Boy, You're Sweet!

As those of us living in Korea know, today (November 11) is Pepero Day. Pepero Day is a commercial holiday that involves giving friends boxes of Pepero which are thin, sesame seed sticks covered in chocolate. They are similiar to Japan's Pocky. I think most Koreans enjoy Pepero Day, although there are some that believe it is too materialistic and that it is just a way for the Lotte brand to generate revenue.

All day I read status updates of people receiving Pepero from their students. Funny thing is, I didn't see a single student at my school with one (I'm almost curious if it was banned from our school, or maybe I just don't pay enough attention). The only package of Pepero I saw was the one that was on my desk this morning that I anticipated receiving from one of my students because of a conversation we had last week. Here's a picture:

Lee Taeho was kind enough to leave a note and if you'll notice, there is a cute little bear sticker at the top. I'd be surprised to see a male, American middle school student to include one of those. ;) His message basically says that he knows I may not be familiar with Pepero and that he hopes I enjoy it. He also mentions that he thought it was unusual for a foreign teacher to be teaching at a public school. He is one of my upper-level students and I really hope that misspelling of "hello" was intentional.

The love doesn't stop there though, after one of my classes I was having trouble retrieving the CD-ROM from the computer. One of my students (one of the twins that reminds me of Arjay) approaches me and says, "Let's go," to me not realizing that I need to get that out first. He comes to the rescue and of course when he does it, it pops right out. He then proceeds to pick up my things and escort me out of the classroom. As we are walking through the hallway (awkwardly for me) his little buddies come up snickering something about us being on a date and that someone should take a picture. These boys are a trip!

More on Korean boys, they are quite enigmatic. They play video/pc games for hours on end and have an immense appreciation for violence and death. When I asked my students to come up with inventions, many of them thought of death machines where you could kill yourself. Yet, they are extremely sweet and affectionate. They walk around in the hallways holding hands, fixing each others hair, and draped over one another. I find them to be effiminate too, as they like to wear colors that are typically gender stereotyped, such as pink and purple, and they carry around Hello Kitty pencil cases. Nothing wrong with that, but I find it contradictory to other components of their personality. Nonetheless, they keep me entertained!