I write things.
Text Conversation Over We Chat, 9:22PM Kylie: our bus leaves at 7:55, so let's get there at 7:20. not sure how to get from the train stop to the bus terminal Weng-Ching: It says it's just connected I think it's the bus terminal I went to before It's literally just there I'll meet… Continue reading (Almost) Stranded in Boseong
The food is easily my favorite thing about Korea. This will be shocking to hear for anyone who knows me at all. I'm the kind of person who eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets on a regular basis. My friends used to joke that my sexual fantasies included swimming… Continue reading What Korean School Lunch is like
"You said you need to lose weight, right?" my date said between slurps of noodles. "I don't think I said that." "Oh." He put down his noodles and went back to the chicken, unbothered. "You said something about how Korean girls are so skinny." "Yes." I poured myself more beer. "That doesn't mean I need… Continue reading My Korean Dating Disaster
I spend a lot of my lesson-planning time laughing at the English textbook that I'm required to teach from. On more than one occasion, I've had to explain to my students that the textbook is wrong, so please ignore every single picture and video that teaches you this very incorrect English. I'm not sharing this… Continue reading English Textbooks in Korea are Hilarious
5:30AM: I’m a morning person, I tell myself. I like getting up early, I tell myself. Go be an early bird and catch some worms, I reason with myself. I let out a groan of misery and flop onto my back, count to three, and throw my limp body forward into a somewhat-upright position. Happy… Continue reading A Day in the Life: Teaching English in Korea
"Whatever they ask you to do, say yes." This was the advice that one of the speakers gave us at EPIK orientation. Were you invited to a Tuesday-night work dinner where you'll stay out late drinking soju and won't understand anyone? Say yes. Did your principal ask you to teach after school classes and judge… Continue reading Climbing a Mountain While Hungover
Half-Asians have a spider sense for other half-Asians. It's hard to describe what, exactly, makes someone "look" half-Asian. I've met halfies with pale skin and dark skin, straight black hair and curly light-brown hair and everything in between. Yet, somehow, we can always find each other in a crowd. That's why, when a skinny girl… Continue reading Being Half Asian in Korea
Very late PSA: I'm going to Seoul as an English teacher with EPIK next week... ...and sometimes I wonder how I'm going to make friends with my elementary Korean skills. After all, so much of our personalities is conveyed through our words. As a writer and English teacher, the very foundation of my career is… Continue reading How Can You Make Friends in Your Second Language?
Today is a happy day because my short story, "Aurora's End," has been published in the Spring 2017 issue of The Puritan. Confetti cannons! Balloons! Trumpets! etc. First and foremost, I owe a great deal of thanks to my fiction professor and wonderful advisor, Jim Grimsley, as well as my peers who helped me workshop… Continue reading New Story: Aurora’s End
A wild Kylie crawls out from a cave, even paler than before (which is really a feat, since she was already a bed sheet, so just imagine that her skin is literally translucent), hair untamed (not that hard to imagine), clothes tattered and squinting in the blinding sun, holding something triumphantly above her head, baby-Simba-the-opening-scene-of-the-Lion-King style.… Continue reading I graduated hooray
