*Korean Friendships*

One sunny afternoon while making my way to Korean class on the always stuffy and crowded bus, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a very smiley face clutching a cellphone and pointing it in my direction. I wasn't quiet sure what exactly i was suppose to do with the phone, so I took it and saw that   a long message had been typed on it for me to read. In English. Feeling slightly intrigued I began to read...

"Hello. I hope you don't mind but I was hoping that you could be my friend. I would really like to chat with you and improve my English skills and it would be a great pleasure to speak with you. If you are free, lets meet together"

And that was the start of a wonderful friendship with my new friend Sohee! She invited me to her new house a little while ago where she feed me the most delicious food! Not only does she get the opportunity to practice her English, but I have gained a lovely friend and am learning a whole lot more about Korean culture too :)

*Costco* wholesale shopping at it’s best here in Daejeon

Farmboy and I headed off on a little adventure this Saturday. When I left my house the sun was shining, and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day (but I had my trusty brollie *umbrella* with me just in case the weather man was right about the days weather).

Well... by the time I got to Farmboys bus stop ( a mere 7 minutes away) there were gale force winds, and it was pouring with rain...probably not the best weather to head off exploring in.

Anyway, we had heard mixed reviews about the infamous Costco here in Daejeon, and thought it was about time we head on over there to check it out. I had obviously misheard my super friend Holly in her previous account of their trip to Costco, as I thought she had said the membership fee was W300 000 (about $300), and so we thought we would just have a look around as you need a membership card to shop there. Well, I didn't realise you actually need a membership card to even enter the building! Ridiculous! Well, luckily i realized my mistake, minus a zero from my initial idea of the membership fee, sign up, realise you can only pay with cash, spend ages trying to find the stairs to get to the basement to draw some cash, head back upstairs to pay with cash (unless you own a fancy smancy Samsung Debit/Credit card), say cheese and hey presto...you are now the proud owner of a Costco card!

We were bowled over by the size of the place and by the number of foreigners. I was a little disappointed as I soon realise that the everything was for sale in BULK (duh I know but I didn't really think about this before) and so I really have to need for 4 liters of maple syrup when I just need about 500ml. But it was a great experience, they had loads of things to try...so lots of snacking for us...yay!



And lunch was good too...especially when we looked around and realised why so many foreigners come to Korea and end up piling on the pounds...the picture belows explains this:

The size of one pizza slice! I know this is a common thing in the States, but in South Africa I've never come across 1 piece of pizza being so darn big! But Farmboy said it was really yummy and my hot dog was pretty good too, so I guess good things also come in Really Large packages too :)

If your looking for good old *tasty* cheese, salami, sauces, spices, great looking meat and *normal* tasting bakes good head over to Costco :)

Membership

W30 000

Directions

Costco is right next door to Seo-Daejeon Train Station (map)

By bus: 612 goes right past, and Bus's 119, 201, 202, 314, 612, 613, 701 go very close. You will probably get dropped off infront of Say Department store. Then just  follow the signs for Seo-Daejeon Station.

Subway: Seo-Daejeon Subway stop, follow the signs for the Station. Its about a 7 minute walk from the subway

Hours:

• 10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Monday - Sunday
• Closed : NEW YEAR'S DAY,
LUNAR NEW YEAR'S DAY,
CHUSEOK
• We close at 7:00 pm on
NEW YEAR'S EVE,
LUNAR NEW YEAR EVE,
and CHUSEOK EVE.

P,P,P,Peppero!

Last thursday was a rather special day here in Korea, not special in the I-get-the-day-off-to sleep-in-and-drink-hot-chocolate-in-this-freezing-cold-weather kinda way, but rather in a here-some-snacks-for-you kinda way. Basically, the 11th day of the 11th month (11/11) has become known here in South Korea as Pepero Day.

Pepero Day is similar to Valentine's Day and is named after the Korean snack 'Pepero' (pepero's are chocolate dipped sticks of bread or biscuit...yumyum!):

It's held on November 11, since the date "11/11" looks like four sticks of Pepero (*ummm...what about a biltong day back in South Africa???*)  It is mostly  young people and couples who exchange Pepero sticks, other and other 'romantic gifts' Lotte (one of the largest food and shopping groups here in South Korea...even with its own designer Department Stores and cinemas) denies starting the holiday and instead states that they noticed a bump in Pepero sales around November 11th and after continued popularity they decided to then encourage the holiday with special gift boxes and other promotions. Hmmm ya right Lotte! Especially as they makes 55% of their yearly sales in November!

According to one story, Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero".  Sweet :)

While every other Teacher we know was showered with yummy chocolate snacks,. I had a measly 3 little sticks sitting on my desk when I got to school...but hey who's counting :)