Chocolates for St. Valentine's Day and Candies for White Day

As in the US, St. Valentine’s Day is a kind of a romantic day for Koreans but it’s somewhat different from here how they celebrate this day. In Korea, usually, women give chocolates to men as an expression of love on St. Valentine’s Day. Originally, the meaning of this chocolate is a kind of romantic thing but these days many Korean women give chocolates to men around them just for friendship. As I worked in the company, I always gave chocolates to my colleagues on St. Valentine’s Day.
Tomorrow is March 14 and it is White Day in Korea. On White Day, men give women candies in return for the chocolates they received on St. Valentine’s Day.
Besides St. Valentine’s Day and White Day, there are many special days which young people celebrate just for fun. For example, April 14 is Black Day. Black Day is for the singles who did not give or receive any romantic chocolates or candies. They eat “Jajangmyeon”, Chinese noodle whose color is black, on April 14. These days, marketing campaigns of chocolate and candy companies are so conspicuous that I sometimes have ill feeling to buy them for Valentine’s Day and White Day. However, Koreans who are poor at expressing their feelings such as love, friendship, and gratitude even to their closest friends, family and a lover may need these days as chances to express their heart.

"Hanok" Korean Traditional House

I'm from South Korea and I would like to introduce Korean culture to my classmates who came from different parts of the world. Korea has a very long history and there are highly sophisticated traditional cultures which have been maintained for more than 5,000 years. Today, I will introduce Korean traditional houses which are called as "Hanok".
The first and most essential feature of Hanok is the idea of co-existence of human and nature. Hanok was designed to harmonize with environments and to feel nature even inside of a house. Furthermore, it was built with various natural substances such as stones for basements, wood for pillars, doors and floors, and clay for walls.
Although most houses in Korea have modern style these days, there are still some villages where traditional houses are gathered even in Seoul, one of the most modern city in the world and some beautiful traditional houses are protected as cultural properties.
Many modern architects put high value on Hanok’s nature-friendly property and try to introduce this in modern buildings.

One of the most beautiful traditional houses which was built about 300 years ago

Hanok village in Seoul

Inside of a recently built building which has a traditional style