Celebrating Valentine's Day in Korea

Well, well, well...what do have here? Today was Valentine's Day in Korea! It's another day that Koreans love to celebrate by purchasing more chocolate and candy for their loved ones--but the roles are reversed here. Women and girls buy chocolate for their valentine's, instead of the guys. We visited the Hyundai Department Store this morning and it was filled with women buying chocolate for their significant others.

So at school today I was lucky enough to receive chocolate from both my students and staff. Devante also received chocolate too. But this time around, the gifts did not match up to what we received on Pepero Day (her stash is here).

Here's a sample of the chocolate I received today (Koreans love their chocolate--remember my post on Lotte's Dream Cacao Kit Kat's Korean cousin?):


...and here is the rest I had received by the end of the night (look at the size of that chocolate coin!):


I even had some female students say to me "teaching, I'll bring you chocolate next class." I ended up sharing most of my chocolate with my classes. The next day to look forward to is White Day (formerly Marshmallow Day), on March 14th, when the tables will be reversed and men will be expected to buy chocolate and goodies in return. This day is celebrated in both Japan and Korea. I'll be buying marshmallows.

If you want to read about another Valentine's Day experience in Korea, check out Eva's post from another excellent blog on life in Korea, Stranger in Suwon.