Valentine daY

Happy Valentine's Day! I mean.... Valentine daY! 2.14. :)

In Japan, the tradition for Valentine's Day is that the girl gives the guy a present. Candy, chocolate, cake...something along the lines of a regular Valentine's Day token of love. Let me repeat. The girl gives the guy. Period.

Guys aren't suppose to do anything on Valentine's Day. Its one sided!

Its not until March 14th that the guys need to give back. March 14th... reciprocation day... actually called: "White Day" in Japan. Whoever gave them something on Valentine's Day....They must give something back that is at least 3 times the value of the original Valentine's Day gift.

On Valentine's Day, there are two type of chocolates that can be bought (if the girl isn't doing some homemade goodness). There are chocolates specifically for real love interests, and chocolates specifically for male coworkers, friends, and colleagues. At one of my schools, one of the female teacher gave every single male teacher a box of chocolates that was at least 300 Yen each!

Follow the logic there. She will on March 14th be getting dozens and dozens of boxes of chocolates worth 900 Yen each!

The 3x rule is not official, its just what my coworkers and such suggested. Regardless, that teacher is going to be sitting pretty next month. Apparently all the chocolate and jewelry and stuff given to the girls on March 14th must be delivered in white boxes. I don't know. I've never lived in Japan in March. ;) We'll see.

I brought chips and salsa for my colleagues for Valentine's Day. They get enough chocolate, and besides, most of them have never actually tasted chips and salsa! (I got these delectable items from Costco on Saturday. Thank you so much Monica and Chris for driving!)

Last interesting tidbit--in South Korea, they have one additional day on top of Valentine's Day and White Day. They have Black Day~! Black Day is celebrated on April 14th. Its for all the single people out there. If you don't give or receive anything on Feb. 14th or Mar. 14th, you are suppose to eat black noodles on that day. And be grouchy? I'm not sure about the grouchy part. :)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

On the 14th I ate some ramen with Hofu friends, went farming and pickling, and shared an amazing Mexican meal with other Hofu friends. It was a good day. Pictures of some of those events, probably (hopefully) coming up soon!