In mid April of 1995 I quit my Job in Seoul, South Korea teaching ESL in the third largest city in the world. They would not get me a bed to sleep on. Part of the teacher’s agreement is the employer provides for housing, which included furniture. Teachers paid for their own utilities. I was tired of sleeping on a mat, so I quit and left two weeks pay behind with a $1,000.00 in my pocket cash, a one-way ticket to Honolulu, Hawaii because I did not want to go home to Redding, California. And why not take a chance, as I may never, ever get another opportunity in the future to go to Hawaii in my lifetime. I ran out of money after about two weeks of staying at a YMCA Hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii. If I would have thinking straight at the time I would have waited until payday and then left. Because that school’s payday was in the middle of the month. Instead of at the first of the month like the first school I worked at. I can’t go back and change it now. It was too late, I was already here.
I was working on a book at the time called in South Korea called, “The Miracles of God”, which I have yet to finish it, if I ever will now. After two weeks in the YMCA, one of the least expensive Hotels at $32 or $36 dollars a night, I do not recall which. I was hoping to find a job, it never happened and I ran out of money after about two weeks and ended up pushing a shopping cart to the homeless shelter in down town Honolulu, Hawaii. This was the first time in my life I had been homeless.
I kept looking for work but could not find any. I kept going to the job placement center looking for work, as that was one of the requirements for getting emergency food stamps that I had to apply for because I had no more money left. The social worker even let me use his P. O. box to get my mail, instead of having my mail go to the homeless shelter. I still do not remember his name, but he was a native Hawaiian working for the Social Services Department.
The homeless shelter kept the homeless close to down town and away from the regular tourist areas. In-order to get a mat the homeless had to get in line around 4 p.m. to get a number that could be used at 7 or 8 p.m., when the doors opened for the homeless shelter. You were kicked out after breakfast and could not come back until lunch time, then, at 4 p.m. the lottery more or less for mats. At 5 p.m. dinner call, then kicked out again until 7 or 8 p.m.
I complained about not having a mat to sleep on in Seoul, South Korea and end up in Honolulu, Hawaii sleeping on a mat. The Lord taught me to be thankful for what you do have as you never know where you may end up in a worse situation, than the one you complained about being in. So where did I end up? I ended up on the Island of Paradise, sleeping on a mat on the floor in a homeless shelter, on the Island of O’ahu in Honolulu, Hawaii. There was no way I could hitch a ride home, as it would have been a long swim across the Pacific Ocean.
I had applied for a job teaching English as Second Language where else but back in South Korea. I was willing to give it one more try and what choice did I have I could not go back I had no money for airfare for a return trip back home to Redding, California. Even if I would have wanted to no one in the family had the money for it either.
In fact at the YMCA there was a time I was thinking about committing suicide and I at least called the help line and they contacted my family in Redding, California and my sister in-law Nancy Dickinson called me in my room at the YMCA and put my Mom on the phone. who had been worried sick because they had not heard from me since I left Seoul, South Korea in April. It was the middle of May and I recall going to the shopping mall and seeing them videotape the “Wheel of Fortune” game show. I even went to a church service and they were no help either. Some guy from the church said he was going to stop by and bring me some food, but he never showed up. I do not know what happened to him and why he never came to help me. So much for someone claiming to be a Christian, I guess.
For me Hawaii was an interesting place but too expensive to live and find a job, at least for me it was at the time. Other than, odd jobs that construction contractors would hire homeless people and then cheat them out of their pay by paying them the first day in cash and then carrying the rest of the labor, then they would refuse to pay you. They even promised lunch and the first day was great take-out food, after that it was garbage you would not want to feed a dog. The only good thing about having a job was in the shelter, if you had a job, you could get into your locker and take a shower before everyone else did and get your number early for a mat. Where those without jobs had to wait in line at 4 p.m. for the lottery. You were given a mat number when you got off work and arrived at the shelter, which was one of the lower numbers.
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