Pepero Day (빼빼로날)
Today is November 11th, which means that Pepero Day (빼빼로날) is upon us once more. For those of you not in the know concerning this unique holiday you can check out my entry from last year to learn a bit more. While it's true that 빼빼로날 is very much a marketing ploy by Lotte to increase sales, how many people would turn down the chance to eat and exchange chocolate-covered biscuits (or biscuit-covered chocolate in the case of 누드/nude pepero) if there was an officially-sanctioned day for it? (Oh wait, that pretty much describes Valentine's Day ...)
While walking the alleyways surrounding my Korean academy I noticed a bakery selling 빼빼로 that looked the same size as a loaf of garlic bread. Definitely not for the faint of heart. I picked up three boxes of the original flavor and gave one to the secretary at the Korean academy, one to my Korean teacher, and had planned to give one to my classmate until she reminded me of all the reasons to dislike her. I later shared the third box with one of my former classes. Interestingly, the secretary at the Korean academy returned the gesture by giving me a box of the aforementioned 'nude' 빼빼로 and a large individually-wrapped stick of the stuff after class.
As you can see, those weren't the only gifts I received on the day. A few different designs are on display in the above photo, particularly when it comes to the individually wrapped biscuits. Here is a close-up of some of the wrapped pieces; the light blue package with teddy bears and hearts on the wrapper is the one from the Korean academy's secretary, while the others are from my students.
Having a set of pepero wrapped in gold foil and a box adorned with a red bow shows that at least a few of the students put some thought into making their gift special. It was also interesting to see when students made their presentation. Some were very public and chose to approach me in the hallway or at the start of class. Others waited until after class started so they could quietly walk up to my seat while everyone else was busy settling down or working on an activity. There were also a few shy students who waited until class was over and they were the only person left in class -- and one girl asked the academy vice-director to bring her gift to the teacher's office for me.
Throughout the day I saw a few students who had bags of pepero waiting to share with their school and academy friends, which reminded me of making Valentine's Day cards for classmates back in elementary school. I can still remember going to the store with my mom and looking at bulk boxes of cards for the one that had the greatest number of "cool" designs. Since Valentine's Day seems to be an event reserved for couples here in Korea, it may be that 빼빼로날 is the closest experience to that for my students. You can see that the boxes even have a space for writing a short note to the intended recipient -- much like an elementary school Valentine's Day card in the United States.
And for anyone still reading at this point, here is a short and blatantly cute "history of 빼빼로":
