Pepero Day, Short Shorts Kid, and My Awkwardness

Today was 빼빼로 (Pepero) Day! For those of you who don't know Pepero, it's like the Korean brand equivalent to Pocky sticks, which are long, slender, rod-shaped biscuits dipped in chocolate. 11.11 is Pepero day, since the numbers resemble the shape of Pepero sticks. On Pepero Day, couples give each other Peppero in hopes of growing taller and thinner (which is ironic, since you're giving each other chocolate covered biscuits....). Me and my roommate decided to give each other Pepero to make up that neither of us have boyfriends in Korea. It's a perfect lonely-girl holiday: an excuse to be sad, eat chocolate, and complain about the fact that you're too short and stout. 

Now for the next subject in the random collection of stories that is this blog post... There's a kid in my Knit Textile Design class that my friend and I have officially dubbed "short shorts kid" due to his apparent affinity for strangely short cutoff jean shorts. Don't get me wrong, this kid is awesome! In my Knit class, the teacher explains the knit techniques to the whole class in Korean, and then teaches it to me and my friend again in English since we are the only two foreign students. It's pretty apparent that almost nobody else in the class speaks English. Except for short shorts kid! He speaks some limited English, and I always appreciate when he tries to use it. Last week in class, he asked me and my friend Serena if we dressed up for Halloween. I said that I didn't really do anything for Halloween. Serena told him that she dressed up as a school girl. Short Shorts kid got a really excited look on his face, and exclaimed gleefully, "ME TOO! I have a picture, let me show you..." I thought it was odd that he dressed up as a schoolgirl, but I attributed it to his limited English. He probably misunderstood. When he showed us the picture... Nope. He definitely understood. I found myself confusedly staring at a picture of him in a wig, makeup, and Japanese Harajuku schoolgirl uniform complete with short skirt. It was the funniest, strangest, most disturbing thing I have ever seen. Serena and I probably laughed for ten minutes straight, much to the satisfaction of short shorts kid. I have since decided that this is a kid I must be friends with. 

Today I also had my first horridly awkward school blunder in Korea. I was heading to my Global Fashion Marketing class, and as I was opening the door to the classroom, I heard a teacher's voice inside and saw everyone else was already in class! Panicked by the fact that I was late, I raced into the classroom as everyone stared at me (since the door to the classroom is in the very front) and took the first seat I could. Once the initial panic wore off, a new kind of panic set in. I realized the teacher was talking in 100% Korean. And I didn't recognize anyone else in the class. Turns out, I got to class 15 minutes early and had accidentally joined the tail end of the class before mine! At that moment, I was faced with a choice... remain in the classroom and endure the shame or leave and not only be shamed again, but interrupt the class again with my exit. I decided the first option was probably less disrespectful, so I sucked it up and just joined the last 10 minutes of the class. It was more awkward than I can even put into words. 

In conclusion.... Pepero Day is awesome, Short Shorts Kid is awesome, and I'm just awkward.