33. Night School?

While I worked there for two years, I met quite interesting people. Roger, who served his military duty in Korea, liked Ginseng tea. I gave him few bags of it. He said he saved them and only drank it when he was under the weather.

 

Charlie, who was over 60, lived with a college girl in twenties. He knew she would leave him once she finished the school. She was staying with him because he provided free room and board. Ray, a Filipino Catholic, who had a wife in Philippines was living with a white woman. Since the church would not allow his divorce, he ran away. Tom, a white guy, did not have any interest in selling homes. He was writing a novel on his 64K apple computer. I don’t know whether he ever published it. 

 

There was another older guy whose name I don’t remember. He used to tell me about his poor childhood. His family received the food boxes for the low income. His parents took cans of meat to the market and exchanged them for liquor and cigarettes. He and his brother used to eat beans. He said the old stale bread with molds were still safe to eat once you toasted it and dusted off the molds. 

 

Real estate market was down and the economy was struggling. These folks, real estate agents, were not making any sales. The office advanced the commission assuming they would make the sales in next few months. If they did not make the sales, they were let go.

 

I enrolled in Los Angeles Valley College. They waved the tuition for the Californian who had lived there for at least a year. It was my first year in California and I had to pay the full tuition. Luckily, I was eligible for the financial aid and Depart of Rehab paid for my books and the gas. 

 

In the winter of 1981, I took driving lesson paid by the Depart of Rehab. In the spring, I got the driver license. Depart of Rehab modified the car for me. They put the wheelchair carrier box on top of the car and installed the hand control. On the day I first drove to work alone, it was raining. The signal light changed to red suddenly, and I applied the break. The car started to spin. I thought I was going to get hit and die. The car stopped in the middled of the crossroad. It was Saturday morning and there were no other cars around.

 

Driving opened up the new world for me. Behind the wheel, I was like anyone else. I could run as fast as I wanted. Unlike my paralyzed body, the car would do whatever I made it to do. It was my “Avatar.” I like the driving then and now. I don’t mind the long distance.

 

State Compensation Insurance Fund (State Fund) had the home office in San Francisco and district offices throughout the state. I used to take 7-8 hours’ drive to San Francisco and Sacramento. 

 

I worked until 5 and then went to the school. Mother’s cousin visited her and I had the dinner with them. She said, “I heard you were going to the night school. That’s good. I am proud of you.” She probably meant to compliment me. But I did not like it. 

 

In Korea, night school was lower-grade school. There were no night school in America. Colleges had day and evening classes. Mostly, those who had to work attended evening classes. Sometimes unintended comments could hurt listener’s feeling. 

 

I got paid twice a month. In my 2nd year with the real estate office, the pay was often delayed. Initially, it was delayed for 1-2 days, and then several days. A church goer who worked for Cal Tran advised me to apply for the state job. He said it was stable and the benefits were good. So, I looked into it.