Happy Veteran's Day/ 빼빼로 Day

Thank you to all the veteran's who have served our country. Also a big thanks to those who are currently serving our country. A special shout out to the men in my family who are currently serving- my 2nd cousin Brandon, who just left for Afghanistan and his wife Morgan. Also my cousin-in-law Chris and my cousin Jennifer in Guam. And to our friends Chris and Lacey Stevens serving in the Navy. I cannot even imagine being a wife of someone in the military or having that lifestyle. We are so grateful for your sacrifice. I read the following quote on somebody's facebook status today and wanted to repost it.

"A Veteran is someone who at one point in their life wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, his or her life.That is beyond honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact."

Korea celebrates an entirely different holiday on November 11. Pepero Day. Pepero is a type of snack/candy. It's basically a biscuit-like stick dipped in chocolate, covered with chocolate and nuts, or filled with chocolate. You might be familiar with the Japanese version called Pockey.

Now, America has its fair share of commercialized holidays, but they all seem to be in commemeration of some special date or event, right? Pepero Day is basically a holiday celebrating candy- similar to Valentine's Day but much more commercialized if you can believe that. It is rumored to have started in Korea by a bunch of school girls in 1994. There is no historical or religious significance to this day. Even more impressive (that may not be the right choice of words here) is that Pepero is manufactured by one company- Lotte. Lotte is like the Walmart of America but even worse. Pepero Day is therefore a monopolized holiday. In fact, Lotte does about 55% of their Pepero business in November. There is some speculation as to whether or not Lotte started this holiday to increase their sales or just started marketing after they heard of the Pepero trend. Regardless, their marketing scheme has been quite effective. We participated.

We were told that you give a 빼빼로 stick to people that you really like- your close friends, family, favorite teacher, etc. So we decided that we would buy a bunch of 빼빼로 and give it out to all of our students. They were very appreciative. We even got a few back from them.

One crucial factor that allows people to accept Pepero Day as a holiday and not a fraud is the day it falls on. It's not just celebrated on any random day. If it were, it wouldn't be a holiday. It has to be celebrated on November 11. Why, you may ask? Think of the numerical writing: 11 11. Looks like a bunch of 빼빼로 sticks lined up. This simple numerical representation has lead to a genius marketing campaign by Lotte.

Here's the 빼빼로 that my husband gave me. I love the cute little package. This is quite possibly one of my weirdest smiles.

Just imagine what next year will be like: 11.11.11