Stranger in Wonderland

Moving to an Unfamiliar Land That Speaks a Foreign Language

2014-07-25 Friday

English Book

A half year will have passed since I moved here.

For the first two months, I had devoted myself to errands to help me settle into a new situation. Since my husband has a job during the daytime, I mainly took charge of looking for an apartment to live in and arranging to get a car. It was hard to drive in an unfamiliar land to a hotel on the day when we arrived, but I got my driver license quickly. This was the first and most significant event after the moving because the driver license is the most strongest Photo ID in this State. At the end of the second month, the ESL class I registered for was starting. Based on these factors, I had felt I almost learned the ropes.

Next three months were even calm, but a bit dull. After finishing the ESL classes in the spring semester, I felt it very helpful, but on the other hand, I felt my English skills had not improved at all. I was able to say only 20% of what I wanted to say. Making and answering phone calls in English was a great challenge for me. Although I quit my job before coming to this country, I still have a craving to work again. A few times I looked into job opportunities, but I felt like I was completely out of their league. I didn’t know how I could cheer myself up anymore.

And then, five months and a half has passed. My English is still broken and disjointed, but speaking English itself no longer bothers me. I don’t need to take a deep breath to calm myself down before answering the phone any longer. I believe that learning about the syntax was a major breakthrough for me. It helped me develop not only my writing skills but also my oral and reading skills. By being more confident, I enjoy learning English more so than before. Hopefully, as long as I keep at it, I would be able to go on the right track.

Author

Yuko Honda Morita (yukop) : yukop.com
飯能→東京→シリコンバレー。夫と猫2匹と暮らしてます。作ったり学んだり踊ったりするのが好き。
Born in Japan, living in California with my husband and two cats. "A bit of a geek and a bit of a geek fan and a bit of an artist." ->

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