Jeju is the Island of Tangerine Dreams. The tangerine is proudly displayed on lamp posts and bus stops. The humble tangerine tree doesn’t look to be more than a bush; I’m taller than many of them. These pretty little trees fill countless fields and small gardens all over Jeju.
Since September the anticipation for the 2011 crop has been mounting as one by one then handful by handful orange bursts sprung up everywhere. The scrawnier trees are currently doubled over from the burden of abundance they carry. For at least a week it seems that every tree I see has fully orange fruit. I keep wondering, will today be the day the tangerines start to disappear off the trees?
I’ve been told that once the crop comes in delicious tangerines grace every social interaction. Restaurants give them away, schools have them, and people offer them as gifts. I have an image of bowls overflowing with tangerines waiting to be eaten, and I’m impatient for the moment to arrive.
A fellow foreigner told me that traditionally people get married in late winter on Jeju because that is when the work from harvest is over and the money is in. 
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