11/11
November 11
It is similar to our February 14th in the states, however Pepero Day is a holiday invented with the sole purpose of selling and giving Pepero. It is held on Nov. 11 because 11/11 looks like 4 sticks of Pepero.
The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts. Lotte 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. Some consider it to be a contrived holiday and some teachers have encouraged children to exchange healthy snacks to help combat obesity.
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”.
At school, most of the young students came with bags and bags of Pepero for the teachers, you can see my massive stack. Adam got some too, but the kids ate his before he even left the classroom.
What is Pepero you may ask…
Pepero (빼빼로) is a cookie stick, dipped in chocolate , manufactured by Lotte in South Korea since 1983. It was inspired by the Japanese product, Pocky.
As of 2007, it was sold in 10 different flavors:
- Regular or Chocolate
- Strawberry-flavored
- Almond Chocolate
- Nude (chocolate in the center)
- Nude Lemon Cheese
- Cocoa
- Soft
- Cheese
- “Woman in White” and “Man in Black” are slightly more “classy” brands of Pepero, and both have chocolate cookie bits scattered throughout the chocolate dip,
More from Korea
More from Korea
Hungry for more
Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had honest conversations about what they want from their lives.
Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation.
By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
That people are fundamentally similar across cultures. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life.
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