Looks like the wedding story (part two) has to be postponed, hehe..cause there is something else that I need to get it out of my system.


Last night, I was doing my usual thing, browsing the net, and dendre was watching Ultimate Fighting Championship DVD when the home phone rang. Like usual, we didn’t even bother to check who’s calling..thinking it was just another telemarketer cause our friends/family only call our cellphone. But then the phone kept ringing and ringing and when I checked the caller ID, there was no number on it…I picked it up just out of curiosity and turned out it was a collect call….from who?? I didn’t really catch the caller’s name but I heard a male voice and the automatic operator said that the phone was made from JAIL…my goodness… The operator asked me to press zero if I wanted to accept the charge…but I was soo panicked I accidentally pressed one instead of zero..so of course it hung up the phone right away. Waah gila kan…it made me even more panicked..i was busy thinking who in the world that person is…I have a few people that are very crucial to me whose status in this country is on the brink (yes, they are here illegally..in case you’re wondering)…I mean once INS catches them then it’s the end of their life in here, literally. I was just beyond panicked, alarmed that it could be one of them that got busted and thrown in jail……… and to make it even worse I didn’t know how to contact him back.


Seconds later the phone rang again..and it was the same call from the jail, this time I pressed the zero button carefully and man..gue langsung murka seketika…..do you know who called??? It was just a jackass named Mike who randomly make a collect-call phone and ask the receiver to make a three-way call to his mom (his mom’s phone doesn’t take collect call) so he could beg his mama to bail his sorry ass out of jail..!!! Godamnit…who the hell does he think he is? You can’t just pick any number in the phone book and start calling people for help….don’t you have friends or relatives??..Oh I get it…maybe you do have but they just don’t care about you and if your family don’t even care about you so why should I do?… Am I entitled to bail you out?? Hell no…. If you got busted for driving under the influence then maybe you do deserve to be locked up in the prison room once a while….Erghhh …..!! Try the next number in the yellow pages dude!!!


I know I might sound so rude to him..but what the hell..i was shaking when I found out the collect call was made from jail, I was imagining the worst case scenario..!!! kalo di pikir... kasian tu orang gue bentak2 ya..haha…biarin aja deh, life is hard man..lagian my phone line doesn’t have the capability to place three-way calls, so I still couldn’t help him anyway…!! Yang ngeselin tuh caranya itu lho yang bikin kaget dan stress orang……..


I’ve had this kind of phone call waktu gue di Perth dulu, but the caller was a good friend of mine who had been living in danger..man, he did a lot..and I mean A LOT of criminal things..dari cabut from his apt and leaving a few months of unpaid rent fees sampe install a phone line with somebody else’s name and constantly made international calls to no end..(of course he didn’t even bother to pay the bills) sampe nyolong nyolong saluran listrik/tv cable tetangga dan yang paling parah….ngebobol mesin atm ..and no..i’m not joking and I am not bullshitting.., I saw it with my very own eyes. Jadi dia sering banget minjem mobil buat ke ATM gitu, he needed to do it at 12-mid nite, tapi nggak ada yang ngasih minjem mobil abis suka nggak pulang gitu kalo di pinjemin tapi karena dia begging2 gitu akhirnya kita anterin aja ke tempat ATMnya…dan itu bukan sekali aja…..beberapa kali, kadang dia sukses ngebobol ratusan dollar sempet juga ribuan..tapi kadang nggak berhasil sama sekali. Wah pokonya he was dangerous deh and I was relieved that he got busted actually, so he could end his risky life. So anyway, he called me from jail..i forgot how he could end up in there, but I remember everybody did everything in his/her power to find a way to help him out, kita juga pada patungan gitu untuk ngeluarin dia…some of us used the money for gambling at burswood to try our luck and see if we could double the money…..some of us did come home with much more money though and this particular friend of mine was out of jail the next day and he stepped out of the country right away….iya lah orang langsung di deportasi gitu…..


Speaking of the illegal people…I know quite a lot of them here, there used to be this food establishment in this mall nearby called Le Petite Bistro, it’s a French cuisine gitu..tapi yang kerja orang Indonesia semua sampe managernya, ada yang di Galeria Mall and West County Mall. Ternyata di Le Bistro state laen laen juga banyak banget orang Indonesia nya. Kalo yang disini sih kebanyakan dari anak buah kapal, jadi pas kapalnya mendarat kesini (biasanya di florida) langsung pada cabut. Kebanyakan dari mereka langsung ke Atlanta..nah disitu banyak agen agen terselubung yang nyalurin mereka kemana mana, sampe ke pelosok amerika. Orang dulu gue tinggal di Carbondale dan kota tetangga tuh namanya Carterville..itu tuh kota keciil banget yang penduduknya cuma 3000 orang kali tapi adaa aja orang Indonesia yang kerja illegal disitu di Chinese restaurant nya..(yupe, you could always find a Chinese restaurant even in the most isolated area in the states).


Kalo disini sih nggak banyak banyak banget orang Indonesia yang illegal, they are mostly in bigger cities..di DC banyak bener tuh kayanya, Atlanta, New York, etc. Dan kerjaannya juga macem2, temen gue ada yang jadi bell boy, hehe..ada yang jadi kurir, loper Koran, kerja di gas station, construction workers, kebanyakan sih they do waitressing, etc. ..dan kalo lo mikir mereka mereka ini dari desa bojongkenyot ato orang orang yang skolahnya cuma sampe SD/SMP..huhu, you’re wrong dude, most of the people I know hold a bachelor degree, banyak juga lulusan NHI dan malah ada juga yang tadinya udah in a managerial position di bank bank di Jakarta (walopun ada juga emang unskilled workersnya)…jadi ngapain juga kesini kalo di Jakarta udah bisa settle??…yah nggak tau yah, people think differently and it’s all depends on your personal needs..what is it that you want? If you want to start a career and work your way up to the top then maybe Jakarta is the place for you but if it’s money and money only that matters to you and you realize you won’t ever find your bank account with so money zeros in it if you work in Jakarta and you don’t care what kind of job you’re doing as long as it can fulfill your long term needs then…well come to the states my friend..hehehe. Yah kalo disini if you’re willing to work hard and do anything, pasti lah you can be more than just surviving in here, tapi ya itu..kerjanya illegal dan resiko tanggung sendiri ya..hehe… !!


Banyak orang yang nggak setuju dengan cara tinggal disini illegally tapi kalo gue malah setuju and trying to encourage a lot of people to come here that way…especially yang di Indonesia nya madesu gitu so coming here would be a good way to enhance their life, biar ngurang ngurangin pengangguran di Indonesia dan ngebangun Ekonomi Indonesia juga doong, karena uangnya kan di kirim ke Jakarta semua, jadi keluarganya pada makmur, standard of living dan daya beli jadi naek. Gue pernah baca di majalah kartini tentang suatu desa..lupa deh desanya dimana, di pulau jawa deh pokoknya, tadinya desa itu seperti selayaknya desa desa laen, terbelakang banget..tapi trus banyak penduduknya pada kerja jadi TKW/TKI (emang mereka kerja legal tapi basicnya kan sama, they work overseas) dan seketika desanya jadi makmur, banyak bangunan baru, jadi ada Masjidnya, listrik dan semua fasilitas2 laen deh…..see.. it’s a good way to build our country.


Kalo denger dari cerita cerita orang orang sih, jaraang banget ada yang sampe ketauan, except if you do criminal things and you got busted dan ketauan kalo you are here illegally..nah ya udah apes namanya. Tapi kalo nggak ngelakuin yang aneh2 sih aman aman aja kok. I think if the American government is really serious about sweeping off the illegal people, they could just easily come to any food court, any Chinese restaurants at anytime and catch them right then and there. But they don’t…


So anyway, kita sering maen2 deh sama anak2 yang di Le Bistro ini..kalo ke mall pasti mampir..(lumayan makan gratis…hihi), tapi satu satu mulai pada cabut sih, tapi ya gitu.. satu cabut satu dateng…kebanyakan dari mereka emang hidupnya nomaden, kalo nggak betah tinggal telfon agentnya dan langsung di salurin ke tempat laen. All of them are hardworker, they work their asses off dari pagi sampe malem and most of them only get one day off during the week…kebayang nggak sih, hidupnya just for work and work only, they are loaded with money but they don’t have time to enjoy it, jadi paling uangnya langsung di kirim ke keluarganya, ada yang buat bangun rumah, buat beli sawah, ada yang buat buka usaha, ada juga yang di deposito-in aja etc. Kalo yang disini sih kebetulan banyaknya orang Bali…tapi dari Jakarta/Bandung juga banyak…! I wonder where they are right now, they were still there the night before I left home but now they are gone, I wonder if it has got to do with the new INS regulation…