The first embarrassing experience in the United States.

I stayed three nights at the Hotel when I first arrived at the United States because move-in day was three days after our arrival. For three days, we were held up in the hotel just watching TV at all times. My children slept throughout the daytime, and then woke up at 2am, kicked up a row whimpering for hunger, hopping on the bed. Jumping around the room for about 4-5hours, they went back to sleep at 9 am.

On the second night, we heard the guest below our room knock the ceiling, three or four times with very hard smash. It must be because they did not want to be disturbed from our roaring at 3am. "A police!" I threatened my kids to calm down. I was scared that we could be kicked out the Hotel. It took three days to recover from the jet lag.

Moving in the apartment, I thought the first thing I did was to get used to reading a map. But, I was not good at the map stuff. Looking into the map, I was alawys confused with a direction in making turn, right turn? no left turn. I had to do two or three things at the same time: driving, reading a map, and silencing my children. Now I am able to go anywhere without map, yet the map was the only guide to show me the way at the first time.

Probably, about three times, I strayed for about 20-30 minutes around the somewhere where I'd never been to find the way back to my house. When I got lost, in particular, at twilight, my fear became double because at night the street was so pitch-dark with a very few street lamps. The night view of this country is really different from that of ours. The street was so dim in that there are extremely fewer lighting than us. The road signs are typically small that I could not see exactly from the running car. In Seoul, when I was off the right direction, I could ask a pedestrian the right way during waiting for traffic signal. Also, I could call my friends to get the direction.

However, in the United States, people are usually sitting in a car rather than walking on the street. There is no one on the street that I can ask something. And I had no friends to let me on the right way. Do you know that? A thousands and hundreds people are living here, but I have no one who can help me in emergency. Fear! No, That was more than the fear. Two questions rose in my mind. Why I was here? To learn something? Then, for what?

Tears ran down my cheek. I pulled over to watch the road sign, got out of car, and looked around to decide which way I had to take. Unfamiliar with the language, the road, people, and so on everything. I knew I could definitely arrive at my destination in an hour or later, but the thing that made me depressed was that I came to knowledge again that I was an alien. Not somebody, but an alien got lost. It was different.

Somebody told me time is the medicine. I take the wrong way even now but I am not scared any longer. I am getting used to the road systems and people. Still, the language problem is not solved yet.^^