Pepero Day

Hello Pepero Day. You remember when you were a kid and they had those fake candy cigarettes. Well these are kind of the same thing but filled with long biscuit sticks dipped in chocolate. Pepero is the Korean brand of Pocky, but Pepero day(1994) was started before Pocky day(1999). If you think it doesn't matter, than you don't understand about Korean-Japanese relationships. It matters to them, probably more to the Koreans than the Japanese. Pepero is like Valentine's day. Like Korea needs another Valentine's day like holiday. They have Christmas which is mostly for couples (but unlike Japan with out the KFC). Then they have Valentine's day, where women give men chocolate. And on the Ides of March(15th) there's White Day where men give women candy. (How Bloody Ironic!) Then ,so no one feels left out, there is Black Day when women wear black and eat alone (oh wait that's everyday for me). : ) I haven't even asked about Sweetest Day, not to mention New Year's Eve. I don't want to know.

The "supposed" reason behind Pepero day is school girls giving each other pepero to wish their friends grow up to be thin and tall. Well, if you give your girlfriends a ton of chocolate and carbs, the chances are they're not going to be thin, maybe tall, but not thin. But, maybe that's the intent. The "I wish you grow up thin and tall so you can marry well" part is believable, because that is really focused on here. If you think I am exaggerating, I wish I were.

The flipside of this commercial bonanza is I get to find out which of my students like me and how much. It's really the only feedback I've received about how I am doing as a teacher. Evaluation by pepero, so not fantastic but definitely okay. I didn't get any of the huge long ones you could duel with, but I received about the same amount as the other teachers.

So, here's to Pepero Day.