Hello!

[Kirsten Smith]

Hi All You Beautiful Portland Friends! 

How have you all been?  I think you are mostly aware (maybe!) that I am still living in Korea these days, teaching English, and perpetually dancing to "Gangam Style."  My life as a 5 year old kindergarten teacher is crazy, but mostly good.  Seoul is a huge, busy, bustling city, and I sometimes can't quite grasp the fact that I am living here.  At times, to be completely frank, I have quite a bit of longing for good ol' portland.  You can't have it all though, you know? 

I'm writing because my good friend Katie Ash (some of you know her!) had a funny request for you guys.  She is sending me a big flat rate box to assuage some of my homesickness and to continue the spread of the zine we recently made together!  (I will totally send you a copy, once I make some! Or ask Katie for one!)  Thing is, the box is kinda big, and there's a lot of room in there!  She asked me to put out an email to the portland crew to ask if anyone else wanted to put some more fun surprises in my box.  I feel a little funny asking, since it's for me, but there you go.  I would love to get anything from any one of you!  A letter, a funny little origami animal, a stick of your favorite gum, one of your socks that is forever missing it's mate!  Heck, anything.  I love mail.  I also love the idea of getting a box full of random reminders of my absolute favorite place on this earth--the one and only Portland, Oregon, from none other than some of my favorite people on this earth, of course!!!

At any rate, Katie's email is katie...@gmail.com, if you don't already have it.  If you want to arrange a deposit for the box, shoot her a message!  I think she might also appreciate a buck or two towards the shipping if you're going to put something in it, though she didn't ask me for that.  (It's a little pricy.)  I also just realized now that I should perhaps make a end date so this doesn't drag out for a really long time... let's say before the end of November?  Yeah, that'll do! 

So, I look forward to hearing from some of you via this crazy box!  Others of you, I think of every one of you from time to time in my thoughts miss you each in many different ways.  Feel free to drop me an email, or send a letter all on your own (or not!) to this address:

Kirsten Smith
C/O S.O.T. School
50-3 Banpo-4 Dong, Seocho-gu
Seoul,
South Korea

No zip necessary! 

Thanks in advance, for the love. 
Be well, friends,
Kirsten

p.s. my contract for this year ends in the end of February.  At which time, I will likely come home for a month or so, (hope to see you then) then head back out of the country for another year!  Not sure where yet...  maybe back to Korea, or who knows were?

p.p.s. add me on instagram or tumblr or twitter: kearstenpants

[Katie Ash]

Hey guys,

This is Katie. Just wanted to put the word out there that I've received a couple of things so far, but there's still a lot of room left in this box. Please get in touch if you have a note or letter or zine or whatever else that you might want to drop in the box before I send it off. I'm hoping to put it in the mail in the next couple of weeks, so let me know if you are thinking about it so I know to check in with you. I'll be around all this week if you want to drop things off, or let me know if I can meet you somewhere to do a hand off. 

Thanks!

Katie