If the lingo is confusing (I know it confuses me.), KAD stands for Korean Adoptee.

Today is the day. I’m off to North Carolina. It has occurred to me that not only is this the first time I’ll be away from my son for any length of time, but it will also be the first time I’ve traveled alone and only the second time I’ve been on my own for any significant amount of time. How odd.

Really, I went from my parents’ house…to living with my roommates…to living with my husband. Alone is really not something I ever had to do. When I was seventeen, my parents went somewhere (I can’t remember where.) and I stayed home by myself for a couple of days, but I was at home in familiar territory. Well, here’s to new experiences and a big outlet mall right across the street from my hotel. I certainly can’t complain about that.

One of the things I’m really looking forward to is that I get to meet some of the people I’ve talked to on the phone for the last three years. When I talk to people on the phone, I form pictures of them in my mind. Sometimes, I’m right and sometimes I’m really wrong. Once I was sure that the vendor contact I spoke with on the phone was a young woman in her late-twenties. I pictured her to be thin, with brown hair and blue jeans. It turns out she was in her late-sixties, with gray hair and false teeth. But it was okay, because she thought I was Irish.

I love watching people’s expressions when they meet me for the first time. Sometimes, we’ve talked on the phone, but sometimes they’re making their pictures by using my name. I have an Irish first name, a Korean middle name and a German last name. How confusing is that? I never know exactly what they were expecting, but nine times out of ten, I know they aren’t expecting an Asian woman to meet them in the lobby. There’s generally a moment of hesitation because they’re not sure they heard right and then they plaster on a smile and try to hide their surprise. If I get to know them better, sometimes I ask them what they thought, but most of the time I just let it be my own private joke.

My full name is a little different, but to an Irish person it’s easily recognizable. I was speaking on the phone to a gentleman who wanted to give our employees a discount to his tire store down the street. He was going to stop by and drop off coupons and he wanted to know my name and the best way to get to my office. We hit it off on the phone and he was telling me that his sister-in-law had the same name. She was Irish and he was telling me how much he liked the heritage that she brought to his family. I told him to come in the east entrance and through the door that said Human Resources. “I’m easy to find,” I told him. “Just look for the short Asian woman with glasses.” There was a pause on his end and I had to laugh. Sure enough, he was picturing me to be a redhead with big green eyes.

I suppose, this whole identification issue could be annoying to some, but mostly I find it fascinating. Every day, I draw pictures of other people based on our phone conversations so I certainly can’t pass judgment on people who do it to me. My name and accent just make it a little harder for the other people to get it right. Does that mean I win?

If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.