Happy Pepero Day

Pepero Day is somewhat of a holiday in South Korea. It is sort of like Valentine's Day, and friends and couples exchange Pepero cookies. While there is a train of thought that the holiday was started by Lotte in order to sell more Pepero cookies, I consciously choose to ignore the negative. I like the idea that a holiday was created on November 11th to celebrate love and friendship because the shape of a cookie resembles the look of the numerical date. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Korean culture is all about. (In fact, just the other day I was contemplating whether there is somewhat of a French influence in Korea because there is simply a French influence in Korea, or if Koreans just love the romanticism and beauty of French culture and decided they wanted to have a French influence. Either scenario is perfectly plausible.) 

I favor the green box. The red box is plain chocolate on the outside, and the tan box cookies have chocolate filling.
Those super big ones are just about the only thing you'll find 'super-sized' in Korea.

I borrowed this image from a Google image search, and it shows you a few varieties of Pepero cookies. In general, the cookies are long sticks. All cookies have about an inch of plain, un-coated cookie at the bottom so one can hold the cookie and not get chocolate fingers. Cookies may also be plain, but the best ones are either coated in chocolate, coated in chocolate with almond bits, or have chocolate filling inside them. Of all the cookies in Korea, I've finally found one I like. The long, thin cookies coated in chocolate with bits of almond are my favorite.

On Pepero Day, students usually bring cookies for their teachers. As I had the day off today, I did not receive any pepero cookies. I am a bit saddened by this, but alas, I must find it within myself to press on. After all, one of my favorite students gave me two pepero cookies before her class yesterday. A few weeks ago I taught her about saying 'you're welcome' after someone says 'thank you', and I think she just wanted to try out her new word, which she spoke with perfection. She is a very sweet girl, and if I ever do have kids, I want a daughter just like her.

Happy Pepero Day, everyone. May your day be filled with yummy cookies and friendship.