the lunar new year.

Celebrating holidays overseas always provides a great opportunity for learning more about a country's history and traditions. This past weekend was the Lunar New Year in Asia, known as Sol-Nal in Korea. On Thursday all of the kindergartners came to school dressed in hanboks and we had a fun afternoon spent playing games, eating dumplings and chapjae, and making kites.

Here are a few photos from the day:


my class (and wonderful korean co-teacher) wearing hanboks to celebrate the new year. getting everyone to smile for this picture wasn't the easiest thing i've ever tried. and i obviously didn't succeed.


my aspiring artist, olivia, showing off her cute smile and dress.


playing a traditional korean game.


jiwoo... my little genius. today we spent almost thirty minutes devising a plan to publish and market his latest mystery novel. i am the editor and was promised $20 upon the book's release. he is six and amazes me everyday. is it wrong for a teacher to have favorites? if not, he is mine.


the kids learning to properly bow for their grandparents.

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

happy valentine's day!

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." -1 Corinthians 13:1-8

favorite foods.

I love Korean food. I love the spicy flavors, fresh vegetables, and perfectly marinated meats. I love the taste of kimchi and the texture of squid. And I've even developed a love for the different varieties of rice. Food is perhaps the one thing I will miss most when I leave this Asian peninsula next week. I could be wrong, but I don't remember having so many healthy choices in America.

A few photos of my favorite meals:


dolsot bibimbap. vegetables and rice mixed together with a spicy sauce and served in a steaming hot bowl. my #1 favorite!


donkasu. fried pork cutlet topped with sauce and served with rice.


kimchi jigae. spicy soup made with vegetables, kimchi, and tofu. eaten with rice.


fried "pancake" made with vegetables and squid. yummm.


sam bap. BBQ pork wrapped in lettuce leaves.


kimchi and side dishes! served with every meal.

Bon Appétit!

caramel latte conversations.

Coffee almost always taste better when accompanied by a good book, a moleskin journal, and a best friend.

james 2:14-26

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."



I first posted this video almost two years ago and every time I watch it am reminded of the Jesus' command for us to love one another. Throughout the last two weeks I have seen painful images of a nation destroyed. Children left orphaned. Family's desperate to find their loved ones. Bodies broken under collapsed buildings. Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, has been shaken and destroyed. At times it seems like there is no justice in the world. Why are those already living in such extreme poverty forced to endure more heartache? Where is God is the midst of disaster and suffering? Why are some blessed with money and food and education while so many struggle without? My heart aches to find an answer.

I will not forget the people of Haiti who now live in makeshift tents and wake up each day to a painful reality. I will not forget the malnourished children that I talked and laughed with in Cambodia. I will not forget the crippled who were cast aside as beggars on the streets of China. I will not forget the victims of war with missing limbs that I walked past in Vietnam. I know without a doubt that I have been called to make a difference. I truly want to be the hands and feet of Christ in a broken world.

"Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead."

snowflakes on my lashes.

This week was gray skies, jackets and scarves, Ugg boots, slippery sidewalks, walking through a snow-covered park, old friends reunited, darts and cocktails, running at the gym, New York City sweatshirts, coffee and music, best friend talks, thoughts of home, and hope for a new year.

my cute class.

I am a kindergarten teacher. But even more surprisingly, I am a kindergarten teacher and I enjoy it. The transition from giving lectures to some of China's top university students during the first half of the year to working with six-year-olds wasn't easy. I have always preferred teaching older students to those that are younger... no whining, no time-out corner, and no pleading with them to learn. However, I can now honestly say that I look forward to seeing my thirteen Korean kids each day. I love their curiosity, the sound of their voices as we sing in the morning, the excitement that fills the room during craft time, the impossible to answer questions they often ask, and watching them learn new things. It also helps that they are brilliant students who speak near perfect English. I must be proof that people change.

A few photos of the kids I have grown to love:


dressed up for halloween.


cute girls.


hannah and the grasshopper she found at sky garden.


playing in the snow!


drinking hot chocolate, listening to christmas music, and making homemade cards!


singing christmas carols.

"Teaching is as sacred as priesthood, as innate a desire, as inescapable as the genius which compels a great artist. If he has not the concern for humanity, the love of living creatures, the vision of the priest and the artist, he must not teach."
- Pearl Buck