Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentines Day in Korea

The Korean Valentine's Day is slightly different than the North American one. Here, girls and women give chocolate to people they like, but men don't offer gifts.

I gave my students donuts, which they promptly sank their teeth into:

Sandy (posing in front of the white board) wrote me a letter and gave me a candy-filled rose. Fake flowers are surprisingly popular in Korea! They're used everywhere for celebrations and grand openings.

Many women feel it's their obligation to give chocolate, and Sandy said, "teacher, I wish it was Pepero Day or White Day." She gave her brother and father chocolate, but on White Day: March 14th, men are expected to return the favor.

According to Wikipedia, there's a "Black Day" on April 14th where those who didn't receive a gift on either holiday eat Chinese noodles in black sauce!

Instead of sobbing over black noodles, why not buy yourself a treat? This Valentine's Day, I bought some pineapple from the back of a man's truck. It was juicy and sweet:

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:29 PM

    Sounds like a nice tradition to pick someone you admire or like to honor on Valentine's Day. It is called Valentine's Day in Korea?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eva Karrin McKinnon5:10 PM

    Well, I got a message from a Korean friend saying, "Happy Balentines." But, yes, I think so.

    ReplyDelete

thank you and have a nice day