THE FIRST YEAR IN AMERICA

STORY FOUR

THE FIRST YEAR IN AMERICA, OR

CHANGES, ADJUSTMENTS AND MORE OF THE SAME

We deplaned in LA somewhat tired from thee long trip, only to face several hours of waiting for a further interview with Immigration officials and Customs. We were asked to go to a separate facility within the airport confines and there await our turn. There were many other people present and we expected a long wait, but hoped that we would be processed in time for our connecting flight home. The waiting seemed to drag on and many others went to the immigration desk to check on their turn, or plead that they should be put ahead of others for one reason or another. We did not do so, even though it was a tempting notion, because I thought that when our turn came we would be called in normal rotation. Finally, with but forty minutes left for our next flight, our turn came. The official was very pleasant after having found our papers in order and proceeded to issue the wife her necessary green card that gave her a resident alien status. The official also remarked on the fact that we did not bother him but instead patiently awaited our turn for which he said he was grateful. As a sign of goodwill he inspected our luggage very quickly, so that within ten minutes or so we were cleared and quickly found the corridor for our connecting flight, which we boarded on schedule.

The flight was to make one stop at Las Vegas, Nevada prior to landing at its destination. After having landed in Nevada, the plane experienced some minor mechanical difficulty, so that instead of a twenty minute layover, we waited almost four hours. It was late at night, before another plane flew us to Grand Junction. When it came time to call for our luggage, we found that except for what we had carried aboard, all other pieces were missing. It was past midnight and only one person was still on duty at the airport counter. We were instructed to file papers for our missing luggage the next day, which we did. It took another three days, but fortunately our luggage did arrive. It seems it had been routed to a completely different city, when our original flight was discontinued and another plane took us home. The inconvenience and frustration with the luggage seemed to set the tone for the next few months.

My spouse found it very difficult to adjust to American style foods at first. Were it not for some constant invitations by some of her compatriots, who served Korean dishes regularly, and even grew their own Korean style vegetables, she very well could have become quite ill. As it was she lost some weight, which she really could not afford to and had trouble gaining it back. There is an Oriental Grocery in town, but their specialty is mainly Japanese food. Although we shopped there for whatever staples the wife felt comfortable with, their inventory fell far short of her needs. We finally went to Denver to a Korean grocery and stocked up on various items including a big rice cooker. Nothing however, could compare to her mother's fare and Korean staples including Kim Chee, certain oriental fish, fruit, meats and vegetables as well as bread and pastries. It would take a long time for the newcomer to begin to change her taste somewhat and to even try to prepare American style foods.

When I first drove her around Grand Junction, her new home in America, she was somewhat disappointed in its size, having come from one of the larger cities in the Orient. She claimed that her “village”, which we would refer to as one of the districts in Seoul, was much larger than the whole city of Grand Junction, which of course was quite true. Coming from a city of over ten million to one of less than thirty thousand can be quite a shock. Not only was the city small, but Seoul, a modern sophisticated metropolis, with all the amenities of a huge population center was of course completely different from a predominantly Western oriented, largely non-industrialized sleepy cowboy town, which did not even have a public transportation system. She was devastated to find only one large shopping mall, which in most cases did not carry her petite sizes, and when I showed her Mesa State College she bemoaned the fact that not only was it a small campus, that most people have not eyen heard of, but that it was not even a University. Her views of the local supermarkets were not much better, and although she liked the large varieties of foods, most of them such as cheeses, frozen foods, and so on, initially did not interest her at all; neither did the produce, fruits and meats. After trying some of each variety she would remark about the differences in taste or flavor over those of Korea.

I had some business to take care of back East and we thought it might be a good idea to drive back and see a bit of the country as well. We stopped in a few places along the way including Ohio, where we slept over with some long-time acquaintances of mine. My Wife was surprised at the distances, since several states took almost a whole day to traverse. She was just beginning to get an idea of the spread of the country. Most of the time we stayed on Interstate 70, until we ended up in Maryland, the state I had originally relocated from to Colorado. We stayed with my oldest daughter for two weeks, visiting Washington, DC, Baltimore and Annapolis. We also drove down to Lexington Park to visit my son and his family for an afternoon. Although the families were friendly to us, one could sense a lot of reservation and the new visitor naturally felt it most. The congestion, hustle and bustle of the heavily populated crowded area reminded her of Seoul. She decided that Grand Junction was not such a bad place after all, especially in terms of ease of life and quality of weather. Our visit one day to the Capital was less than pleasant, for suddenly the weather changed drastically and it turned cold and very windy, with rapidly dropping temperatures, figuring in the wind chill factor. We went to the Air and Space Museum and I bought tickets to a documentary about the astronauts in the well known IMAX theater that has a large round screen, so that one feels one is actually a part of the picture. Unfortunately for us, an announcement some two hours later indicated cancellation of all showings for the day due to technical difficulties. It was that kind of a day. She did enjoy going through the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art, as well as a drive through the City and around the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.

What she liked most however, was not the large arts and crafts show in Gaithersburg, although she did buy some unique items there, nor the Naval Academy in Annapolis, though she thought the city quaint and picturesque, nor Baltimore's Harbor Place and the Constitution at anchor there, but rather the opportunity to find Korean restaurants. We looked for them wherever possible and frequented them as often as we could manage, twice daily when time and schedule allowed. We found Korean eateries in Silver Spring, Rockville, Baltimore, Alexandria and Arlington. It was to her heart's delight and made her happy. She also liked the large shopping centers and modern style architecture, but at this time her English was still scant so she could not really enjoy herself, since she could hardly communicate, nor read the language. Not only that, but just before we left we found out somewhat belatedly, that she might be expecting. At first we thought about postponing the trip, but with the advice of her obstetrician, who had no objections, we went ahead as planned. Sometimes she was a little sick but not often and the only deterrence was being a bit more tired than usual. I finished my affairs and we decided to swing North to New Jersey, to visit my sister. We stayed with her since her children were attending college out of town. One day we drove across the bridge to Philadelphia, where we fortunately located at last three good Korean restaurants. My sister also took us to a Chinese section, where we shopped for some groceries to take back with us and found a Hong Kong import store that had sizes fitting the wife. She was happy and we concluded our visit and headed for home.

This time though, the trip was different. Now my spouse knew that Korean restaurants existed in America, and that many offered good food at reasonable prices. So, wherever we went and encountered a larger city, I would drive to a hotel or motel, look up ethnic restaurant in the yellow pages of the telephone directory, obtain directions from a clerk or police officer, and head out for the target location. Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and so on, each in turn would be dutifully researched and the local Korean restaurant visited. We really got to see quite a bit more of each city in this way, because we often had to drive through various sections and suburbs to reach our goal. I had a CB radio in the pickup and we enjoyed listening to the truckers and their unique, usually shop-like conversations. Finally she got the urge to say hello and I told her the normal way to get on the CB. At first she was hesitant, but then she actually tried it and got an almost immediate response. Of course her English was still very poor, so that she would just be shy and cut out. She was also introduced to some stormy weather on the way back. Many states experienced large floods so that we had to do quite a bit of detouring around some of the big rivers, and in fact after we had crossed the Missouri river, the bridge we had used was closed to traffic. It was an education for her, weather-wise and made her aware once more that in this respect her Colorado home was safe from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and severe weather in general.

We arrived back home and found everything was in good order, thanks in part to our neighbor who looked after our place. Naturally, when they left town, we would reciprocate. The wife started to make monthly visits to her doctor and he was generally satisfied with her progress, although she did not really gain much weight. She started to study English by herself using Korean-English grammar exercise books and dictionaries, most of which we had purchased prior to leaving her native country. We also watched many rental movies on our VCR that assisted her in learning the language. She registered with an adult volunteer teaching program administered through the local public library and had a tutor assigned to her to assist her in English. All this helped somewhat, but the pace was still slow.

Time came to visit the Dentist. I had found a very friendly and capable gentleman, who really specialized in dentistry with children, but did take on some adult clients as well. He had done some good work for me and I knew my spouse had not been to a dentist for a long time; apparently that is not the favorite place to go for Koreans, unless they really have a problem. She fussed and made up excuses, but finally I got her scheduled for a visit. The dentist upon examination, decided that it was high time for her to start paying attention to her teeth, and although she did not have any cavities, her gums and teeth needed a lot of scaling, cleaning and general hygiene to bring them up to a satisfactory standard. It took almost monthly visits and much training in flossing and so on to bring her up to par. At long last, over a period of some two years, we were successful and the dentist was able to plan a quarterly schedule for her. We had a very mild winter that year, and with the beginning of spring it was time to enroll in a child bearing class. We went and learned all the latest about child birth including various breathing techniques.

A visit to the maternity section of the local hospital made up the end of the class. It was getting near delivery time and the expectant mother was getting a bit fussy on occasions. We looked far a bassinet, and prepared a layout.

Then, near the end of April at about ten in the evening, the wife thought that she may be getting closer contractions. I timed her, and yes, I thought she was right. We called the off-hour number given us by her doctor, and he said just as a precaution to take her in to be examined. We got to the hospital within the hour, since it was close by, and the staff on duty began their examination process. They got on the phone as soon as they were done, informing the doctor that she was already in her second stage of labor. He was somewhat surprised apparently having anticipated three weeks more for this to happen. He showed up just about past midnight and agreed to have prepared for the final phase in the delivery room. Within the next two hours, she did her womanly thing, while I was holding her hand and the obstetrician assisted a bit coming out with an almost seven pound baby boy. The doctor was very pleased at the seeming ease with which the wife delivered a rather big baby for her small size, telling me how it always amazes him when the small girls usually have an easy delivery, while the big ones often have a hard time. He congratulated us and upon checking the baby thought he was in good shape. Mother and baby spent two days recovering in the hospital and then went home. A new ingredient had been added to the family and its impact would be widely felt from now on.

Assuredly by now dear reader, you have been gently lulled to sleep long ago. So please continue the next time you need some relaxing and (yawn) boring material and it will quickly put you to sleep once again. Whenever you have gotten through this STORY however, do turn to the next one. Thank you.

Published at 1997 edition S.p.N.LAUB