Keira Brigit Pauline

I am glad to see 2009 go. Honestly, I didn't have much of a good year overall. I left for Korea on December 26, 2008 for my second try at working there. I had worked there from 2005-2006. I missed Korea and was looking for another good experience, hopefully even better than my previous one. I left my home on Christmas. I had been there for two years, mostly because I was helping my aunt after she had a stroke. I was employed sporadically and was lonely a lot. I told my family I loved them and I left with my sister. I would spend the night at her place before going to the airport in the morning. I went back for something I left behind. My aunt then said to me "don't you say anything about loving us, because if you did you wouldn't be going back to Korea". Her words stung. I went to my sister's car and fumed about how I hung around to take care of her, helping her dress herself and taking her places. I do realise now that I can't take things she says

Suzy the Scholar Cat! This is how my books came from www.amazon.com. They were delivered to the local supermarket. I will have stuff delivered to the school from now on. The cats exploring the box.

Last weekend I went to the Ilsan English Church to talk to someone who is a counselor. I had to talk about some things. I had a number of things I wanted to let off my chest. Well, I grew up feeling "different". I had posted about it before. I could read National Geographic at age six and liked reading the World Book Encyclopedia at age 7. I have memories from before the age of two. I was asked if anything was ever done for my talents and I had to say "no". My mother insisted that my sister and I go to church schools, and anything else was out of the question. We never skipped grades because we were constantly changing schools. Well, technically we did skip grades. For third grade and sixth grade I was homeschooled (for my sister it would be second and fifth) and we didn't do much work. We just went to the new grade with no questions asked. Before I left for Korea again, my aunt was hateful. I left the house on Christmas night to spend the night with my

Yes, today marks the tenth anniversary of Nathan's death. He died at Andrews University. I knew him for five years. I was busy all day because of final exams. I was also cleaning out my dorm room for Christmas break and packing for my trip home. I had heard some information about a car accident, but dismissed the information because I didn't know much about it. I was happy to finish with my exams because it was some less things I had to think about. I decided to go to bed early I had to leave early in the morning to get a ride with a friend. I found some students talking in the hallway and they were all sad. They said that the car accident was Nathan's car. I didn't have to be told he died, I just knew. I want to my room and cried hard. I cried and cried for a long time and just wet my pillow. I found that he was out early that morning and went to get blank CDs for a friend of his. The weather was terrible, he should have stayed on campus. He was rushing back to

Here is a list of the top twenty countries I want to visit. I know the list is very quixotic, so if I had all the time and money at my disposal: Nepal This little kingdom in the Himalayas still has living goddesses called "Kumaris". Kathmandu looks like a magnificent old city. Bhutan This tiny kingdom only accepts a few thousand visitors every year. The flora and fauna are very exotic. It is a very traditional country. South Africa I have met up with many South Africans in Korea. I had three roommates from SA. I hear about the country a lot, so I am interested in going there. Hong Kong I met up with a world traveler and he told me Hong Kong was his favourite country. Hong Kong means "fragrant harbour" in Chinese. North Korea Having lived in South Korea for a total of two and a half years, I wonder what is in the neighbouring country. I have heard of Geumgangsan (Gold River Mountain), which is supposed to be beautiful and Baekdusan on the Chinese/NK border. Py

Last Saturday I stayed at the high school where I work. I had to do the English Sabbath School in the morning. I wasn't supposed to do it, but the person who was to do it had to do something else. I therefore wasn't able to attend the English church later. I thought of trying to go to the English church to join a group that would be going to a Korean church later. There was a meal at my high school for the staff, and I was very tired. I decided to eat lunch and then just go home and take a nap. I was also too tired to go anywhere on Saturday night. On Sunday I got up and went to the COEX Mall. I wanted to leave earlier, but I had no sleep. My cats woke me up and my neighbors were loud. My Americans across the hall came back late and were loud. The Korean man next to me had his TV blaring. I left and browsed the book store for some books to use in English classes and to learn Korean. I quickly went home to return a cat I have been watching for someone. I got the cat and

Soon I will be visiting "home" for two weeks. I am a bit reluctant to call it home. Korea has become my home for now. I don't plan on returning to my old town for good. I have decided that I may stay abroad for many years, possibly for life. However, I have thought of studying in the USA again, but that woulnd't mean won't make plans to leave the USA later. I don't have the faith in my country as I was raised to have it. I was raised with the notion that the United States is the "best" country in the world, everybody wanted to live there, and that that the US of A had the biggest and best of everything. How wrong that was. I moved away from that mentality and decided to explore the globe. If I didn't, I would be bissfully ignorant and trying to live it up the American way, happily thinking that I wouldn't need to see the world outside the borders. Yet I became a traveler, a seeker, and it is something I will never get over. I am happ