Valentine's Day in Korea

I realize I never posted this! That was really lame of me. And the reason we haven't had a post in a while is that we haven't really done anything that interesting since we got back from Thailand. That should be changing next weekend, so I'll be doing a more interesting post. It's just been a bunch of the same. We watched our friend's dog again, but this time for a whole week. We've been going to see movies (Dallas Buyer's Club was fantastic!), going to trivia and taekwondo, etc. Interesting new bit of information though: I got my new EPIK co-teacher! Niall left my school to go teach at an elementary school, and he was replaced by Rhy from England. For the last week or so, I've been helping him get all sorted out. He's a nice guy. This week is the first week of school for us, but we haven't been teaching at all! I guess they don't have our schedules figured out yet. Oh well! I've been working on lesson planning a little bit (as much as I can without the teacher book to go with the new textbooks the kids are using). Also, last week was Maria's birthday, so she had the girls over for pizza and cake. It was a nice night. At the same time, the boys went out to the board game cafe together, and I think Gianni had fun with that. Anyway, that's all for now and sorry for the late post.

I read somewhere that Koreans are up there for the people who spend the most money on Valentine's Day, but here Valentine's Day is really different than in Western countries. In Korea, the 14th day of every month is a "love" themed day. There's Valentine's Day (Feb), White Day (March), Black Day (April), Rose Day (May), Kiss Day (June), Silver Day (July), Green Day (August), Music Day (September), Wine Day (October), Movie Day (November), Hug Day (December), Candle Day (January). I'm not sure what all the color days are about, and people don't really celebrate all of them. Valentine's Day, White Day, and Black Day are celebrated though. Valentine's Day is supposed to be the day when women give men a present, typically chocolate. EVERYONE goes on dates on Valentine's Day, so I'm going nowhere near downtown because it's going to be crazy crowded. The next month, on White Day, is when the man reciprocates and gives the woman a present, showing that he is returning her love. If he doesn't return the favor, there is trouble in paradise. The month after is Black Day. Black Day is singles day. It is called Black Day because if you're single on black day, you're supposed to eat black bean noodles or jajjangmyeon. They are a Korean Chinese food dish that is very popular here. It's really good. I just think it's hilarious that single day is equated with the color black. Is it that horrible to be single, Korea?

So we have the first of the three holidays coming up. Gianni and I have agreed we won't really do presents, but we're going to have a fancy dinner instead. I wanted to avoid the craziness of downtown, so I actually found a woman on facebook who, I believe, is married to someone in the military. She is a chef and does catering for Christmas and Thanksgiving and stuff. She made these big meals you could order for you and your friends, and her food looks DELICIOUS! So I asked if she was doing anything for Valentine's Day, and she said she'd be happy to make us dinner. We get dinner (I believe it is going to be lasagna), dessert (I requested chocolate of some sort), and wine for $60 for two people. Not bad. We're treating ourselves.

Update: Valentine's Day dinner was delicious. She made the most incredible brownies to go with our lasagna. Not the traditional Italian-style lasagna. There was no ricotta cheese in it, but the sausage that was inside it was really yummy. It was a nice night at home. <3