"Gordon Freeman" was born Petre P. Carp in Romania, and worked as a farmhand for most of his life, his amazing ability to pick up sheep and have them hover in front of his face without using his hands proving to be an incredibly useful feat for his line of work. He eventually inherited his farm from his parents, Clara and Titu, at the age of 23, following an incident with a tractor that caused them both to tragically die. Clara from injuries sustained attempting to haul it out of a bog. Titu from injuries sustained attempting to carry Clara's coffin to its final resting place.
He continued to work on his farm with little incident until he was 29 when, after a particularly prosperous year, he decided he had earned a break. He decided to take a hiking holiday in Colorado, and intended to climb Black Mesa. Unfortunately, the phrasebook that he bought himself proved to be completely useless, and after informing many passers by that his hovercraft was full of eels he decided to use the little english that he did know to simply follow what few signs he could. He eventually arrived at a tram station and boarded the train that was waiting for him.
The real Gordon Freeman, who was in fact the spitting image of Petre Carp, had, the day before, agreed to lend his lawnmower to his colleague, Barney. That morning, in carrying it to his car, he tripped over one of the cables and was knocked unconscious, rendering him unable to call in sick that day until after the events of the day.
The entire game then follows a confused Romanian man as he attempts to understand the english that everyone keeps yelling at him, and staring blankly as people tried to convey meaning to him by pointing and just letting him follow.