November 11 was Pepero Day in Korea. The four "1's" in the date resemble the Pepero sticks, and this encouraged either brilliant marketers or a group of wishful girls in Busan to start the trend of buying these delicious cookie sticks by the hundreds and passing them out to people you like. (One tradition goes that the Busan girls prized the cookies for their thinness. I'm glad my role model isn't a food product.)
My first class of the day gave me a couple boxed of these tasty treats which I turned into gifts for the next class who also gave me boxes that I gave to the next class and so on. I didn't have to buy any Pepero but had plenty for all of my students throughout the day and I had some left over for myself.
The best part of the day was realizing that this had actually been my best teaching day since starting. I completely held the students' attention when I was using Pepero sticks as an incentive for class participation, the kids were already hyped up on sugar, and we all have a blast.
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| Even the coffee shop chain Paris Baguette got in on the party with their "peperoll" pastry." |
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| Yep, this stash is going to last us a long time. |
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| Peter was so pumped to get to eat Pepero in class. Best day ever! |
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| "Okay, kids! Let's show kids in America what Pepero Day is like!" |
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| "Teacher, how quickly can I finish my test without you suspecting me of rushing so I can eat cookies?" |
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| It's probably not proper teacher etiquette to photograph the class while they're taking a test, but, we didn't cover that in my training, so I had at it. |
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| Back in the teacher's room: Behold the haul. |
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| Here is my lovely Korean co-teacher and pseudo sister Jinny with peanut Pepero. |
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| Happy Pepero Day! |
