On Valentine’s Day, February 14, girls give boys chocolate.
On White Day, March 14, boys give girls twice as much chocolate as the girls gave them.
On Black Day, April 14, everyone who didn’t get any chocolate on any of the other days, that is to say, everyone who doesn’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend, gives each other chocolate to make up for missing out.
At least that’s how my students say it goes in Korea.
Today was Valentine’s Day, so the process just began. I got chocolate and more chocolate and more chocolate.
One boy got chocolate from his mom to give to his teacher, the Korean teacher. He brought the whole bag up to her and said, “Here, I brought you some chocolate.” He paused. “Do you want the whole thing?”
The teacher, nice as she is, said, “Oh, thank you – I’ll just have one.” She thought the chocolates on the inside were individually wrapped. Turns out, they weren’t. Seeing this, she said, “Be sure to give some to Marshall too.”
And so the process repeated for me, only he never offered me the whole bag. He just said, “Teacher, I brought you some chocolate.” And then he pulled one out and gave it to me.
I’m sure his mom wanted the whole bag to go to the Korean teacher. Instead, he gave away two pieces and ate the rest himself. And somehow he pulled it off without losing his innocent attitude.
In contrast, one of my girls made homemade chocolates. She made enough to give to all the students in class too. I’m pretty sure she’s going to be an amazing wife someday.
Maybe she and the boy who enjoys chocolate so much…
