Haenyo

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to help our friend Adam move to the beautiful city of Seongsan. Seongsan means sunrise, and it is a major tourist destination on Jeju. After we schlepped Adam’s few worldly positions to his charming new flat we struck out to find some much deserved food. The initial mission was to eat at a pizza place run by the family of one of Adam’s students, but we couldn’t find it, so we wandered over to a restaurant Adam had heard of at the base of Sunrise Peak. Adam said something about a diving demonstration so off we went.

It turns out we arrived just as the infamous Haenyo divers were emerging from the sea with diner. The Haenyo are women divers who can dive 20 feet, and hold their breath for two minutes. As a point of reference a friend of mine dove 25 feet with a tank this weekend. All of the women seemed to be older than fifty. They were smiley and cute.

So we bought a large plate and feasted on delicacies such as sea cucumber and abalone that were alive mere moments earlier. It as chewy, and crunchy, and I didn’t eat my share, but I was so happy for the experience. The beach was stunning, and the energy was vibrant. There were hordes of excited people all over the beach snapping photos and picking their food from the tanks. It was a unique and unexpected experience which was only enhanced by such good company. I knew famous divers were on Jeju somewhere, but I hadn’t researched it, so it was extra fun to just happen upon them.

Coming out of the water with the catch. The plate before it as chopped. Mike with the food. (Mike is so handsome that tourists wanted a photo with him. hahahaha!) Adam at the tank where the fish is chosen and chopped. The view of Sunrise Peak from our seats at diner.

First Month

The first month in Jeju has rapidly come to a close, and I’m feeling incredibly lucky. Basically we didn’t have to worry about anything. Our recruiter was even going to purchase our plane tickets, but we chose to handle that ourselves. When we arrived we were greeted at the airport and taken directly to a training where we were well fed and given a top notch orientation. Finally we were personally escorted to the immigration office and to our apartments.

The immigration office was a breeze. I filled out one short page of paperwork, presented two photos, and paid ten dollars. To make matters better, there wasn’t even a wait. I still have nightmares about the immigrations office in France. In France there was a whole checklist of the paperwork, accompanying copies, and photos that I needed. I went to the immigrations office in France at least three times, and the wait was over an hour each time. The French bureaucracy is notorious, and it’s no stereotype. I was so proud and relieved when I received the long awaited “carte de sejour” that I took a photo of it and made a blog entry. I still carry that card in my wallet everyday. (I really really loved my time in France, and it was such a big goal of mine to go.) Fortunately I had a wonderful family in France helping me every step of the way.

I digress, back to Korea. All the important particulars were easily taken care of, and settling the house in was a fun, adventurous way to connect with our new city. Any minor inconveniences were quickly brushed off thanks to Mike’s love and support. It is clear from how quickly this first month has passed that a year will be done and gone before we turn around.

Chuseok

Last weekend was a long and beautiful four days thanks to the Chuseok holiday. Chuseok is held on the 15^th day of the 8^th month of the lunar calendar and is regularly compared to Thanksgiving in the United States. Colleagues told me that people usually visit their home town and eat a lot of food. I read that Chuseok is a time to visit ancestors’ graves and play traditional games in honor of the harvest, but nobody specifically talked about anything other than eating a lot of food.

On the first day of Chuseok we were invited to a local orphanage to play games, eat, and celebrate with kids whose parents, family, or friends could not come pick them up. The orphanage typically has 64 kids but all except 15 were picked up by someone to celebrate Chuseok. I don’t know much about the orphanage system in Korea, but it was very different from any image I previously had of an orphanage.

I felt very privileged to spend time with these kids. They seemed very well taken care of and they were really happy to see the 8 of us. Some of the older kids shyly spoke a few words of English, but mostly we found other ways of having fun. We played handclap games, thumb wars, drew pictures, helped with the cooking, listened to the kids play piano, chased each other, played soccer, played basketball, monkeyed around on the playground, and ate together. Several of the people who went to the orphanage are planning to regularly volunteer.

I’m not sure yet what if any relationship I’ll continue to have with the orphanage. I’m taking it very slow on the extra curricular activities because I have a recurring tendency to over schedule myself. An important goal that I had before flying to Korea was regular reflection time. I want to make sure that this stays a priority.

Sunday we had a day of errands and relaxation, but Monday we hiked to the summit of Mount Hallasan. Mt. Hallasan is the tallest mountain in South Korea. It is only 6,398 feet but the hike was an exhausting 18km roundtrip. I had to force myself up the last 2km, and the hike down was painful. This is the first hike where I truly met and exceeded my limits. I’m determined to get into shape and try the hike again on a clear day. Needless to say we recovered from the hike on Tuesday, but I was still sore when school started on Wednesday.

The left photo is of Hallasan from our guest bedroom on a clear day. The photo on the right is a little pond at the summit that we were lucky to see when the fog broke.

Elevators

There are horror stories about elevators here. The first day of training a woman just barely missed being crushed by slamming elevator doors. Immediately another woman who was more familiar with Korea told us that elevators here don’t have sensors, so stay out of their way and don’t try to hold the elevator for anyone. The elevator sage then told us that people have lost arms to Korean elevators. This could be nothing more than a Korean urban legend, but regardless I stay out of the way. Elevators here have stickers warning about the doors, and I take that warning very seriously.

The potential to be crushed by the elevator has an affect on the culture here. Frequently at the grocery store people enter the elevator before those already in can exit. My initial thought was, “that’s rude!” But then I realized that everyone is afraid to get slammed in the doors.

I’m not here to judge Korean elevators but it does seem paradoxical that cross walks have sensors and cameras while elevators are dangerous.

Cross Walk

As in many places there are to types of cross walks in Korea, those with signals and those without signals.

In the case of a cross walk with a signal a foreigner in Korea may spend their first week looking for a button to push so that the signal will turn in their favor. (stupid foreigners) On the first day the foreigner will look quite avidly for a button at every light they happen upon. Eventually the foreigner will give up from frustration and hope that the cross does not require a button to indicate that pedestrians should cross. After the first day, the foreigner will look more casually for the remainder of a week until they can accept that Korean magic cross walks do not have buttons, they simply turn on their own.

Now I realize that the downtowns of big cities in the States also have magic cross walks that turn with the traffic, however Soegwipo is a small city so I was caught off guard. Additionally the cross walks don’t always turn with the traffic lights so the foreign pedestrian often becomes impatient when it seems that it is safe to walk, yet the cross still indicates to stay. After a week of acceptance and growing comfort with the whims of the crosswalk a pedestrian will suddenly cease watching the world pass on their extremely long wait. The pedestrians eyes will lock onto the cameras sitting just above or below the signal which allows for crossing. How many times was that camera scene and not registered by the brain because a pedestrian was staring so ardently at the signal?

In the case of a cross walk without a signal one should never wait patiently for a speeding car to stop, because it won’t. No, a pedestrian should step boldly into the crosswalk, at which point the speeding car will slow just enough to let the pedestrian pass and then it will go speeding off again without a stop. Perhaps a really nice and conscientious driver will notice a pedestrian a block or two away and begin slowing well in advance. But, if the foreigner waits for a complete stop before stepping into the cross walk the driver will become agitated, press forward, and give a dirty look. This only leaves the foreigner to wonder, why did they slow down so much, but not stop to let me cross. Clearly the foreigner is naïve to the 1^st law of crossing Korean walks “A driver in motion must stay in motion, but will slow to let a pedestrian cross.”