ESL Blogs

This is my second blog, using the same first word "Strange" :D Yeah I cannot say how many strange events come into my life. Besides, I'm not creative enough to make a nice title. Hopefully you will enjoy it!

So I want to share my random experience. Random? Well maybe not... I cannot say this is uncommon, because I have a huge list!

In November 2016, I attended an event in another city. It was my first event that required me to speak English for 3 days. Hmm I can say I was so nervous because it was a formal event where the attendees could speak fluently whereas my speech was hesitant. But that isn't the point I want to tell here. It was my second journey (the first one was when I joined a study tour in high school). I started my journey with two friends. The three of us were desperate to attend this event. So, we booked train online tickets, we booked a round trip ticket. Everything was fine.

The drama started on the day we departed. My two friends had arrived at the station, while I was still on my way and I almost missed the train! They scolded me for my tardiness. When we arrived, we separated and moved towards our respective inns.Unfortunately, we were unable to secure accommodations at the same place,  so I spent more time with one friend than the other until the end of this story. We had so much fun. We visited several, then in the evening time, we wanted to go shopping in the neighborhood of a famous street. It had already closed so we decided to drink "Wedang Ronde, being sold by a nearby street vendor, when suddenly it began to rain. We experienced new people like the street vendor and his friend who works as a magician xD. We acquired some funny stories,  seriously they were so funny because of the foolishness displayed by those two. I was impressed.

The next day we were scheduled to go back home. But, as is our habit, we wanted to buy some souvenirs for our family. Train departure was at 3.30 pm, but due to our bad time management, we went shopping at 1 pm! We arrived at the shopping centers by 2 pm.... well, we had only 30 minutes to buy all we wanted to purchase. Blablabla... until we noticed the time, it was 3.30 pm and WE HAD MISSED OUR TRAIN :D. So, we decided to buy new tickets. However, the prize was 2.5 times more expensive than those we had purchased previously :( Seriously we hadn't brought much money which resulted in the last of my money being used for booking a new ticket.

We arrived in our city at 4 a.m. the next morning. I  discovered I had no internet or wireless service because my internet package was up. So I borrowed my friend's phone to order an online cab (it is similar to Uber). 1,2,3,4 minutes finally I got the driver who could pick me up. He texted me and scheduled a meeting point. After that, one friend left first as she knew I had already gotten a driver. I was okay with waiting 20 minutes until I couldn't find him!!! YUP, I couldn't contact him, nor I could contact him!!! (this happens sometimes when booking an online vehicle). I was beginning to panic. I checked my wallet, I had Rp2.000 and a few coins! I was out of money in the ATM as well! I checked my phone balance and ....... I had no balance! :""""")

No cash in my wallet nor the ATM and no internet...... at station. Alone. I knew nobody. I was in the midst of strangers. How could I survive??? I was thinking to ask help from the station officers but I was afraid they would consider it as bother. I decided to go outside the station, I saw some bike taxis were searching for passengers. They asked me, "Where you wanna go? Come I'll drive you home". But I searched for a car because the distance is quite far (around 33-34 km) from my house. I tried to ask help of a stranger guy in regards to tethering the internet :D but he was undecided whether to help or not.

I tried to order a cab driver again but I couldn't contact him because my phone had no services as I mentioned above :( and the stranger I had requested help from decided to leave me. OK I WAS FINE. Then I ran into a second stranger, asking for her help as I had the first one. Similar to the first guy, she looked a bit afraid of me. I know we both were stranger but I had no intention of committing a crime. Thankfully she helped me and I was able to reach the driver and arrange a meeting point quickly. I asked that he arrives soon as I had no way to contact him once this call had ended. The young lady left me after I said thank you. (Notes: she helped me but she really kept her distance and tried to avoid me hahahaha). OK!

I began waiting for the driver... 5 minutes... 10 minutes.... 15 minutes... he still hadn't come. I had given my number to him so he could call me if he couldn't find me. But I got no calls!!!! I started crying a bit. "How can this happen to me??? Moooommm help me! I'm stranded among the strangers, I have nothing not even any cash!!! How can I survive here?" Yeah, my tears fell down my face but nobody realized since it was 5 am! yeah I had been waiting for an hour to get a driver! How poor I was. 

I decided to stand at a fork in the road, wishing that I could meet that driver. A scary man that was parked on the road came closer to me and asked "What are you waiting for?" I replied, "I'm waiting for an online cab". He asked me again, "Do you know the license plate number?" I said, "Yeah, it is XXXXXXXXX". He said," Okay just wait here, he may be on his way. I'll watch the cars that pass here and will alert you." WOW, I felt a small sense of relief. But to be honest, I still warned myself not to trust him so I watched his every steps. My intuition said I wouldn't find the cab driver. 

Then after few minutes, a car stopped in front of me. But it wasn't the car I was looking for. I dared to go to him and asked, "Are you a cab driver waiting for your passenger?". He replied, "Hmm nope". I said "Okay sir, I'm sorry that I bothered you". And he suddenly said, "Oh are you searching for a driver? Well I'm an online driver but I'm not waiting for passenger here because I haven't yet turned on my application." I was surprised and said, "Oh are you sure? But How much would you charge to drive me home?". He said,"The same as when using the application. Here is my application that I'm an online driver *he showed me his phone*, but I can drive you offline because you have no internet." With a little doubt I said,"Okay."........................... suddenly that scary man that had been parked came again and asked, "Oh, is it your driver? Finally you meet him". I said, "Nope. I'm booking offline." And he smiled at me saying,"Okay, it's good. Now give me some money."

WHAAAAAAT? MONEY??? YOU DIDN'T HELP ME ANYTHING! I FOUND THIS DRIVER BY MYSELF. THE HELL WITH YOU! *I screamed to myself* 

I said, "Okay, I have only this one." and quickly got in the car, but he stopped me and said,"No, it's not enough. Please add some." WHAAAT?? AGAIN? OH SHIT THIS MAN. When I wanted to say "I have no more, I have only this coin" and well, I DIDN'T REALLY CARE at all how much coin I had at that time or whether it's enough for him or not. All of a sudden the cab driver said, "Here is the money, now go". Okay, he saved me again. But to be honest, I felt he was blackmailing me in my difficult situation. I was really pissed off at him. What a jer*!

In the car.... I felt I still couldn't trust the cab driver so I tried to be careful and protect myself in my secret ways (sorry it's my secrets :P). We talked as we drove along the road and he was good. He chose to pass the highway so I arrived faster. I arrived safely at home and gave him the payment. i didn't tell my mom at that time what had happened because I was afraid that she would scold me hahaha. So I told my parents after a month after about that day and YES! my dad scolded me of my foolishness. 

I think I acquired some moral values here. The story would be different if I had asked help from the station officers xD

But it will be my unforgettable moment and I salute myself that I could survive with nothing among the strangers. I thank God, HE SAVED ME BY SENDING THAT CAB DRIVER. :D Hopefully the same things won't happen to you all!