Packing preparations, take one

Will South Korea have cool holiday dinos like this fellow? 

Probably not! I'd better remember to pack my own!

Holiday dinosaurs aside, it's become very apparent to me that when we get ready to head overseas we'd better remember to pack some important items or have them sent to us. Now, the importance of some of these items will probably vary from person to person, but I am personally aware of some things I know that absolutely must be packed.

There are several reasons for keeping this in mind and preparing ahead of time, ranging from the obvious cultural preferences and norms in their society vs. our own personal cultural preferences and habits to something such as the size of clothes in that country or price of the item here vs. there. It's these kind of things that make you want to plan ahead and make sure you know what to expect and what your needs are. 

One big thing I have to keep in mind is that clothing for me, as a 5'9" tall woman, is that I will need to get most of my clothes from home and plan to take them with me. Finding clothes (and shoes!) that fit over there for me sounds as though it is a definite challenge. Similarly, through reading and researching I also discovered that deodorant is more expensive in South Korea and probably something we will want to take with us. Who would have thought?

That said, this is a sort of list for me, which will be expanding as the research progresses and we learn more from our friends who are currently living in South Korea. As of right now we've been informed by them that the towels there are small, so we should bring our own. Another thing they mentioned is that fitted sheets that we would normally use here in the US are hard to come by, so if we want them it's another thing that we should bring with us. 

Another big thing I am already gearing up for is pictures. I have seen lots of responders saying that the kids in the classroom love to see what things are like at "home", so I am planning on having multiple albums to bring along. Along with that, we've been making trips to Goodwill for both clothing and educational items such as books (I found a Wiggles CD which I thought could be fun for little ones, I know my daycare kiddos loved the Wiggles), teaching help, and various other things. 

That's all for now, this will be an ever developing list for me. One I will definitely put into list form in a later post.