Day 26 - Portraits in Pink

Was on my way to Seoul for lunch, which means an hour an a half bus ride for me. The guy sitting across the way fell asleep. I do it all the time, and its refreshing to see people in sunch a relaxed state. So like the artist creeper we all are, I drew him. In pink. A portrait in pink.

Day 25 - It’s the little things


I went to the doctor’s a day early today, so Thursday instead of Friday, and lucky I did. Baskin was giving away free ice cream samples. I got to indulge myself without paying a cent. My favorite thing.

Day 24 - A sketch


Thinking about things I can do with this. Ive been super into the whole body image thing and been thinking about how we cover up ourselves to suit what we think we should look like.


24일 - 스게치


이 그림에 뭐 또할수있게 생각해중이야. 요즘에 신체상을 생각하고 우리 다른삼의 생각을로 어떻게 덮어다고 생각해요.

Day 23 - Itaewon blues


Just a day out in the backstreets of Itaewon.

Day 22 - And it continues to worsen


I finished one of my biweekly treatments for my vitiligo today, my vitiligo most likely triggered by the poorly run operation known as… I’ll keep that to myself.
But living in Korea has made these treatments simultaneously easier and harder for me.
Easier in the sense that they are amazingly cheap.
Harder in the sense that everyone makes me feel like I need them. The disease gives me white splotches over my skin and white hairs thanks to depigmentation across my scalp. I’m fairly fair skinned so really it should not be a difference. But in this country, it’s easy to feel judged for not being what they consider pretty.
I now wear my hair down during the hot summer to hid the white on my neck and my hair? There’s no hiding it. I just tell kids kids I have it, “Just because,” while the adults give me recommendations on places to get it died.


I bounce back and for between I don’t care and caring too much.

Day 21 - First times for everything


My first time at a baseball game. And I’m not even in my home state. Go LG Twins!!

Day 20 - Unintentional hiatus


I’ve decided to start a new side project (how many of these do I actually need/will I actually finish?). Lately, I’ve been busy researching amd thinking and trying to come up with a concise thesis about art in the classroom. This is my research notebook. Happy to dust it off and see it again.

Day 19 - Doing a Service


Eventually, I want to be helping people. Though sometimes I feel jealous I get very little enjoyment from posting things on the internet, writing blogs about things, like what I did today. Probably why I’ve started and never contjnued about 6 of them.


But one of the important things I’ve learned about myself in Korea is that I like helping children. Especially the disadvantaged ones. I get so much joy out of seeing them succeed at something they didn’t think they could do. If there was a way in which I could reach farther and help more, I would. And this is one of my possibilities. Good on me for choosing the hardest test in the subject I’m the worst in: American politics.


I’ll need a lot more study sessions.

Day 18 - Midnight Confessions


Hoping to see the full moon, this solo walk in the night was the start of a night of #toomuchrum and confessions.
Full moon lunacy, I tell you. Definitely wasn’t the rum.


I really love night shots and really want to get better at them. I wish I knew how to catch the stunning lights in the dark without lensflare. Will definitely be taking more night walks to practice.

Day 17 - Flex Those Imaginations


Today I had the fortune of flexing my teaching muscles teaching by myself again. Class was fun and flawless and inspired me to finish preparations for the rest of 6th grade’s “What do Frogs Eat?” chapter. My example for the review section. Something silly so that it opens up the kids’ imaginations. What do zombies eat?

Day 16 - A Promise


I promise my students things sometimes, and sometimes I get lazy. A couple of weeks ago, I promised onr class that I would give them a drawing of Elsa. Today, with 10 minutes till class I finally got off my figurative artistic lazy bum and delivered. Not my best but children love everything.

Day 15 - Dying of Suspense


I need to know what happens in Game of Thrones. And my friends are killing me with suspense.
Also, my student saw this little sketch and asked if he coukd have it. Then he spent all class with it tucked under his desk and started at it all class. Little children are so sweet.

Days 14 - A Long Long Weekend


Took a vacation to Busan for my voting day/holiday weekend. Some visions from the long vacation

Day 13 - Slapped together finished product


I had to get’er done for my open class but I have this new desire to turn this into something a bit more.
I also have ideas for a reading app. If only I knew how to program.

Day 12 -Illustration and Phonics

And lately, this is how my art comes about. I use it to help my students at school. These are a series of simple illustrations I’m making for my phonics book as part of my 1/2 grade phonics program. Normally, I Microsoft paint slap these books together but the stories are getting more complicated. Also, parents will be seeing it for my open class so… gotta look presentable.

Day 10 - TOPIK what?

계산기 - calculator
공중 - public
달력 - calendar
수첩 - pocket notebook/ book of reminders
수첩에 적어 두다 - to jot something down in your notebook
두다 - get something out of the way/place/position
두더지 - a mole (animal)
우표 - stamp
명함 - business card (not 명암 - bright and dark shades)
와이셔츠 - business shirt
-증 - bill/certificate (aka 학생증)
사원 - company employee, 사원증 - employee id
우전면허증 - driver’s license
오도계 - thermometer
서류 - document
서류험 - filimg cabinet
-험 - sorter
지폐 - paper money
수표 - check
기습기 - humidifier
수세미 - scrubbing brush
고무 - rubber
방화 - arson
장화 - boots
교통 - traffic/transportation
시용카드 - credit card
신분 - social standing/status

Day 9 -
Playing around with the camera.

Day 8 - Studious
Doing some baby fox studies in my surprise downtime.

Day 7 - Self Sketch

Day 6 - Fundraising for Sewol
Good friend performed and I took pictures. I’m going to need a better lens once I get better at this. Shooting in low light is tought when my largest aperture is still pretty small.

Day 5 -
No access to my comp, so some photos of photos of last night’s write balance in the dark tests.

Day 4 - I'm a slacker

Actually, I’ve been trying to take more photography and get used to the settings on my camera. However, I didn’t know how to access them. Luckily, I found a USB port that supports my memory stick. Photos to come. Now I have no excuses to slack.

Day 3 -
Man on a bus, pen

Day 2 -
Cloudy Sunday morning calls for a continuous pen drawing to make it complete

Teacher, watch this

Just a little anecdote for other English teachers. Yesterday, I went to go visit my old students. It was so great going back. And even better was seeing the little impact I had. During my time there, i had convinced one student, who had told me that she couldn’t read, to do a reading program with me. When I visited yeaterday, she pulled me aside and read passages from her English textbook.

She now practices her reading without me, just because.

Day 1 -
A pencil sketch

Thinking back on the people I’ve met and ways I’ve grown in Korea, its probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long while. But life moves so fast here. I often lose track and lose sight of what I set out to do.
This tumblr is is an attempt at slowing it all down and doing at least one thing a day that I want or enjoy or need. Often those three go hand in hand.
So here’s to creating; creating appreciation and creating time.

And this post is here to remind me what I’m doing.