I can’t believe it took me this long to dedicate a post to the force/the team that is…

DORISTINA

Origins: The origins of this name dates back to Fall 2012. Kristina inherited my favorite student, Charlie, in her Sapling 2 class. We would always ask Charlie “Who’s your favorite teacher??” and glare at him jokingly. One day, he came up with the most hilarious answer: “DORISTINA is my favorite!” And thus, DORISTINA was born.

I’ve known Kristina since June 2012. Basically, since she first started working at Dunsan April. She replaced a teacher who decided to suddenly end his contract early. She was actually supposed to teach at CDI, but was switched over at the last minute to accommodate the early departure. She was really enthusiastic on her 1st day. And the best part, SHE ALSO LIKED BIG BANG!

Our friendship really started when I first took her to the most glorious place in Daejeon… HOMEPLUS! From there, I quickly learned that Kristina does not get down with Korean food haha. We get along really well mainly because we like to eat and well, we like to eat. For the longest time, our routine would be to show up to work around noon (we weren’t required to be there until 1:30pm), print out all our papers, check online homework, then relax. We were pretty much done with our work by 1:40pm. We’d then chat a bit before heading out to grab a coffee. What a glorious life. It was good having a buddy at work.

Of course, I had to ruin it all this past year and move up to Seoul. I just had to get ambitious and reach for the stars. Kristina has since moved on to working at Chungdahm’s first ever kindergarten – Chungdahm Junior as the Senior Instructor. I’m currently working for POLY up here in Seoul. We see each other pretty much once or twice a month. On some days, I wish I was back in Daejeon working alongside Kristina at Junior or April. Kristina was close to moving up to Seoul with me this past year… I’m not sure how that dynamic would’ve been hahaha.

I will definitely miss her a lot when she heads back to America at the end of next February. It won’t be the same without my chingoo here in Korea. We have the same work ethics so it’ll be strange not having anyone to relate with. But there are greater things out there and we all must move on at one point or another.

I look forward to our trip to Busan next weekend and the numerous amounts of time we’ll be hanging out during these next few months. I also look forward to the day when she gets married and I’ll show up to her wedding wearing my leopard fur coat and dog Breakfast in tow. I’ll be like that sketchy aunt nobody really wants at the wedding. Oh, and I’ll descend from a helicopter.