An imaginary letter to a friend, who plans to move to the USA

Dear Jina,

How have you been? I've been great. I hope you have been well. Yesterday, it snowed here. All the trees, roofs, and grass are covered with snow. It's so beautiful, although I had to shovel, then had a body ache.

By the way, I've heard you will immigrate to the USA. I'm really glad you will move here, come close to me. I guess you are excited about living in another country, but you also have lots of concerns, as I did. So I would like to give you some information that is helpful preparing for immigration.

First of all, you should keep studying English hard. Lots of Koreans think we can get English perfectly after living here for two or three years. But unfortunately, that's totally not true. We cannot speak English like native speakers no matter how hard we study it.

But don't be disappointed and don't give up. You don't have to speak like a native speaker. Most Americans try to understand you and excuse your accent. However, you need to keep studying English to make your life here better. In Korea, you can watch television shows that are broadcast here. That's a very good source of studying English. I'd like to recommend "Everybody Loves Raymond" to you. It's a family sitcom. So you can watch what happens there, even if you cannot understand everything they say.

After you move here, you can take an ESL class with me. There are great teachers and nice classmates. I am going to ask the teacher to hold a space for you.

Next, do you have a driver's license? I hope you have it. Because living without a car in America's suburbs is very inconvenient. If you have a license, transfer it to an international driving license, which gives you permission to drive here for a year.

Third, I think your first child will turn four years old when your family is here. He will need to go to preschool at that time. But most preschools have limited space. To avoid waiting until he can enter a preschool, you'd better apply as soon as possible. I'll attach some preschools' brochures. I hope those will be helpful. Don't worry about his English. Kids usually learn English quickly. But to reduce his stress and shock, support him to learn English in Korea.

Fourth, it is hard to buy a house as soon as you come here. There are more processes for buying a house here than in Korea. Besides, the housing market is down recently. Experts say that it will keep going down until 2009. Therefore, you'd better rent an apartment or a townhouse for the first year. I bet a townhouse will be better for your family. I've heard several families who have children and live in apartments have had complaints from their neighbors who live directly downstairs.

Finally, as a housewife, I guess you worry about how you can get ingredients for Korean food here. There are some Korean markets, although there are not enough ingredients. And when you arrive here, I'll tell you which ingredients from American grocery markets can be used for Korean food.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me or write an email. I'm willing to help you. I'm looking forward to seeing you!

Take care!

Love, Heesun