(26) 90 in 90: Random Bits of Pepero, univeristies and getting married in Korea

Today is 배배로 or Pepero Day in Korea. Pepero is a cookie like stick dipped in chocolate, similar to Pocky from Japan. Pepero day was created as a commercial holiday and encourages couples and friends to purchase the treats for one another. It worked remarkably well and every year on November 11, you'll see store displays with a variety of different treats along with the post November 11 markdowns of anything Pepero related.

It's common for teachers to receive boxes of Pepero from their students or other teachers. For my second year the entire staff was given a box of Pepero as a gift for the staff. I also went out and purchased boxes of Pepero for all the female teachers teaching in the school. The holiday means nothing to me, its a commercial holiday after all, but like all festivities, its always fun to get into the spirit and share the happiness with others. So I'll happily eat my chocolate treats (and take advantage of the massive savings of left over Pepero tomorrow).

In other news, I'm still job hunting and looking for opportunities to leave my current job and relocate for another one. While I have had no success, I've have learned a few tricks and tips along the way to hopefully make for a more successful opportunity next year. I've finally begun to accept that the move to another city and career is much more involved and challenging than I originally thought. I'm a little disappointed by this, but again, there is still a little time left, so really anything can happen. Even after accepting that I may have to spend one more year at my school, its really not an entirely bad thing. I enjoy being at my school, its laid back, filled with good students and a great staff. I always want to move forward, but one more year being in the same place isn't really a bad thing.

Finally, I've looked at the process of marriage in Korea from the eyes of a foreigner and its a daunting looking experience. To be honest, I was fairly ignorant of the process that it takes to become a married couple for a non native Korean, but after reading this informative blog post, I now know that its a long and drawn out process filed with forms, paperwork, red tape and headaches. I'm not saying I'm looking to get married in Korea anytime soon, but just the thought of going through all of this makes my head spin. However, love conquers all in the end, and I'm sure even the most annoying and anal of paperwork can't compare to true love, or something like that.

This was a random post, but like the segmented and unstructured paragraphs you just read, my mind was a buzz with random little bits of information today. Its funny how these come to our minds at random.

Happy 배배로 Day to all. Keep on doing what you're doing and no matter what you're doing or where you're working, have fun in Korea while you can, for one day, we all must return home again.

Delicious 배배로 in a ultra classy box