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People everywhere, today is a very important day, an annual celebration in Korean culture, where Koreans come together to be friends, to love one another and to exchange chocolate biscuit sticks, eh?!


So, Korea likes holidays, no Korea LOVES holidays. As well as its Solar New Year, Independence movement day, Childrens Day, Memorial Day, Liberation Day, Foundation Day, Christmas Day, Lunar New Year, Buddha's Birthday and Harvest Moon Festival. All of which qualify for a day (or 3) off work (gotta love Korea).

(Source)

There are also unofficial national holidays throughout the year, much like Valentines Day (they celebrate that too). However, they don't just celebrate valentines day on the 14th, that's just not enough, in Korea the 14th of the month, every month, is to be a 'fun-filled day" mostly for couples. Valentine's day in Korea is a time when the females actually give to the males and as Korea is less gender specific than most countries it is common to see men with pink teddies, roses and chocolates on this day (and why the hell not!). Fear not, the following month on, yes, the 14th is 'White Day'. This time it's the men's turn to give, give, give (apparently candy NOT chocolate).

A poster from a popular bakery "Tous Les Jous"(Source)

April 14th is assigned 'Black Day' and with a name of such doom and gloom comes a time for Singles to rejoice, or not, apparently 'lonely singles are not in the best of moods' following the 2 previous months and must comfort one another over large bowls of  'Jjajangmyeon', black noodles.

Noodles for the 'lonely & bitter'  (Source)

" Their sense of camaraderie will be stronger on this day as they declare "No to couples, and yes to singles!" but there are a few singles that find a suitable mate."


The Official Site of Korea Tourism.


The 14th of each month is then assigned various names/themes such as 'Green day', 'Kiss Day' and 'Hug Day' a full list is available here


OK, so today, what could today possibly be....


PEPERO DAY!

Pepero Day! (source)

Pepero's (source)

Firstly, what is a Pepero?
Pepero (also known as Poky) is a long thin biscuit, that has been dipped in chocolate- covering 3/4 of the stick, there's also flavoured Pepero and different type's of nut Pepero.

Pretty Tasty (source)

Yep Korea has an entire day dedicated to a biscuit.


Why? Well there are two stories, one is that on the 11th day of the 11th month, 2 middle school girls in Busan decided the 11.11 looked like Pepero's and therefore decided to exchange Pepero's with the well wishing that they would 'grow tall and slim like a Pepero'.


However, the second story is much less charming and also more likely. The company 'Lotte' who make Pepero (and own just about everything in Korea) created one of the greatest marketing tools, an unofficial holiday dedicated to their product. Celebrated since 1994, Pepero Day is taken seriously in Korea.

(Source)

Artistic displays of Pepero boxes can be seen everywhere in the run up to Pepero Day, hearts, characters, robots and people are just a few I have seen this year.




Pretty Good



Furthermore, the usual box of Pepero costs around 600 Won (about 30 pence) and contains about 10 sticks around 6 inches long. However in a culture where people are always striving to have the biggest, the best, the most expensive....For Pepero day you can buy Pepero in all sizes, one box was even 60,000 Won (that's over £30 for biscuits). Obviously other companies have caught on and you can now buy different brands of Pepero, Pepero sticks from the bakers, Pepero cushions, rugs etc.

Other more fancy Pepero (Source)

Well, today was my first Pepero day in South Korea, I was not sure what to expect or even what to do...do I buy students Pepero? Do I buy co-teachers Pepero? Do I buy Friends Pepero? Will anyone actually buy me Pepero?


I settled on taking 3 small boxes into school for co-teachers, safety. This is mine and Paul's collection of Pepero's at the end of the day:


Our little lot: 23 was my count at the end of the day!








I also got one slightly special Pepero from my daily companion after classes are over, 'Anna', she comes everyday (pretty much) just to talk (for hours), she hid this in my bag:




To Corey Teacher
Hello
Today is Pepero day
Then, I give Pepero for you.
Thanks
Because. You teaching, playing, talking, helping-
Bye- From Anna.







All in all a great day! Now I'm not one to support commercialism but the students really were so happy, walking coyly into my room at break to hand me Pepero's. So, why not hey, costs much less than Christmas (and I bloody love that too!)...hmm contradiction.




Photos from various sources.

A holiday in the UK, surely not...

It's official, we shall be heading back to UK soil January 17th. Arriving January 18th in London. Departing February 4th for our second year in Korea.


Now, had you told me a year ago that I would one day be excited to return to the UK, I would have deemed you a crazy fool. To friends and family, yes, but the place itself, surely not! Well, well times have changed, I am in fact looking forward to EVERYTHING. A visit to the UK sounds perfect. I say visit as my desire to not spend my entire lifetime or even majority of my life there remains much the same- too many countries to see..


I kid you not of my excitement: I have in fact began striking the days off my calender and planning my precious time at home...


However, the majority of my planning has involved planning what I wish to eat and drink, heres just a few...

• Passion Fruit
• Mango
• A real pasta bake made in an actual oven
• Focaccia bread
• Baked Potato's
• Thai Food
• Real delicious Pizza (we have managed to find good Pizza here, but types are limited)
• Artichoke (on said Pizza)
• Shepard's Pie
• A roast Dinner
• Many oven dishes - Oven's are rare and expensive in Korea
• Good chocolate- Green & Black's, galaxy..
• REAL cocktails
• Delicious Beer

Maybe upon my return to Korea I shall have entered into new grounds, into the very very fat realm, at current I have been assured by my co-teacher "you are not very, very fat"

just very fat, perhaps?!

70 days left of missing.....

Laughing at my crazy mother, the bear, Nanny Sandy's warm little face, my brothers obsession with lifting me and being half naked, my wonderful nephews and sister, tortoise face Tony, Georgie boy or more my mum telling me Georgie boys emotions at present (Georgie is a tortoise), troll face's chuckle, a hug from Nicola (she love's them), being paraded around my mum's work as she tells them my life story for the hundredth time, talking Mr. Sheltons ear off, lots of rose wine and giggles with the adopted family,  dance off's, sleep overs, scouse accents, my favourite Irish lady, bum-chins, new and beautiful babies, the Linnell-Simmons tribe, Stocker's curly head, Shizzle, Cake's, Daddy cool and his lady, ...theres just too much.

Amazing Family's

Wonderful Friends

Happy, happy Times.

Remember, Remember.....

This Friday marked our first 'Bonfire Night' in Korea. This being a British Holiday and the fact that I love love love any holidays and fireworks, we decided to make a lil fuss over the occasion. We also wanted to introduce our non-British friends to such traditions. 


We decided we would go all out! Paul researched the story behind the day, Guy Fawkes and crew, the plot, the reasoning, the capture and finally the death penalty. I took full responsibility of food and organisation, two areas I can excel in. The night began with stocking up on treats, marshmallows, digestive biscuits, chocolate and sweet potatoes. We then set to work on making a 'Guy' with limited funds (available for burning) and limited materials, we made the guy using 3 pairs of socks, nail varnish for decoration and ribbon. Quite the Guy...




The 'Guy' and treats.

 We then headed to Bukbu beach and had a little look-see for fire wood, with no success we sent old Captain Chris on a mission for wood whilst we bought fireworks. In Korea, fireworks are readily available, it would seem to all ages, although I am not 100% sure. The fireworks are sold on stalls on the beach and vary in type from roman candles to larger scale and back to hand held fireworks, no no not sparklers but actual fireworks you hold in your hand, point up to the sky (or other-as you shall see shortly) and fire away...CRAZY, yes.


Hand-held fireworks in Korea.



Once the fire wood was collected and boy did the captain surpass all expectations, making the fire began. We originally made a small but size-able fire for cooking the potatoes and making smores (smores are American= biscuit or Graham cracker if avaliable- no idea what this is, chocolate on top, melted marshmallow atop of that, sandwiched by another biscuit). However, in a self-admittedly egotistical fashion Chris decided to make a monster of a fire in clear view of passers by upon a beach whereby it is illegal to do such things, I love testosterone!

Our humble fire

Chris' victorious flaming glory!

The rest of the night went something like.....

Cooking on the fire.

Delicious smores, sweet potatoes and sausages cooked on the lil fella.




Face of amazement due to the potatoes actually successfully being cooked!



Burning the guy:

Sparklers, I love them so..

Fireworks:

Firework wars, yes, irresponsible, yes, ridiculous an idea, yes, pretty fun and worrying to watch:

Chris happy after chasing Landis off the beach by shooting fireworks at her!

This truly was one of the greatest Bonfire nights I have experienced.


Last but by no means least, at the strike of 12 we got to wish Tawny a happy birthday and from there the birthday weekend celebrations for this wonderful lady commenced....

Happy Birthday you delightful thing you.

'Happiness'



Coffee shops of Korea



Bowler hats



Indian food

  Yet again, a wonderful weekend was had. Daegu, Busan, road tripping, Indian foods, cup cakes, tasty beer, shopping, Hoduk (sp?), Tarot card readings, '4 spoons in a draw', Jim Dalk and the singing of happy birthday on command = One Happy, Happy birthday girl!

Moments of greatness...

So, this week two of my Co-Teachers had what can only be described as a huge BLAZING row. It was not pretty. This was my first experience of such things in Korea and damn, Korean women can be scary! The mood in school since Tuesday has been a little glum as my co-teacher pieces together his pride. 

In Korea, "Saving face" is very important, especially for men. Koreans wish to always present themselves as best as possible and place huge expectations upon themselves and others to achieve, therefore any sense of humiliation is perceived ten times worse than perhaps at home. South Korea has the highest rate of suicide in the world, especially amongst youngsters. It has been suggested to us whilst living here that the importance placed upon 'saving face' combined with the daily stresses may play a part in the reasoning behind such sad and shocking statistics.
New York Times: Global Suicide Rates.

Sorry for the doom and gloom there, thought I'd be a little informant!
However today, during my 20minute break between classes, second graders start knocking the door and once opened, handing me letters. Not just any letters, these letters were in beautiful envelopes, some bound with string, others with paper craft for decoration:



The magnificently decorated letters and art.








Paper craft- 'Hanbok'- Traditional Korean Clothes


 



The real deal (source)



'letter' just in case I weren't too sure.

 Inside these majestical envelopes were wonderful little letters....all in Korean! Of course.

However, my Co-Teacher helped me translate a few and the content was all pretty similar...
Traditions in Korea-
Kimchi: (fermented cabbage) 

• How to make it. 
• How to eat it. 
• Do you like it? 
• It's a little spicy.

Hanbok:

• Do you know it?
• Very beautiful.

....and many more Korean traditions.

There were also a few "Thank you's" (one for helping her make characters for Halloween), "You are kind teacher", "You are pretty teacher". Possibly some "I don't like English", "I don't like Corey Teacher" too, although I'm sure they were too kind to translate such things.

Most wonderful statement from a student this week:

"Teacher maybe you are pretty. Maybe. Teacher, maybe. Maaaaybe. Teacher M-A-Y-B-E"

Shinee Class 4:1.

...and yes he definitely did intend this to be witty, his cheeky lil face made that much clear.

Close second: "Teacher I like Hyeung Yeung teacher, you...NO...Yes sorry, sorry."

Class 5:5, My least favourite student - This week!

Great way to start your day at 8.50am. My response was "Thank you. You are very kind" . What can you say, really.

HALLOWEEN in Korea

This weekend we not only went to our first wedding but also experienced our first Halloween in Korea, all in one day, quite the contrast!


For Halloween we decided to dress up, a little challenging in a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween. However, we were able to find one or two shops with minimal items to use. I decided to be a vampire (backcombed hair into a giant nest,black eyes, red lips-simple) and Paul decided on a Pirate (easy options). Our friends Chris and Tawny had decided to go as 'Where's Wally (or Waldo to the Americans)' and a Ragdoll. 


Where's Wally?





Once dressed and good to go, we realised we didn't actually have anywhere to go... Most people we knew were heading to Daegu for a Halloween party, but we wanted to do something a little different. We decided to go check people's costumes out at the main foreign bar here in Pohang-Tilt, our favourite costume in Tilt was...




Anna Avatar and Tawny doll face

 After a short time in Tilt, we wandered the streets of Pohang, had a few photos with locals-who were amazed as its their first experience of Halloween on a larger scale (last year there were very few foreigners in Pohang). We also posed for some 'in character' photos:




Vampire



Tawny- Dead Rag Doll



Captain Paul

 Chris appeared 'somewhere' in every possible photo (aside from these), he was just SO in character- drama kids hey!


We ended the night with a 'scary' film,  that didn't turn out to be so scary (much to Tawny's delight!), 'Wolfman', a banana bubble drink- tapioca balls, whaaat and all in great company! Another wonderful weekend in South Korea.