Korean holidays, strange but true...

Hey everyone!

In anticipation of Halloween, I thought I'd make a post about some interesting things that I have found out about a couple of the Korean holidays. I have had many conversations about holidays with my students, and have found that there is no one holiday that stands out as a favorite. This is strange, since in Canada it seems like everyone's favorite holiday is Christmas hands down. In Korea, however, some of the favorite holidays are "Arbor Day" (Tree-planting holiday), "Korean Independence Day" (August 13), and my personal favorite, "Chocolate Dipped Cookie Day." That's right - they have a holiday devoted to nothing else except chocolate dipped cookies. It makes me think we might be missing out on something in Canada!

"Pepero Day" falls on November 11, which of course, is also the Canadian Remembrance Day. I had a bit of a blonde moment the other day when I asked one of my students why he wrote an essay about eating chocolate cookies on Remembrance Day... oops. Talk about a look of confusion! Anyway, apparently Pepero Day is a bit like Valentines Day. You give out cookies (chocolate-dipped, of course) to your boyfriend/girlfriend. I have insisted that Andrew and I follow the Korean tradition this year. And, there will be no forgetting!

Halloween is next week which is pretty exciting for me. Halloween has always been one of the holidays that I anticipate the most in the year. I'd like to say that it's the kids in their costumes, or the excitement, but to be honest, it's probably just the candy! We usually have a "stash" of candy in our house after Halloween until the end of November. Also, it reminds me of going out trick-or-treating with friends when I was little. I'm sure every kid did this, but we would start at like 4:30 and go until 9 or 10. I am really appreciative of the parents (including my own!) who got dragged around with us for all that time. Although, I'm sure every parent stole candy (as a "reward") from their kids, like my parents did.... right? My "tootsie rolls" and "Reece's Pieces" would always go mysteriously missing shortly after bringing them home.

Anyway, as I was saying... Halloween is next week! Koreans know what Halloween is, but they don't really do anything for it. Some kids dress up in costumes (we've seen some costumes for sale anyway) but they definitely do NOT go trick-or-treating. I explained to them last week how in Canada we go from house-to-house yelling at people in exchange for candy. They thought this was ridiculous! They were like "teacher, do people get mad?" It was funny. Anyway, Andrew and I have planned a Halloween party for the entire hagwon on Monday. It has been a lot of work since we not only have 200 students, but also have students which range in age from 7 - 17. This, combined with the fact that they only speak very basic English, makes for a tough task! Our games are pretty simple - bobbing for apples, scavenger hunt and listening to Halloween games and songs. Anyway, it should be a lot of fun BUT a lot of work. We're going to work at 10 on Monday and are staying until 9 or so at night. The teachers are going "trick-or-treating" to some of the students houses later at night for fun. I knew I'd get some candy somehow!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Halloween! Make sure to have some candy!

Love and miss you all,

Love, Tara and Andrew
XOXO

By the way, Tara's 'flu' turned out to be a mild case of pneumonia! She is all better now, but (probably due to the stress of taking care of Tara) I have come down with a cold... Maybe soon we will get a weekend where one of us isn't sick. We are going to go hiking again tomorrow up Gyereon Mountain, so we will put up some pictures of that, and the kids on Halloween as well. So, we'll post some pictures soon!

-Andrew