About Me

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Sonoma California, in the heart of the California wine country. Despite my town’s appeal to tourists, or maybe because of it, I knew that I wanted to spend my college years someplace else. Ever since my early teenage years I have wanted to broaden my horizons and color my life with as many different experiences as possible. Leaving the golden hills of California for the farm country and brutal winters of Central New York was a direct result of that desire. I spent four years at Hamilton College, a 1,900-student liberal arts college 45 minutes from Syracuse. My years there, surrounded by the most curious and well traveled cadre of people I will probably ever be amongst, affirmed my desire to explore the world.

I did lots of traveling with my family as a kid, around the US, to Europe, and to Central America. My last big family trip with them was to China in the weeks following my college graduation. I never thought I would be back in less than two years, this time to South Korea, and to live instead of visit. I double majored in English and Economics and worked in finance during and after college. I lost my job in the fall of 2008, which came as a relief. I loved living in New York City, one of my favorite places in the world, but I hated the work and was tired of living beyond my means. The ’08 election was less than two months away and I scrambled to see if I could get involved. Ten days later I was undergoing training at Camp Obama and was dispatched to Dayton, OH a few days latter. Shortly after the election I headed to Korea.

I have made friends I know I’ll be in touch with for years and have been given the opportunity to teach for the first time in my life, a responsibility more weighty and rewarding than I imagined. I was worried before I got here that I would have a hard time remembering the details of English grammar, and a harder time trying to explain them to young students. My curriculum has presented some challenging moments, but what I have had to work hardest at has been earning the respect of my students. As an adult without children it is easy to forget how clever a 12-year old child is. Learning when to be firm and when to be fun has been an involved process full of learning moments, ones that will stay with me the rest of my life.