Hiking Abundance!

The amount of variety, choice, range of scenery and difficulty, the amount of resources and trail maps, the access to trails by bus!!!  It’s all just overwhelming. And that’s a wonderful thing!

The picture here was taken by my friend Kris with the panoramic feature on her new camera, on a hike we did in early October to Geomunoreum. For this hike, you must reserve a spot and go with a guide. Was it free or a few bucks? I can’t remember. I just remember it was lovely.

There are also over a dozen Olle trails, which are marked trails that meander around the island, and an info booth at the airport with maps and help.

The coolest thing though is that you can take a local bus to the entrance of most national parks. This makes it easy even to hike in one way, and return from a different part. This is a good idea when doing an Olle trail or when hiking the ‘big mountain’ here, Mt. Halla.

There are also dozens of smaller hiking trails. Jeju is dotted with oreums, small volcanic burps. Walk up one and get a lovely view. You’ll also probably find some outdoor exercise equipment and a temple.

Not sure what do to? Ask a friend, ask the Olle information person at Family Mart, or call the tourist info line at 064-1330. Nice and easy.

 

Luxury of wasting time

Today I turned 51. For those of us born in places like the US, Korea or Saudi Arabia, the life expectancy for a woman is about 80, so I’m thinking about 30 years would be typical.

But when I was in Ghana, I learned that the life expectancy is a good 20 years less. Ghana women average age: 60. Ethiopia: 53   (life expectancy by country)

Does having an extra 20 years to live make you careless with time, the same way we are with money?

Seeing Korean kids getting shuttled from academy to academy, pushed to excel at any cost, it makes me think that here, people are bogged down under the luxury of wasting time when measured on the grand scale. Koreans are so hard-working they are wasting their lives away at schools and offices, leaving little time for being loving family and friends. If 50 year olds thought they had only another 3 to 10 more years alive, would they still continue with this focus?

My birthday wish is that we all find ways to savor our time here. US, Korean and many cultures may not value the time spent developing loving relationships, so you’re probably gonna be bucking the trend.

And your time may be  20 years more or less than that of friends born in another country. One can never know. Until it’s too late.

Maybe this sounds like a depressing message, but I’m hoping for the opposite effect. I wake up and whoop with joy pretty much daily, with the realization that it looks like I probably got myself another day on the planet.

Like a lot of luxuries that seem great but quickly feel ridiculous and weighty, who really wants the luxury of wasting time?

Happy birthday to you …today and every day

 

Life on Mars… getting better

The following week’s assignment, reflecting on life on Mars came up with some positive developments. (See previous post about life on Mars)

First, the students who had to study hard, go to so many academies to learn so many Alien language,  and reported that they couldn’t understand their Alien teacher’s accents… They later thought that actually people living on Mars will be able to read each other’s minds. Language is no longer a problem.

When you think of the countless hours Koreans spend learning English, and some also learn Chinese, this notion is mind-blowing.

 

Swimming season fades away…but mosquitoes don’t

The nights are getting chillier and the hopes of another warm day for swimming are evaporating.

The days now are more often blue skies and a slight breeze. The fish must be coming in closer to shore because at night the boardwalk is lined with men surf-casting in the few-feet high waves that break near the boardwalk wall. They’re pulling out 10-14″ glistening fish. No idea what kind.

In Colorado, when the weather gets this chilly, the mosquitoes drop off. It’s kind of a deal we have. Warm enough to swim, you get mosquitoes. Too cold to swim, no mosquitoes.

Apparently, that wasn’t in the contract with Jeju mosquitoes. They don’t seem to mind the cool weather. More than once I’ve gotten up in the middle of the night to put on bug spray after my hands and face have been bitten. I used a fan to keep them away in the hot weather, but now that’s a silly tactic since it’s too cold for me. I guess a mosquito net would have been a good investment. But I keep thinking the mosquitoes can’t last much longer. So far, that’s been a steady, but wrong guess.

 

Life on Mars …a lot like Korea?

I have a class of five middle school girls. The theme of the unit is Life on Mars. We did a brainstorming group doodle on the whiteboard first, where the students filled the board with images and words: domes, jetpacks, satellites, astronaut suits, comets, craters, asteroids.

We read an email dated 2028 from a boy on Mars, then they had to write an email describing their life on Mars. Does this sound like Korea to you?

• By now, half the population of Earth has moved to Mars. We attend high school and university, just as on Earth, so now there is heavy competition to enter university.
• On Mars, we go to schools and academies, but it’s hard to understand the accent of my teacher, who is an Alien.
• It’s even worse than earth, on Mars, because we have to learn many new Alien languages (not just English)
• There are many domes on Mars, but it’s boring here because you can never leave your dome to visit other domes. You are stuck in your dome.

 

Loving vegetables

Fast food and processed food are gaining ground in Korea, but it’s nothing close to the U.S.  In general, Koreans still have a better appreciation of ‘good food’ as nutritious food.

This is so simple, it’s a bit embarrassing to admit.  But the Korean way of eating has taught me many easy ways to include vegetables in my eating:

• A friend was stealthily eating a cooked, whole sweet potato on the bus for her breakfast (eating in public is frowned on here)
• Snorkeling trip snacks were boiled new potatoes and slices of steamed pumpkin. Neither were peeled, and both were warm and delicious treats as we stood devouring them, wet and shivering.
• For lunch, our Korean teachers usually bring small containers of a variety of foods: rice, kimchi, and other stuff, which is then shared. So, bringing a small container of broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, or sauteed veggies is a welcome addition. Broccoli requires no seasoning. Zucchini and eggplant are always great with oregano or basil or a bit of tomato/spaghetti sauce.
• Fruit is considered dessert: apple slices, or bananas sliced into yogurt.

But, I did come up with a new one they hadn’t tried. Apple slices dipped in peanut butter!

 

Neighborhood sounds

Here are some of the sounds I hear from my apartment:

Women pounding their clothes, washing them in the watering hole in front of my apartment. They use a flat wooden paddle, that looks like a weapon. The pounding isn’t a continuous rhythm. Just 5-8 beats, a pause to dip the clothes in the water, turn them or examine them, then a few more beats. Sometimes I hear a couple women pounding in alternating beats, like the “I’ve been working on the railroad” style. Then, it’s the voices of the women. Elderly Korean women are known as being strong, and pretty pushy. So their voices often sound like they’re giving each other a piece of their mind, but I can’t really tell.

The washing pounding sounds a lot like the pounding that Buddhist monks do, as part of their rituals. Out walking, you can tell you’re near a temple, when you hear a sharper sound than the washing pounding. The monk taps on a hollowed gourd, with a rhythm unidentifiable to me, but not Western 4/4 time. On a Sunday morning, a few neighbor ladies were chanting, beating the gourd, and holding what seemed to be an impromptu Buddhist ceremony in the shade of the garden shed, looking out to the garden adjacent to my apartment building.

There’s another sound that I hear often. When I first hear it, it always remind me of the “Call to Prayer” that I first heard regularly in Niger. It was so hot, we slept outside on the patio, and at 5am, the neighborhood mosque’s Iman would come over the loud speakers posted throughout  the neighborhood.

So, when I hear the trucks rolling through my neighborhood with their loudspeaker announcements going, it sounds like the same rhythm. But, I realized, with an entirely different purpose. The announcements are usually recorded (poorly), so you will see a man driving a truck, and hear the recording of his voice maybe?, again and again. He is selling produce or fish. The call sounds like umdumdadumbadadidum, kamsamnida. (Selling something, thanks!)

I’ve heard some trucks are selling dogs for meat, but haven’t seen this myself. I have heard the barking from a few dog farms, when out walking in the hills. People enjoy dog soup here. I’m a speciesist. I can’t even enjoy lamb because of the cuteness factor of the live animal,  I guess.  I have no desire to try dog soup.

Changing the subject, the other sounds are often the wind and rain. Island weather, I guess. Though, I’m next to the water, it’s rare to hear the waves crashing. Samyang Beach is on the side of the island facing mainland Korea so there aren’t big waves here.

I do hear a big ship blowing it’s horn once in awhile, and I wonder, is that a real means of communication these days? What does it mean? “Hey, I’m a really big ship and I’ll be there in an hour.” I hope there’s a more sophisticated communication scheme behind that horn blast.

Crickets and locusts are also pretty constant, at least at this time of year. And it’s pretty common to get a cricket in my apartment. My own personal Jimminy Cricket.

The most striking sound is what’s not heard. There is no background traffic noise here. I’ll hear a car or truck drive by, or several, but there’s no traffic hum. That part is really lovely!

 

 

 

 

 

Korea’s suicide rate: continues to soar

In a post last year, I referred to an article in the Washington Post that illustrated that the Korean suicide rate has tripled in the previous two decades.

Hard to believe, but recent news is even worse.

An article published on September 5, 2011, written by BBC News by reporter Lucy Williamson in Seoul, reported that the Korean government’s latest figures for 2009 again jumped.

Look at the graph to the right. Grab a red marker and extend the red line for Korea up to 40 for 2009. The 2009 rate for Korea is now 5 times higher than it was in 1989 (30 years ago).

How does this compare to other countries? The World Health Organization calculates that the current world average rate is 10.07 deaths per 100,000 people. (This data is presented clearly by country at chartbin.com.)

The U.S., for comparison, was a bit higher than Korea’s in 1989, but appears to have settled out near the world average (I wasn’t able to find 2009 data for the U.S.)

Why has Korea’s 2009 rate reached the new high of 40, a factor of four higher than the world average of 10?

The answer is a combination of focus on studying, test scores, university name status, physical beauty, coupled with a culture caught between traditional and modern ways. There are many aspects to this that are obvious, and many more that are perhaps yet unknown. Changing from a third-world country to a first-world country in a few decades has not come without a price.

The BBC article notes that the Korean parliament passed a law earlier this year giving the government more responsibility for preventing suicides.

Talking about this is a first step. Taking some action is an urgent next step, for all of us.

 

Bowing

Here in Korea, there’s a heck of a lot of bowing goin’ on. The deeper the bow, the more respect is being shown.

• At the end of the newscast, the man and woman announcers make nearly a full bow to the audience, then to each other. (Well as far as you can go without bumping your head on the desk, I guess!
• After I get out of the taxi, I close the door, then turn to face the driver. I do a small head bow, as I say thank you. He returns a small head bow, then drives off.
• When you walk into E-Mart or Lotte Mart, the Korean equivalent of a Wal-Mart greeter is there. Usually a man or less often a woman in her 20′s, welcomes you with a hello and bow deeper than a simple head bow.
• When you leave a sit-down restaurant, it’s common to turn to face the proprietor and offer a thank you and small head bow. This is especially the case if you’re slipping your shoes back on. You have to think about how to get your shoes on, turn around then say your polite goodbye.
• When you pass an elder on the street, or someone that wants to greet you, you want to be ready with a small head bow, and maybe a hello (ahnyeonhaseyeo) or just ‘neh’ (yes/nod)

I think in the West, we often look back over our shoulder, smile and say Bye, with a little wave. The problem with this form is that is gives the person you’re leaving the view of your backside. When a front bow is most polite, the backside …isn’t.

There are bunches of rules about what politeness form you use with others, and how you bow, depending on age, situation, etc.  I seem to get by okay with lots of little bows all day long, and still just the most basic command of Korean.  (‘command’ seems a bit strong for the reality of what I do!)

(I’m surprised that students don’t bow to teachers. It’s not a problem for me, but I’d heard they probably would! Who knew, you’d get bows at E-Mart and watching the news, but not from student to teacher?)

 

Jeju-style fishing

Jeju is known for it’s women divers. Haenyeos (hen-yuh) are women that dive for shellfish, using minimal equipment. It’s pretty common to see them around Jeju, and

we’ve see them around Samyang area, when we went snorkeling near Hamdeok and here and there.

They use only a wetsuit, weighted vest and goggles, and stay under for 2-3 minutes collecting seaweed, abalone or clams with a digging hoe. Because of this physical and economic strength, these diving Jeju women have had more of a leadership and environmental advocate role than elsewhere. This article has more info, which I recommend!

…then there are the men…

At night, it’s easiest to see how the men fish. The squid trawlers dot the horizon with bright lights that attract the squid. So, when you look out to sea, bright lights look back at you. (Too far and too big to take out with a beebee gun!)

I also see men fishing anytime of day, but I hang out near the fishing area myself on these waning summer evenings. Night fishing here, the guys use a dual red and green glowing set up. The red glow looks like an LED-illuminated float. The green glowing part sinks below the surface a foot or so, with some combination of hooks and weights, I guess.

I’ve never once seen a woman fishing from the shore, though I’m sure it happens. I have seen women accompanying men. The women sit on the side watching a video on their phone, play with the kids of read a book.

But don’t you think it’s kinda funny. Women dive underwater and gather their catch. Men either drive big boats or sit on the shore.

Are men and women are equal, but different? Are men lazy or are they just smart? Are women strong or are they just overdoing it? Why do women dive and men drive?

Not sure about you, but it does make me wonder!