Coming to the End of What I Thought I Knew

April 21, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

“Knowledge puffs up.”1 Corinthians 8:1 Ever since I was young, I have craved knowledge and understanding. As a kid, I asked my parents what the meaning of life was and thought their answer, “No one really knows,” struck me as absolutely ridiculous. So everyone is just blindly staggering through their lives? That makes no sense! I have […]

Expat Life in South Korea: Living as an Outsider

April 6, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

Today a white woman got on the bus, and I was struck by her confidence. As is typical on a bus in South Korea, she was the only fully white person on board, but she just calmly smacked her gum and found a seat. My first thought was, “This is the allure of a woman in […]

Teacher Life: Runaway Student

March 30, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

A middle schooler ran away from class on Tuesday. He wrote on the wall with a pencil. I got angry and told him to “get out” of the classroom. He did. In fact, he left the building entirely. I was shocked. And even angrier than I already had been. How dare he leave! How dare he write on […]

Still Writing. Still Persisting.

March 24, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

I am so glad I finally bought the book The War of Art (Steven Pressfield) today! It has given me some vital clarity. Vital. Clarity. (And I haven’t even reached the “solutions” part of the book, I’m still in the symptoms section!) For all my fellow writers out there (and for anyone else aiming to pursue […]

Standing By My Singleness

March 14, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

At times, people have intimated that my current life circumstances are not optimal for finding a life partner. I’d have to agree. I live in a foreign country (South Korea), in a city where the majority of people are not fluent in my native tongue (and I’m far from fluent in theirs). I am a […]

Learning to Love Myself

March 9, 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

Recently I had an unexpected epiphany: I realized I needed to forgive myself. As a Christian, forgiveness seems like a pretty basic concept. God forgave us, so we must forgive others. We need to let go of offense, get rid of bitterness, and release to others the grace we have been shown. It’s one of those deceptively simple Sunday […]

Teacher Life: Contagious Laughter

March 2, 2017.Reading time 1 minute.

Most teachers have a soft spot for a particular type of student. Some teachers like the cute, quiet ones; others are drawn to the confident, ambitious ones; some prefer the consistently obedient ones. I’ve realized I have a soft spot for the kids with a sense of humor. I like the kids who know how to have […]

Living a Life of Faith. Still.

February 23, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

I have been living in Korea for over five years now. In August, it will be six. Wow. That’s awhile. That’s longer than I spent in college. That was most of my twenties. Sometimes I feel incredibly at home here. It was like that since the beginning. There are moments of frustration, miscommunication, and helplessness, […]