Jeju's Moving Season

Moving is always an experience of mixed emotion. Excited to leave the old for the new, overwhelmed by years accumulated necessities and junk, nervous about finding just the right place, and exhausted by all the newspaper/internet checking and rechecking, phone calling, and finger crossing. In my decade away from my parents home, I've moved in and out of various apartments, houses and countries. Despite all that moving, most of my experiences have been relatively stress-free. From University housing, to housing with friends, in their basements and extra-rooms, to free accommodation provided by my Korean employer, moving, for me, has never been more than packing boxes, piling up a car load or two, and unloading at the new home. More simply, and just as often, I've packed up a mere two 32 kg or less airline-approved bags, jumped on an airplane and unloaded just a year's worth of clothes and memorables.

Now, however, I can join in those cocktail conversations about how stressfully entertaining moving house can truly be. Certainly, the stress (and entertainment) of my recent experience must greatly be attributed to this hilarious island, Jeju Do, its traditions, and my inability to speak much Korean.

Jeju Island has a moving season that, I've been told, is unique to the island's culture. The mythology claims that during two very cold weeks in January, Jeju gods are required to head to the heavens for new worldly job assignments. (I must add a side note here, the yearly resigning of jobs is not a mythology exclusive occurrence, as all earthly public positions from administrator to teacher must change every two years to provide that 'we are one' sameness for which Korea so desperately strives.) During the two-week, god job-resigning meeting, Jeju folk are free to move apartments and homes without upsetting the gods that protect the neighborhoods, as the gods are too busy pay much attention at that time. What is more, when the gods tumble down from their yearly meeting, as newbies to their fresh positions, they will not notice that all the humans have switched apartments, and therefore cannot be angered about what they do not know.

Of course, the mythology behind the reasoning for a winter, two-week moving season is folklore to smile about, culture to think sweet, even something unique to tell your western, untraveled friends and family. Local Jeju people, for the most part, also don't fully believe in this myth, and the system based upon the fable is upheld purely out of a respect for tradition. But the practical application of an unwillingness to abandon this sweet sounding tradition makes one want to cry more than smile and write home about it!

Since my move occurred during one of the 50 weeks not included in Jeju's moving season, I can only imagine the hectic running around of hundreds of families, university students, singles, and so forth, ringing each other, checking out new apartments, making a decision, hiring a moving van from a company that employs a mere handful of workers year round, though must hire heaps of seasonal inexperienced employees during these two frigid weeks. A Korean friend of mine, who helped with out with my move, told me that during her various moving-season moves, she remembers holding the newspaper, hands shaking, sitting inside her cold car, making phone calls, and waiting outside apartments for the current resident to allow her to have a look at the prospective new home. When we sat in the park, just a few hot Tuesdays ago, she looked up and the blue sky and said, "Hmm, yep, it's much better to do this in the summer time! Well, it would be better, if there were any apartments available!"

Available, affordable apartments outside the moving season are a rarity. And as is the case with all sought after rarities, you have to be quick the grab it. My first day of apartment hunting, was embarrassingly uninformed. I was instructed to grab one of each of the two classified papers printed in Jeju. Although there are little labeled plastic holders for the classifieds on nearly every street corner, inside most apartment building complexes and outside most convenient stores, if you fail to stroll the streets before 8:00am, chances are these abundant little labeled plastic holders are empty. Somehow, however, on Day One of my apartment search, I managed to get hold of one of the two Jeju classified papers at 9:00am. When I finally asked one of my co-workers to help me read through the possible new homes, she found only three places that were in the right price range and location. When we called that afternoon, two of the three had been spoken for, and the third was an apartment located above a daily, local, fish-smelling market. Tomorrow, I thought, I'll call earlier.

The next day, Saturday, I woke up early, grabbed the paper, and headed to a Korean friend's place at 10:00am. She looked through the paper, and found a mere two apartments within our range. Our repeated calls to one of the numbers was never answered, so we assumed that someone snagged that apartment already, and the other was gone before we called as well. So we chatted for a while to this Korean friend and she taught us a little on how to read the classified sections. She told us many names of good neighborhoods (dongs) in the area we were looking. She showed us to look in the rental section of the paper (im dae) as opposed to the buying section (mae mae). She told us how to approximate the Korean room measuring unit (pyeong), we were looking for a 20-25 pyeong apartment. She showed us how to look for 2 bedroom apartments (2 bang), with a living room (goh shil), and kitchen (bu oek), and she sent us on our way, to search for huge apartment complexes hoping to see big signs hanging from them that say IM DAE (For Rent). When we left her building, we saw a such a sign, IM DAE writen in red bold letters, hanging from her amazing apartment building, so Ju Ryeong came downstairs and rang the number. It, like all other IM DAE signs we found later, was advertising FOR RENT office space (apparently, the Jeju gods do not fire up about businesses swapping location on their watches). After a full day of motoring biking around the city, awkwardly yet gently trying to wake various sleeping apartment-office workers to ask if they had rooms to rent at the moment, and cordially being denied each time, we gave up for the day and thought, we'll try earlier on Monday.

On Monday, I awoke at 7am sharp, grabbed the classifieds just by our building, and checked the papers for the few things I knew to look for. We went into work at 9am, and delicately propositioned a Korean-American co-worker and friend of mine to help with that day's house hunting. She obliged, despite her very "I can't believe it's already Monday...I had a really big weekend" look plastered on her face. We made a few phone calls, and set on our way to check out three prospective places. The first place we visited was literally sinking into the ground and I couldn't bare to even have a look inside. The next place was in a perfect location, just a few blocks from my work, but the owner wanted a ridiculous amount of damage-deposit money, because he had be burned in the past by tenants. But my partner and I were just not willing to dish out the equivalent of $20,000 for a deposit on a year's rent to a little apartment in Korea. We rang the last potential new home phone-number, and the fella explained that he was working all day, but we could stop by at 6pm tonight. I finished work at 6, called another friend, who said she'd be ready to help us at 6:20 to check out the apartment. We met up, she called the fella back at 6:22 and the apartment was GONE, just like that. So I thought, I'll try earlier tomorrow.

On Tuesday I awoke at 7am, as did my Korean friend, she checked the classifieds website, I grabbed the papers, we circled and the discussed the one place that fit our agenda. It's description was telling enough, but we were desperate. So despite the fact that it listed only 2 rooms (2 bang) and no kitchen, no living room, and no bathroom, and that it was only approximately $1000 for 6 months of rent, didn't deter us from checking it out. We rang the number, drove to the explained address, walked through the old, yet somehow elegant gate, took note of the various pieces of ruined, ugly furniture spread across the front patio, and looked at the huge, Korean-style, low roofed house before us. Our Korean friend rang the number again and explained that we'd arrived. She hung up the phone and pointed to the small, added-on section of the house, seemingly put together with bits of junk metal. My partner walked into the place, looked into the dirty rooms, and said, "Yep, Du Bang" (2 rooms)!

We then decided that we should expand our desired living location to include the new part of Jeju City as well. So Hoony, my Korean friend and I, drove to Shin Jeju (New Jeju) and called a few more numbers listed in the classifieds that sounded reasonable. The first place we checked out, was being visited by two other women as well, who, upon seeing us, booked it into the apartment before us. When Hoony, the experienced house hunter, saw that these women may beat us to the punch, she grabbed my arm and whispered RUN! All that excitement, and the place was only okay. Neither sets of marathoners signed-on to make this small, 1st floor apartment their new home. Hoony and I walked to a nearby park, opened the classifieds once again and rang the last possible number, the frantic voice on the other end said that he was on his way home right then, but he needed to call back 5 other possible tenants who'd rang out of interest earlier in the morning. He was instructing all house hunters to be at his place at 10am, the first to come, the first to want, the first to serve. Hoony and I checked our watches, it was 9am, we had an hour to grab some coffees, find his place, cross our fingers, and out run the other high-heeled house hunters!

We headed to Tom&Tom's Coffee, ordered a few things for breakfast, and waited in nervous anxst. Even though Hoony was only helping me, and not actually looking for an apartment, I could feel that she was just as nervous as I was. She was worried, checking and rechecking the paper and her watch. After we waited a little more than 5 minutes for our breakfast, she decided to call the fella heading to his apartment just one more time. He quickly admitted that he'd overestimated his time arrival, and confessed that he'd be home in just 10 minutes, and that if we wanted to be the first ones there, we should go NOW! Hoony hung up the phone, we changed our 'for here' order to takeaway, grabbed our coffees and ran! Hoony explained on the way over there that if I really wanted the place, I should probably have cash in hand, ready to make my deposit straightaway, to make sure I was one step ahead of everyone else.

But I didn't want to take out all that money, run faster than high-heeled marathoners and slam down money in the face of the current tenant. I wanted to walk slowly into a dreamy, open, two-balconed, fully furnished, clean, quaint, cute apartment that sat above a sweet coffee shop where I could buy the cheapest, tastiest coffee in town. But I'm in Korea, not Europe, and that dream was quickly stamped out as we hastily banged on the apartment door. No answer. More banging. No answer. Hoony called the number again. It was BUSY...crap, BUSY numbers in house hunting mean taken apartments! More door banging. Finally, we heard the sound of someone stirring. The door opened as a very sleepy, very confused middle school student appeared and in a weak scratchy voice asked 'Annyeong Hasaeyo?' (Hello?). Hoony explained our visit, the sleepy middle schooler invited us in, and after all that excitement and spilled coffee, the place was well, dirty and old and plain and poorly lit, and inside a huge block of buildings full of the exact same tiny box apartments. The view from the balcony was just massive identical apartment building after massive identical apartment building, and I couldn't live here.

Oh the pain of failure after such excitement, like buying, setting up and lighting boxes of sweet sparkling fireworks, only to witness a small bottle rocket buzz quickly into the air, make a little white burst and fizzle into nothingness again.

Hoony reassured me that she'd help me other days, that we'd find something eventually. And were my Korean language abilities better, I don't think I would have been so disappointed that Tuesday morning. But I'm not the type of person accustomed to asking and re-asking for help. But out of season house-hunting, according to Hoony, is like war, and you need the best equipment to succeed. House hunting necessitated a Korean friend to help, and Hoony was already friend 3, soon we'd have to recycle our 'help us find a apartment' request among our Korean speaking friends. And I just felt we could become an imposition, an annoyance to our helpful friends, and dammit, I wanted house!

I remembered that my co-worker, who's contract finished just days later, lived in an awesome loft, studio apartment in Shin Jeju. So I suggested to Hoony that we head that way, and see if they'd all ready rented out my soon-to-depart co-worker's place. Unbelievably, they had 2 free rooms, right then and there. We took the elevator the the 10th floor, checked out the new place. Hoony jumped when she saw the place! It was perfect, just a bit smaller than what we'd originally hoped for, but spacious nevertheless, partially furnished, with huge windows facing east to let in that sweet morning sun.

The hunt was over, I don't know who or what I was competing against but I'm sure that I won!

A Trail Named Gwaneumsa

Such activities like Midnight Hikes always sound so incredible before and after you complete them. The nervous excitement before embarking on such a difficult task and the bragging rights you own after the event are certainly enough currency to motivate heaps of people to participate in such a silly activity! As of last Friday, I am now the proud owner of at least 50 Midnight Hiking bucks!

Halla Mountain, South Korea's largest, is a huge, dormant volcano that sits in the middle of our little Korean paradise here on Jeju Island. She scrapes the sky at a whopping 1,950 meters. There are four operating trails up and down her rocky, rough terrain, though only two of these trails reach the summit. Our task, this wayward Thursday evening, to climb quickly up a trail named Gwaneumsa, in time to catch the sunrise, quickly hike down and show up to work on time (Ok, well I was the only one of the bunch required to show up to work the next day)!

This particular adventure was inspired by the immanent departure of a good friend, Chandra. She'd wanted to do the hike for sometime now, and we all agreed that it'd be a great way to say good-bye to her. So we, well some of us anyway, packed our bags with water, warm gear and snacks, strapped on our hiking shoes, and planned to rendez-vous at 10:45 Thursday evening. Though heaps more than a handful of friends had originally agreed to join this Midnight adventure, only 5 of us were willing to actually tough it out. So we all piled in one car and drove up to the trial's entrance.

A side note, here, is necessary to fully understand our next decision. On Jeju, we have what westerners commonly call the 'Fun Police'. Just as normal police (theoretically) prevent and reprimand one from committing some sort of criminal activity, the Jeju Fun Police prevent and reprimand one from having fun. Such Fun Police can be found at beaches, using whistles to call folks in from swimming outside the very small roped area, that is, no more nor less safe than the rest of the close-to-shore ocean waters. They can also show up when you are standing in knee-deep ocean waters, not swimming, to blow their whistles at you for some inexplicable danger you are bringing upon yourself. They also prevent you from hiking up the mountain at certain times, and make sure that you turn around at other times to keep everyone safe...and bored!

Bearing this in mind, we worried about parking the car in the trail entrance lot, as it could have drawn attention to our very-against-Fun-Police-rules Midnight Hike. So we parked the car meters away, where we had to jump over a ditch, climb over a stone wall and very suspiciously creep into the park. As we neared the trail head, I spotted, a not-so-cautious 5-year-old girl in the well-lit public bathroom. Then we heard a heap of voices, spotted tons of families in family sized tents, bottles of beer and soju laying about, and laughed, though still quietly, to ourselves for tip-toeing into a well trodden place!

Our assent was quick and painful. We hiked, headlamps on, staring at the dimly lit spot just before each step. Headlamp light is dizzying, and bumpy trails are even hard to walk on in daylight, so the combination of the two should really have slowed us down. But it didn't. We stopped only a few times, to drink water, check out the city views, and verify that all Midnight Hiking members were doing well. In addition to being few and far between, our rests were cut short by the cooling of our sweat on our wet clothes. As the Mountain-air thinned, so too did our ability to stand still for long.

This trail named Gwaneumsa begins at a relatively easy pace. The small pebbled trail head transforms into larger boulders, as the gradual incline allows hikers to set a very quick pace. Even when we walked over precarious large boulders to cross the river a few times, our pace did not slow. After a few kilometers of gradual incline, this trail named Gwaneumsa plummets down a huge, leg-shaking staircase. After walking down the 100 some stairs, hikers spend 5 minutes walking on flat boulders only to walk straight back up again. The sweet, gradual terrain of an lazy afternoon hike is light years behind as hikers look up the daunting staircase, no end to the assent in sight. It is a steady, steep incline from the top of these stairs for kilometers up the trail. Step, by step, my legs wondered why they have to work so hard at 2am, when they should be resting, flexing only if being chased in a dream. But they obeyed my silly commands, and we continued our assent.

This trail named Gwaneumsa, swells in difficulty as the hours of ascending continue. Before reaching the summit, the augmented boulder-steps, ruthlessly ask the hiker for endurance, I was just not too sure that I had! Near the top, scorning the rocky trail, my pace slowed, and my mind raced with whether or not I could finish. Just when I was sure that Midnight Hiking was only for fools, we spotted a familiar turn, THE SUMMIT!! I cannot say that we raced to the top, but at my slowed, patient, newly excited pace, we summited the largest mountain in South Korea, just after 4 hours of starting our journey. It was 3:30am and the sun was not due to rise until 5:50.

The tops of mountains are cold. Regardless of season, the tops of mountains are cold. Though armed with a bit of warm gear and a bottle of Korean raspberry wine, Bok Bun ja ju, the chilly mountain top was no place to relax after a long, hard hike. We huddled together, layed in a line, all facing one way to spoon each other, hoping to trap in some body heat and attempted to rest for a bit of our 2 hour sunrise wait. After a good 45 minutes, we decided to eat a bit, to try and stay warm. We snacked, further confusing our bodies with a 5am feast of kimbab, crackers, cookies and wine.

After feasting and huddling together once more we waited, as penguins would, as the sky began to glow deep purples and reds. Though there were clouds surrounding the mountain, a slit of sunlight and clear skies peeked through the cloud cover, just due East. Cameras in hands, we snapped away at the beautiful colors and each other. Just as we had given up hope at actually seeing the perfectly round sun rise into our small, clear slit, Chandra spotted it. THE SUN!

Feeling quite proud that we actually got to watch the sunrise on this overcast morning, we pack our bags, and headed down the mountain. After an hour of our descent, my exhausted, confused body got a little sick. I had to make a few emergency bathroom stops, and caught up to the others just as the rain hit. 2 of our 3 hours down the trail named Gwaneumsa were made a bit more difficult as the rain turned dry rocks slipperery. But we had one objective in mind, get down and and get to bed. Hiking down with the sun's light as oppose to our headlamps made quite the improvement for foot placing, and we bounded down at a leg-shaking quick pace.

As we hiked back to our car, out of the parking lot by a few meters, we all agreed that the Midnight Hike up and back down a trail named Gwaneumsa was a great adventure. One so great, we never need repeat it!

Hey Foreigner, Play 'Haenyo' with Us!

Living, as an English Teacher, in South Korea is a swirl of hilarity, frustration, relaxation, and annoying hassles. I live in arguably the best spot, just off this wee mountainous peninsula, on a rocky, windy island called Jeju Do. Her often empty (except during the six-week ‘beach season’), beautiful beaches, incredible volcanic mountain in the island's center, and numerous rocky, hilly, beach-bound hikes throughout the entirety of the island are just a few of her alluring attributes.

Jeju culture varies a bit from that of mainland Korea as well. The locals, older locals anyway, have a distinct dialect that mainlanders claim they cannot understand. The delicacies specific to Jeju Do include a variety of fish found only in waters around the island and a barbecued black pig dish, called dong twegi (Poop Pig in English, named so because these pigs dwell below the household toilet, feasting and fattening up on human feces, before being slaughtered and served to you, the culture seeking foreigner!)

Another, more amiable island-specific culture is that of the Jeju Do Haenyo. This, woman-only profession, is a fading one here on the island. Years ago, when the Jeju men would head out to sea for days on end, possibly never to return, the women in the community needed to provide food for their families. So they suited up for the ocean, strapped on masks, tied a buoy to their leg, and hit the waters in search of shellfish, small octopus and squid. Haenyo are trained to hold their breath for up to two minutes underwater. They make a distinct whistling sound upon surfacing to quickly push their held breath out and refill with oxygen before diving deep once again. With the Western wave of more convenient food, one can understand the decreasing necessity for such a profession. However, older women, adjuma in Korean, ranging anywhere from 45 years old to 75 years old, still fill these waters daily, easily spotted by their floating buoys, collecting island sea-delicacies.

Last night, I was asked by three adorable young Korean girls to play 'Haenyo' with them in the cold pool at my neighborhood sauna. Saunas in Asia differ a bit from ones in the West. The most noticeable difference being the complete nakedness of all the women bathing. But Korean saunas are also cheaper, with hotter rooms and colder pools, and sport a variety of aroma pools, such as green tea, lavender, and so forth. I visit the sauna often, and was in particular need of it last night, as I've had a headache impossible to shake for the past few days. After sitting and stretching in an oven-like dry heat room for over five minutes, I headed for the icy cold bath, where these aforementioned girls were playing 'Haenyo'.

Standing at the edge of the frigid bath, and after dipping my face into a plastic bowl full of the icy-cold marvel, I slowly lifted my aching head and opened my eyes only to face a very chubby, very naked, very observant, 8 year-old. Who, upon seeing my face, pointed and yelled, "WAE-GOOK-EN Sadaam!" (foreign person). So, as is my usually response to this common occurrence, here in this incredibly homogeneous nation, I pointed back and yelled "HAN-GOOK EN Sadaam!" (Korean person). After identifying her nationality in her native language, her pointed-hand slowly lowered in the the icy bath, as her eyebrows mushed together in that universal sign of childhood confusion. Then, she pointed back at me and asked "Han-Gook en Sadaam?" I laughed, and said in English, "No you're Korean silly. Despite still being a bit confused, as the rest of her poolside posse joined our conversation, she was happy to drop the issue and take my hand as I entered the frigid pool.

My hands have matured faster than the rest of my 27 year-old body. They are full of lines, wrinkly, dry, and a bit coarse to touch. Many folks, upon seeing my wise hands for the first time, describe them as water soaked, that it seems as though I've spent hours in a tub allowing my hand-skin to shrivel up and wrinkle. As the masters of observation we've learned these three, young Korean girls to be, they were quick to turn over my hands and touch them inquisitively. "Wae Idokae?" (Why, do they look like this?) one girl quickly asked. And I answered "Adjuma son!" (old lady hands). The smallest, toothless member of this poolside posse grabbed my hand and said, "Anneyo, Halmoney son" (No,Grandma hands). Our chubby friend, hit with yet another ingenious revelation, said "Anney, Haenyo son!!" (No, Haenyo hands). They then invited me throw small pebbles (from the pebble foot-walk aside the icy bath) into the pool, and swim to collect the pebbles in this adorable activity they were calling "Haenyo Ga-eeme!"

After collecting a few black stones, and practicing speaking Korean with them, I relieved myself of their company, and headed to the showers. As I dressed to head home, I smiled to myself, having one of those "I love Korea so much" moments. Feeling better, though still a bit headache-y, I combed my hair and looked in the mirror at all these half naked Korean women and at half naked me, each of us, glowing from a good cleanse, preparing to head home and sleep. I grabbed my belongings, and with a new spring in my step left the sauna, just as the poolside posse, freshly showered, emerged into the changing room.

When the oldest and most vociferous of the bunch waved good-bye and yelled "Anyeong Wak-Gook en!" (Good-bye Foreigner!), the changing room erupted with laughter, as old and young Koreans alike, laughed at the adorable young girl saying good bye to white woman. And I smiled endearingly, as well. Then I thought, what if I was leaving a sauna in the states, and a young girl yelled Good-bye to an Asian woman by screaming "Good-bye Oriental Lady," would American moms erupt in laughter?

Oh, homogeneous Korea! Is there an end to the hilarity of my blond hair? No end in the sight of these green eyes, anyway!