was sent to New Zealand for one year program. Even though I failed but at least that gave me experience.

The final examinations were coming, I decided to rent a room in order not to be late and could focus on studying the lessons. I rented the house right in front of the school and which the owner happened to be Dewi’s parents, you know the girl that I liked from the first sight on the first day I entered the high school.

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School Holiday (XVI)

One year had passed and we had a long school holiday. My friend Iyan and I went to Jakarta for holiday. oh…God I missed Jakarta so much it had been like three years since I left Jakarta, I was just too excited to go back there even only for a holiday. We took a bus from Payakumbuh to Jakarta, it was a two night and one day of trip, well it was a bit tiring sitting on the bus reclining seat for about 18 hours, we had some transits in a few places along the journey, also luckily I got some acquaintances and one of them was a female at my age.

We arrived in Jakarta in the morning. Iyan was staying at his father’s house and I was staying at my uncle Risjar’s house in Rawamangun. I visited my old friends’ houses and my neighbors’ houses while I was still living in Jakarta. Also I didn’t forget to pay a visit to my late dad’s grave. So glad that we finally could meet again, they were really like families to me. I really enjoyed my time back then, playing with my smart and naughty cousins, meeting my other relatives was something I could not have it every time I wanted. I also managed to have one day trip to Cibodas , Bandung and Tangkuban Perahu. The school holiday was over I returned to Payakumbuh

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High School (XV)

I had not too bad mark on my NEM at junior high school, there were two high schools nearby my village, but I insisted my self to go to the most favorite high school SMA 3 Payakumbuh (formerly SMPP) in Bukit Sitabur Payakumbuh and accepted there. Besides my cousin Bahagia Rasyad and my friend Admiral also went to that school

The distance from the school to my village was quite far it takes about an hour by bus or motorbike, I decided to rent a room not so far from the school, and went back home every week. There I learned to be able to live by my self, learned to cook, etc. the house were I lived was very quiet and not too much light on surroundings, I thought that’s how I got insomnia from

The first day I went to school we had to join the “ospek” or school orientation, sure it was very exciting as I met new friends coming from various regions and villages. It was a bit tiring but it’s really fun though, you know we as juniors had to do anything the seniors asked us to do, from wearing weird uniforms to doing weird things, normally the seniors would take sort of a revenge to their juniors, they would do as their seniors previously had done to them when they were juniors, but I just tried to enjoy the process though.

I saw a girl, she was cute, little, white and had a long hair, my heart wouldn’t stop beating every time I saw her oh God without a long thought I had just decided that I liked that girl. Later I found out that her name is Dewi Giatri. But I could only admire her from a distance, I was too afraid to openly say that I like her, I just kept that feeling for my self, and no body knew about it. She was just too far for me and I realized that it’s like wanting something that ‘s almost impossible for me to get. She came from kind of rich family. Her father was a head of legislative (region house of representative) of the region. And I knew that she was also star of the school

About twice a week from 7PM to 9PM I devoted my time to sort of being a teacher assistant to MR. Rum Bardi nad Mr. Datuk in an English course called London English School (LES), it’s the course that I also attended for about a year when I was in junior high school. One funny thing was I had a student at the course who also happened to be my religion teacher at my school, for sure I got a good mark on that subject

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