Pepero Day!

Copied straight from wikipedia...
Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero.^[3][4] The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts. Lotte denies starting the holiday and instead states that they noticed a bump in Pepero sales around November 11th and after continued popularity they decided to then encourage the holiday with special gift boxes and other promotions.^[2] Some consider it to be a contrived holiday and some teachers have encouraged children to exchange healthy snacks to help combat obesity. An alternative "Garaetteok Day" (sticks of white tteok) has been proposed.<sup>[5]


Today was a really good day with the kids. I got them each a box of Pepero with their names on them! They brought me Pepero too. I think the whole idea behind Pepero day is you are supposed to give them to someone you are in love wiht or have a crush on! so why not my kids! I ate so so much Pepero. Like two whole boxes and then some super big pepero sticks! the kids were so hyper today thank god we had outside play and art this afternoon:) Really good day!</sup> 

Korea- things I have noticed...

With each day that passes something weird happens. haha. I have been meaning to write this blog post for a while but here are some interesting, and maybe some surprising things myself and some of my friends have noticed about Korea...

1) Heated floors. If anything Canada should take from the Koreans, it is this. The floors are heated, best feeling waking up in the morning and putting your feet down on the heated wooden floors. Amazing. 

2) Coffee and coffee shops. Koreans love coffee and will drink it at any time, including the evenings, and apparently it doesn't effect their sleep? Coffee is one of few things that is more expensive in Korea and its only because its so trendy to go out for coffee with friends or on dates. On this note, Koreans are obsessed with their weight and most only order Americanos to cut calories. 

3) Furthermore, Koreans are obsessed with their looks. I know you are thinking well so are we in Canada. No koreans have brought it to a whole other level. It is wayyyy too common to have plastic surgery done, and is uber cheap because literally everyone has it done. Koreans all want to have what is called double eye lids and apparently this isn't even considered plastic surgery because so many people get it done. They get their noses done, their cheeks, chins, just pretty much change their entire face shapes. It is advertised everywhere, all over the the subway stations and streets and is incredibly cheap. I would say a third of the price we would pay for these kinds of surgeries. Women are obsessed with staying thin and most actually are. They are really into having as white of skin as possible and obviously as healthy as skin as possible. Women wear high heels 24/7 in Seoul, I don't even know how they do it. Ok, I could go on about this topic for ever. moving on... 

4) Showers. The showers are not separated from the rest of the bathroom so in most apartment your are literally showering over your sink or toilet. In my mind it doesn't really make sense, the entire bathroom gets soaked and its hard to keep your things dry. As well every bathroom has special plastics slipper sandals to wear so your feet don't get wet when you use the bathroom. 

5) Processed Foods. It is so hard to find real cheese here (thank god everyday there is a costco in korea) it is all the plasticy kraft singles stuff, even when you go to like nice restaurants to order say, a hamburger it will have plastic cheese on it. When you do find it it is really expensive. Koreans have no idea what they are missing. 

6) The subway system. Amazing. It is so easy not to have a car in Seoul, the subway system is amazing. My only complaints are how crowded it gets, but what do you expect when you live in a city with 13 million people and I'm going to complain about the fact it closes at midnight. but still it is really convenient! 

7) Koreans in general are so so nice. It feels like everyone wants to be friends. It was like this in Brazil too. Canadians for sure could learn a thing or too about being more friendly and open in my mind! 

8) Koreans drink after work and on weekdays quite often. Be it with coworkers or their bosses, it is a part of the business culture to go out and drink soju (traditional korean rice wine) after work. Since the area of Seoul I live in is kind of a business area this makes for a lot of drunk people on weekday nights.Which brings me to number 9... 

9) www.blackoutkorea.com. When Koreans drink they pass out, and I often see people passed out on the roads or in the alleys, never know if you should try to help them or not. crazy. 

10) Fashion. As I have already said on my blogs, the fashion here is insanely awesome and insanely cheap. You can go to the nearest subway stop and their will more then likely be a mini mall down there haha. One subway stop over is called "Express Bus Terminal" literally a huge shopping mall of cheap finds in the station. Including $5 shirts, $10 shoes, $5 scarves, and I'm not talking crap people this stuff is nice! Alas my shopping addiction continues in Korea. 

11) Koreans have taken some weird foods from other countries and made them unexpected staples. Such as waffles. You can find waffles everywhere, including little stands on the street. Sausage is everywhere. Lastly, chicken. There are signs for "Chicken and Beer" all over the place. Lynn said she read an article stating that for every 100 people that live in Korea there are 12 chicken restaurants. Insane. 

12) Pizzas are weird here and expensive. They have weird things like potatoes, shrimp, crab etc on their pizza. Last week I had a pizza with a salad in the middle of it. In all the crusts their is either cheese (yay) or weird mashed sweet potatoes. Just in general miss the good old $5 little caesars pizza back home. 

13) Families. Obviously I can't speak for all Koreans but in general they place a lot of emphasis on families and their children. All the time I see good parents. Really great fathers and mothers. I can't even give your specifics but I just get that impression from seeing them interact with their kids. On another side note, the birthrate is extremely low in Korea, most of the kids I teach now are the only child in their family. 

14) The suicide rate. The suicide rate in Korea is the highest in the world. Koreans are just so expected to be perfect, in terms of jobs, their education and even their appearances. Too many expectations are put on children and youth. Going to school from morning until night followed by violin lessons or whatever.  Furthermore, when Koreans are stressed, something is wrong in terms of health, I feel like they don't think they can tell many people, even their friends and family. Their are not many resources for therapists or support. Its actually really tragic. Another issue I could go on about for forever. 

Okay, Im going to stop at 14 because I'm tired. This isn't even a portion of the ways Korea is different from Canada. 

Eventul Weekend

My blog posts are becoming so random because they are not following a particular timeline. However, I have found my blog determination yet again and alas here I am.

This weekend was a really wicked weekend! Friday night my coworkers and I went out in itaewon to celebrate gabby (the youngest of the groups) 22nd bday! Played good old american beer pong, I can't tell a lie I prefer flip cup! Went to the country music bar and did some two steppin' and just in general had a pretty good time.

Yesterday I officially started my weekly Korean classes and have learned the sounds of the alphabet, which is extremely hard. Believe it or not there is a letter that is in between an "r" and an "l" which is nearly impossible to say. I'm really determined to learn Korean and have learned so many words its really exciting. Last night Gabby, Carolyn and I went to out for breakfast, yes i said breakfast, in Gangnam! It was amazing, I had a cream cheese and mozzarella pancake with honey vanilla butter and maple syrup! As well, finally found my favourite food in the whole world, mashed potatoes and gravy:); I can know make it through another 4 months in Korea. haha

Today was the best day of all, maybe one of my favourite days in Korea actually. I volunteered at a Orphanage and just hung out with the kids and taught them a bit of english; my small amounts of Korean also came in really handy! These two girls clung to me the whole afternoon which I didn't mind at all.