reason enough to move to south korea

I hadn't even been in South Korea for more than 12 hours when God gave me a sign that I am meant to live here. Forget that I'm not a very religious person. This was a sign. From above.

My first full day here, November 11th, 11/11, is Pepero Day! Pepero Day is sort of the Korean version of Valentine's Day, except instead of roses and conversation hearts, people give and receive boxes of Pepero. Supposedly, the holiday originated in 1994 as a marketing scheme from the Lotte corporation which manufactures Pepero, the popular thin straw-like wafers dipped in chocolate (the exact same thing as the Japanese snack "Pocky").


Every convenience store in the city had huge Pepero Day displays with a large variety of Pepero treats to choose from. My favorite was the giant box of oversized Pepero about as thick as an adult's thumb and 12 inches tall. Total nom! They also had crazy Pepero formations you could buy, the most popular being a giant heart.

Koreans are way more into holidays than the Chinese, it's fabulous. They even have an amusement park in Seoul that is holiday-themed, and the rides/attractions change according to the season.

One of Romy's students had to leave our school and move back to Seoul with his family. The details of why are sort of shady, but he e-mailed her offering to show us around and is on his way to meet us at the hostel now, so I'm stoked. He and his BFF Shin used to play against me and Romy in doubles table tennis, though, so it will be sad next week when Shin has to find a new partner, but I'm happy to have a tour guide for the evening.

Now that he's not a student, anything goes, right? Is that how it works? I'm still new to this whole "teaching" and "being appropriate" thing.

seoul sister

I'm off to Seoul, South Korea for a week! Lots of updates (with photographs hopefully) when I return.