Kea's Story

A Beginner for Everything Here

by Kea Eng

Ending our first week in Missoula, Montana, everyone was very excited and flew to their placement states and cities, including me. In order to reach my host city: Laramie, Wyoming, I had to take two different connecting flights. I thought that:

“I have had enough flights now and why two more for me again?” You know, it's easy for me to get car and plane sick. Now I was on my second flight, after an hour delay. Before the flight kicked off, I sent a message to Kehli, my family host that said, “I will be there in one or two hours.”

I got a quick response from her. “No worries! We will be at the airport to pick you up with a sign and your name on it.”

It was a very quick flight. It took only thirty minutes max in the air. When I landed and exited through the indicated signs, I was looking for the sign and my name. I met the two people that were my family hosts, Kehli and her husband, Randy. At first, I didn’t know them, but they recognized me, maybe as I am small and short (haha). We greeted each other and headed to reclaim my luggage, and then we drove home.

About ten minutes later we reached our destination. When we arrived at home, we dropped the luggage and they drove me to buy food at a grocery store called Walmart. That was the first time for me to learn to buy and pay in the United States. After that I thought, “What! No sellers and pay with the machines.” It was my first impression and then I felt like “Oh! My gosh!!! It’s such a systematic store with suitable prices.”

After I got what I needed, we came back home and it seemed late at night already. However, that night I also cooked my first food to eat and they taught me to cook again. In my mind, I thought, “I need to learn everything before I do something in this country. No matter how much experience I have had before.” It is because everything here is integrated and involved a lot of technology which I have never known before.

The next day, I woke up and thought that “Why is it still the first Sunday in the US like this?” I tried to deal with my jet lag. That day I had to learn other basic things, like how to use the bathroom for taking showers, how to do washing, and so on. After learning all of these, I felt like “Oh! I am a thirty-year-old young teenager in this country, not a man anymore, haha.”

Monday was my second week in the US and my first week at the University of Wyoming. I needed to get up early to be ready to go to work with Kehli. Even though my schedule didn't start until nine in the morning.

When we arrived at the university, we needed to walk to Kehli’s office in the Cheney Internation Center. Then, I was introduced to everyone in that department. Kehli was not only my host, but also a staff member in the Center for Global Studies, as an assistant director and a YSEALI local coordination partner.

After that, I joined the leadership meeting to see what their meetings were like, and then I was brought around the campus to get to know what the university campus looked like. My body said that “you’re exhausted and should take the rest.” But my heart responded back that “No, you have to go because it is your first day.”

Then it was lunchtime, so we headed back to the Cheney Internation Center. When we arrived, I had no words to say because there was such a big group lunch to welcome me. I felt like it was such a very warm welcome lunch that I had never had before and it made me feel so special. It was also the time that I met my university placement hosts: Tyler, Rebecca, and Emily.

After lunch, my university placement hosts walked me to the makerspace, where they work. It was another first impression because it was my first time seeing their 3D printers, laser cutting machines, wood workshop space, and what they are doing with their beneficiaries and the community.

At the end of the day, Kehli came and brought me back home. You know, it was such a tiring and special day to learn so many things at once. I will never forget the beginning couple of days and the whole experience, as well as the people and activities.

Thank you so much to YSEALI and the US State Department for such a great opportunity for me to internationally learn and gain so many new experiences.