Natasha Lee, a Graduate Student from Kazakhstan Natasha Lee is a third generation of Goryeoin (Korean people in the former USSR). She was born in a small village, southeast from Taraz, Kazakhstan. She said, "There were only two Goryeoins in my class," and "friends made fun of me as a ‘yellow skinned girl who eats dogs.’" She left her hometown at the age of 18. Her decision was to study in Kyrgyz Republic which provided more affordable expense for her education. Lee finished Korean course at the Bishkek University, supporting herself by working part-time in restaurants for five years. She entered the Yonsei graduate school in 2004 with support from the Overseas Korean Foundation. In January 2007, however, she had an unexpected suffering right before graduation exam. Her health condition suddenly became worse, making her unable even to walk properly. She had no choice but to go back to Kazakhstan in June 2007. Financial support from the Overseas Korean Foundation was already stopped at that point. With a firm determination, however, she came back to Korea in July next year after recovering her health. She explains, "I made money through whatever means like working as an intern at the City Hall, a tour guide, a counselor for foreign workers, with a strong hope for finishing graduate courses." Her thesis for master’s degree is about the change of Korean usage among Goryeoins in Kazakhstan. She is hoping to work as a professor of Korean language at the Almaty University of Foreign Languages after her dissertation is finished. She wishes also to establish an educational program for the third and fourth generations Goryeoins in the future. "I learned ‘가나다’ (Korean alphabet) for the first time at university. Like myself, most of Goryeoins do not know Korean. I want to let people in my home country know Korean language and history. It is important to know why we came to Central Asia. I can now know what my ‘root’ is, as my grandmother had always told me."