Kimchi Mamas

First day of school

I still remember my first day of school in Korea. We lined up in perfect rows in the main field. We extended our arms in front of us, parallel to the ground and pointed at the shoulders of the person in front of us to make those perfect rows. I had my name written on a white hankerchief which was pinned to my jacket. It was March, and still quite chilly. My father must have walked me to the school but I can't remember. I don't remember much else besides those white hankies and those perfect rows of children in that large field.

We took our son Christian for his first day of kindergarten this past Monday. The parents swarmed with their little ones in the little playground next to the classroom (the teacher didn't open the door until the bell rang). The teacher handed each child a name tag necklace as they walked in. The parents lingered for a bit, straining their necks to look inside the windows. I waved good-bye as I caught Christian's eye. He waved back. I walked to my car to get to work.

Anyone else start kindergarten this year?

- Mary didn't know that kindergarten is only 3 hours long until a few months ago.

Back to School Shopping? What the heck is that?

Thank you to Crocs for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Crocs’ new Back to School line. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Having mostly grown up in Korea, Back to School shopping is a foreign concept to me. When I first heard about back to school shopping from some of my friends in jr. high school and high school, I was like, WHAT? You get a whole new set of clothes before starting school? It sounded like a fabulous idea to me but I was too scared to mention it to my dad or step mom. She must have learned about it some other way though because one time she took us to K-mart and we got to buy some school supples. No clothes or shoes, but still, I was happy.