Today during student pick-up at the school where Joshua attends, another parent was waiting beside me on the bench.  He’s Korean and he usually asks me (DeAnna) USA cultural questions.  I think he asks because the majority of the curriculum taught at the school is American and he wants to understand different nuances since his children attend this school.

He asked me, “Why do American children wear baboosh (slip-on foam sandals) and remove them before they start playing?”  I tried explaining that in the USA where we are from, children don’t wear baboosh and usually children must wear sneaker type shoes to school.  He looked confused and asked in a different way why the children remove the shoes before playing.  I answered that when we first arrived our boys were wearing sneakers, but after going to school asked to have baboosh to be like their friends and would remove them as a line place holder and run off to play.  I know I didn’t answer him in a sufficient way because he asked a third time.

Our boys wear baboosh 99% of the time.  When they have to wear sneakers for PE, they both complain about how hot their feet are, how wet their feet are from sweat and how cumbersome it is to wear tie shoes because they take so long to get on.