Blog Set

Korea has a love obsession with the "set". At your favorite fast food restaurant, when you order a meat flavored sandwich, and you want it with fries and a drink, you don't ask for the combo; you ask for the set. Recently, all the major grocery stores, convenience stores and occasional street vendors are selling sets galor. The idea behind the set is you get a menial discount when you buy more than you really need. I noticed Valentine's Day gift sets that would include the standard Valentine's Day fare: chocolate with more chocolate, wine with glasses and an opener; body oils with wine and chocolate (for an extra-messy evening); however, the gift set ideas got more and more obscure. I noted the AA Battery gift set that contained 64 AA Batteries and two samples of Noxema face wash. Energy and clean skin, what a way to say I love you. I then noticed the tuna fish gift set, 12 cans of tuna with two bottles of olive oil. This is not to be outdone by the Spam gift set, which is basically 12 aluminum vials of Spam. (What do you call the spam container by the way?) For the indecisive gift giver, there is the combo tuna/Spam set as well.

I thought that Korea had some rather obscure notions of gift giving on Valentine's Day until I realized that most of the sets were actually gifts for Seol-nal, the lunar new year's, which is this Monday. I still like the idea that it is perfectly acceptable to give a twelve pack of Spam for Valentine's Day.

Avalon Schools did see the Spam set as a perfect way to express their gratitude to their teachers. I appreciate the thought, but I'm afraid that the Spam set will not go to use here. I might eat one can for good measure, but the rest will go to a homeless shelter or to Scott and Allison for their housewarming. It's funny, my sister got an all expense paid vacation to Mexico from her work and I got the Spam gift set from mine. This is where my grandma's voice about starving people in Africa comes to mind to remind me of all my blessings.