Pepero (빼빼로) Day!

Our pepero gifts.

Giant pepero boxes; about
half our height.

A couple of weeks ago, on November 11th (11/11), Korea celebrated Pepero Day. What is pepero? The picture above shows an assortment of pepero. There are different kinds & sizes. Basically, pepero is a stick with flavor. Sometimes it's covered with chocolate flavor or strawberry or chocolate and almonds or mango or cookies & cream... and so on. Pepero Day is celebrated on this day because it is 11/11. It's the "stick" date. Our own pictures we've taken show special gift baskets &giant pepero boxes. Nicole got A LOT of pepero from her students that day. She received 3 giant sticks, a typical box of pepero, some Ferrero Rocher chocolates, & a chocolate bar from her co-teacher. John also received a box of pepero from one of his students. In short, the day is like Valentine's Day (which Korea also celebrates), but with pepero.

Pepero & teddy bear gift baskets

Entertaining clothing sign at Costco.

It feels like we've had an eventful month but we can't think of too much exciting news to share. Each weekend this month we've discovered new places; a couple of stores & a delicious brunch cafe. Other than that, we're just in our daily routine of work & workouts.

Snow outside of Nicole's classroom. The kids were thrilled.

Pikachu just roaming the
streets in downtown Daejeon.

In other news, Daejeon, Korea had it's first snow of the season! It was on November 18th. Nicole can't believe that she got a little excited. But then, after about 10 minutes she was over it. John was not excited at all because it snowed at the exact time he was walking to the bus stop to get to work. Most places it didn't stick & we haven't seen any since then which we are pleased with. It's going to be John's first winter! And Nicole's first in two years. We have prepared well so far. Maybe a few more scarves, hats, & boots to buy this weekend. It's surely going to be a long winter!

This week we hope our friends & family have a fantastic Thanksgiving Day. Eat plenty of food for us! We will both be working on Thanksgiving Day but we are planning on making some Thanksgiving comfort food this weekend to celebrate too. We will miss each & every one of you!