by monday, february 19th, i was less than a week away from leaving korea and moving back to america. ally, my co-teacher from the elementary school, invited me over to her house for a farewell dinner. it was around the 설날 (seollal) holiday, the lunar new year, and they had many special dishes and delicious food to enjoy.

one thing that struck me when i first visited their apartment was tangible evidence of just how much korean parents value education for their children. emily was getting ready to enter first grade in about two weeks, and ally's apartment was entirely arranged with that in mind. all along the walls of much of the apartment were posters at her eye level teaching everything from english to animals to chinese characters. they have just two bedrooms and one of them was set up just as a work area for emily with a desk and bookshelf and more instructive posters all over the wall. in the other bedroom they had bunk beds set up. emily slept on top, chris on the bottom, and ally and baby sean slept on the floor.

we also played a really fun game of 윷 (yoot), a traditional korean game with four sticks played often on holidays.

ally was an awesome co-worker for the year i was there, and was a tremendous help to me with finding my apartment, setting up my bills, and just anything i needed. but she also invited me to join her and her family sometimes and definitely made my time in korea much more enjoyable. i am very thankful to her for all of her kindness.

tagged: apartment family korea korean food