Armistice Day

I hope this is still topical. In Korea, November 11 is called 'Pepero' Day and it's an unabashed ploy by a candy company to sell more candy. Since there is no coy attempt to hide the commercialism of the day behind an emotion (like Valentine's), and since kids love candy, and incidentally, so do I, I wasn't perturbed at all that Pepero overshadows the real November 11 - Remembrance Day.



Still, I wore a poppy, brought from home, and photocopied 'In Flanders Fields' to tell all 3 of my classes from Basic to Senior what Nov. 11 was really about.

In the end I got a ton, literally, a tonne of Pepero, and so did the other teachers. Since I'm on a health kick I put most of my haul into the community pile where, I suspect, it got thrown out. Just as well, since Pepero, like all Korean candy, sucks. It consists of a stick-shaped, completely taste-free crumbly cookie base that has the consistency of cardboard. This is then dipped in chocolate, and sometimes it has sesame seeds in the base. Apart from the thin layer of chocolate it's a terrible candy, so I think I'll stick to chocolate the next time I want to binge on simple carbs.