I left Seoul, South Korea in February of 1995 and arrived at San Fransisco, California. The day that I arrived the weather was very gloomy with overcast skies and rain. I had left my entire family and everyone that I knew in South Korea and came to the United States to live with my husband with whom I had gotten married a few months previously. After landing at SFO, I was extremely tired due to the extended flight that I had just taken. Immediately after landing, I was faced with the challenge of facing border control and customs. I was nervous during my interview because of the fear of misspeaking and due to my limited English, this made it even scarier for me. I remember the customs agent asking me if I brought any Kimchi from Korea or if I had brought money into the country. Other than that the interview went by well and then I left to go find my luggage. After that, I got picked up by my husband who had already been living and working in the United States. The first thing that we did after leaving the airport was to go eat food at a nearby Korean restaurant and then we went and purchased a television. After, we drove around Fremont to look at the neighborhood that we were planning to live in. After that, we brought the television to the hotel and I turned it on with the hope of starting to learn English but it was difficult so the only channel I watched for the next week was the Weather channel.
* The contributor of this story has asked that their name be withheld.
