It's winter vacation time now for many Koreans and last week many students were absent from my classes, including this little one seen above, Lina. I wrote about Lina in one of my very first posts. She was the cry baby. I assumed that she went on vacation with her family since she was gone for three days straight and nobody said anything about it. But when I returned today and found that she was absent once again, I asked Penny about her.

.
" Actually, Lina doesn't go to this school anymore," said Penny with a hairpin in her mouth, her other hand twisting her long dark hair into a bun. "She's going to the Chinese school with her brother Charlie. Nobody told you?"

"No, nobody told me," I replied, feeling slightly angry but not at all surprised. Today was a sad day--I had to say good-bye to my favorite kindergarten student, and one of the most adorable children in the world.