It is the year of the dragon. But it’s a very special year. It’s actually the year of the black dragon. All I really know is that it comes around every 60 years. Incidentally, this year is a leap year on both the lunar and solar calendars. I thought it was an interesting factoid.
So Happy New Year to all my Korean and non-Korean friends. You are all special to me and hold a dear place in my heart.
Happy Peppero Day all. I was wondering if there were going to be any super fun or weird pepperos floating around. I can say, I’ve seen the biggest boxes of them EVER.
I got about a half-dozen boxes from my students. One of my kindergarteners gave me a cell phone charm that is a little girl holding a giant peppero. Now that I love. It’s so cute.
Believe it or not, I didn’t eat any. Well, no, I take that back. I ate one and then gave the rest of the box to the two students in my class.
You can buy them year round, but people usually only eat them on 11-11. After 6 Peppero days, I can say I never want to see another one as long as I live. It was worse when I taught in a full kindergarten. I came home with a shopping bag full of them. Most of all, I think my palate has changed. I don’t crave sweets the way I used to.
I decided to go to Outback (what, did you think I was living in war-torn Korea?) for dinner. I decided to get the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under. Big mistake. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a scoop of whipped cream on top of a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a warm brownie. My stomach is still yelling at me.
And thus so ends another Peppero Day. It’ll probably be back to the same old regular sized boxes. And for those who have no idea what I’m babbling on about, here a short history.
Today is Chuseok, which is roughly equivalent (sort of) to Thanksgiving. Koreans travel back to the homes of their ancestors and honor them. I spent the day reflecting on friends and family I’ve lost in the last year. Melanie, my best friend, whose body was eaten by an aggressive form of breast cancer and my Grandmother whose mind was eaten by Alzheimer’s disease.
As I watched Gidgette and Ivory play, I remembered Jeepers, The Best Cat in the World Version 1.0.
I wish everyone a peaceful Chuseok.
Today is 설날 (Seolnal; Korean New Year). It’s the first day of the lunar calendar. Although Koreans do celebrate January 1st, 설날 is probably one of the most important holidays for Koreans. Traditionally, children wish their elders a happy new year with a deep bow called a sebae. It was interesting to watch the kids do it at school on Tuesday. This site has a nice illustrated guide on how the bow is done for boys and girls.
In our celebration at school, the kids also made a lucky pouch, which is used during the sebae bow. Elders typically give the children money. Upon asking some of my older students how much they typically get, my jaw about hit the floor. I’d say the average is between 150,000 ₩ and 200,000 ₩. I’ll let you do the currency conversion on that one.
On 설날 people traditionally eat 떡국 (Ddeok Gook) a soup made with rice cakes (the chewy kind from Korea, not the crunchy kind westerners think of).
There is a traditional song that children sing on New Years called 까치까치 설날은 which translates to Magpie, Magpie. New Years Day. Traditionally seeing a magpie is an indicator of luck.
Some excellent sources of material:
Teaching guide (pdf)
We, as a staff, went out to dinner last night. This was my first experience with Jokbal (족발). Simply put, it’s pig legs that are boiled in some spices and stuff, then deboned and sliced. I was skeptical when my boss told me what we’d be eating. I have to say, it was quite delicious. Apparently the collegen in the meat/fat is good for your skin. I think I’m still feeling the fat coursing through my cardiac arteries. But hey, it was something new and I really enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s anything I’d seek out on my own, but I had fun at dinner.
Not a picture of mine, but this is esentially what we ate. There was kimchi (2 kinds) plus a couple of other salads (one with onions and cucumbers and one with daikon). There were a couple dipping sauces and lettuce leaves to wrap the meat in.
A few weekends ago, I took a trip to Old Downtown (Eunheng-dong). It’s a neat area with good shopping and good food. If you wander over there, I definitely recommend “The Flying Pan” (yes, flying, not frying) an awesome Italian restaurant with pretty good prices. I got soup, risotto and a soda for 22,000 ₩, which I think is pretty darn good. I can definitely say the food is almost as good as what I used to eat in Little Italy in Cleveland. Enjoy the pics.
Happy Pepero Day to all!
Pepero Day is celebrated here in South Korea by giving people “Peperos” (빼빼로). They are long skinny cookies sticks dipped in chocolate. Very yummy! If you’re a teacher, you usually end up with tons of them. Personally, I only eat Peperos on Pepero Day. By the time the tenth student offers them to you, you get pretty sick of them. Surprisingly, I got quite the haul today. I’ll be feeding them to to kids for weeks. Coincidently, the best bulk ones are the ones that come in the green box. They have almonds in the chocolate.
I have a pile of these things sitting on my desk. I’ll probably throw some in the box I send home with Christmas gifts. The rest I’ll give out as treats to the kids, in moderation of course. The vast majority of my kids today were way high on sugar.
The legend is that Pepero Day started in Busan. A bunch of girls started exchanging the snack and wishing each other that they would become as tall and thin as a Pepero. Nice legend. But more likely it was started by the folks at Lotte who make Peperos. It’s a true Korean “Hallmark” holiday.
Pepero Day is always celebrated on November 11th. Why that day? When you write the date at 11/11, it looks like four Peperos standing side by side.
See Wikipedia (who else?) for more information and links.
ESL Photos
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