Valentine's Day and Other Holidays in Korea

Last Tuesday was Valentine's Day. I printed a coloring sheet for my kids so we would have some Valentine's Day related activity. A lot of the kids also brought in candy to share with me and the rest of the class. Behold my Valentine's Day gifts:

Valentine's Day is celebrated here although it's a little different than in the U.S. Typically on Valentine's Day girls will give chocolates to their boyfriends. Then, on White Day (March 14th) the guys give gifts to the girls. My friend told me the gift is usually candy unless the couple is older in which case it would be a purse or something like that. Can you imagine a guy buying you a purse? Anyways, I wasn't surprised that Korea in its couply glory would want to make Valentine's Day mulitple days. I remember being told that technically every 14th of a month is a holiday for couples (although I don't think they're really celebrated). The only exception is April 14th which is a day for singles. 

Celebrating Valentine's Day reminded me of another holiday I had forgotten to share with you: Pepero Day! Pepero is a snack, and maybe you've heard of the Japanese version Poxy. It is a thin biscuit stick covered in chocolate. Sometimes it also has nuts on the outside or there is a version with the chocolate on the inside. We can complain about some holidays in the U.S. being created by greeting card complanies, but Pepero Day really takes the cake as a holiday manufactured by a company. Ready for this? Pepero is November 11th because.... yup, you guessed it: the date 11/11 looks like four sticks of Pepero! Brilliant! This year was ultimate Pepero Day since it was 11/11/11. All the kids in my class brought in Pepero to give to each other and to me. Here are my Pepero gifts:

As you can see, I recieved a variety of Pepero. The boxes in the middle are the "nude" ones (it literally says nude on the box) which have the chocolate on the inside. The bigger Pepero looked kind of like those breadsticks, but dipped in chocolate. My favorite thing by far though, was spotted when I was walking down the street. Outside a shop I saw literally, a baguette that had been dipped in chocolate. The ultimate Pepero! I can't imagine who would eat it but maybe that's not what matters. I'm sure couples gave each other Pepero, and the bigger the Pepero the more love behind it right? I'm just guessing here... :)

Since I'm discussing holidays I should also mention Lunar New Year. A couple posts ago I mentioned what I did that long weekend, but we did have celebrations in school. It was my second opportunity to wear the Korean hanbok. From what I understand, the holiday is mainly about bowing to your parents and grandparents. Of course, I got the kids perspective, and I guess they get gifts/money for bowing during this holiday too. We had some celebrations at school on the sixth floor (our gym/auditorium). The kids all bowed to us which was very cute. Here are some pictures from that day:

My boys :)

Sunny and I (she looks so sweet here, she's usually crazy)

Tug o' war!

Mr. and Mrs. Chung: the Director and his wife (Mrs. Chung is a big part of the school but technically doesn't have a title other than "the Director's wife")

My fellow teachers