Remember the Lanterns

Chris

It was spring, but the wind outside screamed winter. Especially at 5am which was my new wake up time. My alarm was set for 5am. I hit snooze twice, each at 7 minute intervals, and I finally got up at 5:14. I got dressed, putting on the clothes I had prepared the night before – black stockings, grey skirt, white blouse, black blazer, grey headband and matching shoes. It was professional (I thought) but fun. I threw on some make up, spritzed on some perfume and was out the door to Kyeongsang national university medical hospital station, a 5 minute walk away. The first train departed at 5:46. There were only a couple people on the platform at this time, but the train was surprisingly busy, mostly with old men and women dozing off. Despite the odd collection of people, the train was nice inside. There were seat heaters under the upholstered seats. I grabbed a seat, even though I was only going two stops down the line. I seemed to be the only one going to work at this ungodly hour. I learned later that a lot of them were going out to the suburban, more countryside areas to go for hikes. There were even a few high school students, judging by their uniform. I was the only one not wearing a winter coat. Many had masks over their mouths, hooked around their ears. One even had a cartoon bunny on the front. After an entire year in Korea, I still didn't know what the purpose of these masks were: Public health? Warmth? Habit? Fashion? It took exactly 4 minutes to go the two stops down to Beomeo

intersection, which I had also seen spelled bum uh, which had made me giggle... Once there, I went up two sets of stairs, turned the corner, walked down a hallway type area, scHannahd my transit card at the gates, then another two sets of stairs (this time with an escalator), turned the corner again, another two sets, then a 50m walk before another two sets up to street level. If I was going to take the subway, I was going to walk the stairs, I decided. It was another 50m or so, past a convenience store, a doctor's clinic, a pharmacy and a bank before my company's building.
The building was locked! I was there at 5:55am. we have class starting at 6:30am and it was locked! Another foreigner was standing out front.
Hi I'm Hannah. Are you a teacher at BYO? Ya. I'm Glen. He shook my hand.
Sometimes the girl with the key misses the first train and is late.
Oh.
And that was it. It was too early to make small talk. We waited for the next train, shivering, me worrying about having less than 20 minutes to prepare for my first ever class. At 6:04 the girl with the key came hurrying out of the station, she bowed and unlocked the doors. We went to the 6th floor in the elevator in silence. Glen took off to his desk and flipped on the teacher's office lights, the

photocopier and the computer. The girl with the key turned on the other lights in the building and started making coffee. 'Students only' she told me, when I came out with a mug I had brought with me. i went to get a tea bag and helped myself to hot water instead. Apparently Mr. Choi had offered me illegal coffee.
No coffee allowed, Glen said, when I went back into the teacher's office.
No toast either (referring to the bag of white bread that sat next to the coffee machine).
Don't expect to get anything around here.
He mumbled, but you can use the toaster if you bring your own bread, he showed me a bag of brown bread, but only if the students aren't using the toaster, he concluded.
Thanks I'll remember that. I smiled, he didn't. Other teachers started arriving, I say hello, but with less than 15 minutes until class time and at 6am in the morning, nobody was in a chatty mood. We all head down to class.
There are only three students. I don't know why I am surprised, what kind of a crazy person decides that studying English, 5 days a week at 6:30am is a good idea. It's a low level class (usually the more experienced teachers get their first pick of classes, and they usually choose the higher level classes), Rina (whose full name is Lee Na Soon) is in her late forties, and I am not quite sure what she does. It sounds like she works in an office

somewhere, doing something. The other female (Kim Seon Young, or Sunny, she says her English name is) is in her late twenties, also works in an office somewhere doing officey things. I don't see her again the rest of the week. And the third student is Lee Sung Min, a Daegu Bank employee. It's a quiet class, and I'm not sure if that's because they are nervous, or they are quiet people, or they don't have enough English to stay what they want, or that it is 6:30 in the morning. By the time class is finished, at 7:20 it's still quite dark, but the sun has just started to come up. The next class is quite different. It's the same level, we have the same textbook, we cover the same material, but there are 12 people registered in this class (the maximum amount allowed). Several ofthem have been studying together for three months (since they completely level 1 together) and a few of them are definitely at a much higher level than BYO's level 2. They are chatty, fun, and motivated. We have Lee Jun Yeob, and early thirties insurance assessor (whose English name is Chris), we have fifty something John (who won't tell me his Korean name) who works at some sort of water treatment company, and struggles to keep up. There's another sunny who is yet another office worker, we have Park Su Jin (male), who goes by Sue in English and is a university student majoring in engineering, we have Theresa, who is late thirties, runs her own clothing shop, speaks excellent English and is tragically single, although pretends not to be disappointed about the way her life has

turned out. There's a few others as well and I really do wonder why they are all here at 730am every weekday – I ask: some for the routine, some to get out them out of bed, some for personal development, some for their company, and some don't know. It's a fun 50 minutes. The class is lively, chatty and comfortable. We like each other. Chris and I, closest in age, spend 5 minutes chatting after class.
Ya, its very good to meet you ya. The pleasure is mine.
Ya I like studying English, but sometimes I wonder why I'm doing it ya.
Well I'm very pleased that you are studying, no matter what the reason.
Ya I liked ya your class today.
Thank you for saying so. This class is fun! I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.
Ya I should go to work ya right now. Have a nice day.
I am not sure how yet to interact with students. I actually quite like Chris. He was fun and we shared a few jokes during class and it's clear that we would get along with each other, but afterwards I get nervous talking to him. What's the protocol for talking to students? After the 730 class we have a half hour break until the next round of

classes at 9am. I head downstairs to the 'convenient store' to grab a tuna gimbap for breakfast (it's a Korean version of a California roll, with strips of radish, spam, carrot and cucumber wrapped with tuna in sticky rice and dried seaweed. A nice breakfast at 1000won apiece!) As I exit the building there is a group of 4 men in business suits, one of them is smoking, having a chat before heading off to work. Another, probably in his late thirties, is gorgeous. His hair is slightly floppy, he has glowing smooth skin and I choose him as by far the best looking man in the entire school that I have seen so far. The only strange thing is his shiny silver suit, although this seems to be a trend here at the moment – there are a lot of the business men wearing this stuff. I smile and bow as I walk by them on my way out, and again as I walk back up. They all smile and bow back and watch me as I pass – im taller than all of them, especially with my pumps. My 9 and 10am classes go smoothly (these are known as the housewife classes since naturally, the only students are housewives). I take my textbooks home with me to prepare for tomorrows classes and I fall asleep as soon as get home, this will never change, and I will never get used to getting up at 5am.
 
Shiny Suit Guy
The next morning is the same. 5am alarm, 7 minute snooze, but this time three of them, its 5:21 when I finally get out of bed but I'm out of the house at 5:50am nonetheless. Plenty of time! Train arrives at 5:56. It's quieter than yesterday, I wonder why? Today there aren't any students, still the oldies, plus a young couple that was out last night and must be on their way home now. I slump down, enjoying the heat from below the seat and the silence on the train..... Somebody touches my shoulder and I jerk upright. Oh my goodness what time is it? I had missed my stop. I get off the train, race across to the other side of the platform, which was luckily where the trains in the other direction left from (sometimes you had to work your way through a maze, up and down stairs, just to get a train going in the opposite direction) and hopped on the train waiting there. It was 6:15am. I wasn't going to make it in time! I got off at the next stop sprinted up two sets of stairs, turned the corner, ran down a hallway like area, scHannahd my transit card (thank goodness I had bought that) at the gate, then another two sets of stairs (this time with an escalator), turned the corner again, another two sets, then a 50m walk before another two sets up to street level, a taxi was waiting right there for me.
6:21! Beomeo yeok BYO hagwon kajuseyo balli juseyo – Beomeo Station BYO school please, and hurry please!
6:28. Thanks (I throw bills at him)