This is supposed to be the part where you find out how smart, witty, and fantastic I am. Of course, I’m all those things, but my powers of brainwashing convincing people have never been that good.

A quick synopsis of my life so:

• born in my parent’s house in Vientiane, Laos
• held onto my mother’s back as we crossed the Mekong River to flee Communism
• emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 3
• lived in Oregon
• lived in California
• lived in Oregon
• graduated with a Business Management degree from the University of Oregon
• I knew I wanted to do some traveling and see the world before settling down in an office somewhere and managing the minions
• came to Korea to teach English in the summer of 2001
• traveled / taught English / traveled / taught English / traveled / taught English
• “I’m really leaving Korea this time,” I kept saying
• I guess not. I’m back in Korea teaching. Again.

As of May 2008:

I’m in the middle of my 6th year of teaching in Korea. I’ve lived three years in Gangneung, one in Gunsan, and am starting my second year in Gunpo. I work at a private university 45 minutes south of Seoul, and north of Suwon. In my free time, I have a propensity to take pictures, hoard pretty papers and pens, scour out foundries, surf for celebrity gossip, and have too many interests to be good at one thing. I wish I was more artistic, but will have to settle for crafty.

This will be my last year in Korea. In the beginning of 2009, I’ll return home to Oregon to start my Master’s degree in Education. After that? I hope to work abroad again.

Some favorite quotes:

“Money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy marshmallows, which is pretty much the same thing.”

“Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel’s immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad of new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.”

What keeps this blog running smoothly:

• Wordpress
• Bluehost
• MacBook Pro 15 inch, 2GB memory
• Flickr Pro account
• iPhoto
• Photoshop CS3
• Lightroom
• InstantShot! (free)
• Screengrab (free)
• Raswan (my unofficial editor)

Cameras I use:

• Canon 400D (aka Rebel XTi)
• Canon SD630 (point and shoot)
• Fujifilm Instax Mini 7 (Polaroid-type fun camera)

Lenses:

• 50mm 1/8
• 10-22mm 3.5-4.5