Ashley's blog

I slowly blink my eyes open to the clanking of plates and bowls downstairs. Still half-asleep, I trudge down the stairs to see an array of condiments, chunks of cabbage, large and small mixing bowls, and huge jars spread out on our tiny island table. In the middle of it all was my mom, wearing an apron that can only be seen on this special day. In her hand was an apron for me as well, which was handed down from my grandma. It was a warm but windy day in mid September. A perfect day for making kimchi. Kimchi is an essential in all Korean homes, whether store-bought or homemade. Kimchi can be made with an assortment of vegetables, but Napa cabbage is most commonly used. Whipping the apron around my waist hurriedly, I excitedly got to work, kneeling on the newspaper spread out on the kitchen floor. I was in charge of the easy part: cutting, salting, rinsing, and draining 6 Napa cabbages. Next to me, mom was busy making spice paste (red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, water) as ...

Ashley Oh AP Literature Block 4 September, 2019 Alphabet to Essays Just twelve years ago, on the first day of kindergarten, I was an alien among the crowd of tiny bodies. As a Korean immigrant, I only knew three letters of the entire alphabet, and I could barely murmur a “hello”. My parents now chuckle and remind me of the times when I would have to come home from school and sit down with them to relearn all the concepts that were taught that day. I still remember how the three of us and a Korean-English translator would huddle on the living room table under a warm vanilla yellow light and face a long night full of unfamiliar kindergarten vocabulary. I had always been a competitive child, which made the fact that I was learning the alphabet and vowels while others were constructing sentences even more painful. I felt as if my parents and I were living in a separate world away from my neighbors and classmates. The world outside was challenging as an immigrant: dad would i...