Wyspa Jeju-do

I’m still on the island Jeju, full of black volcanic rock beaches, lush green forests, fresh seafood, and little old lady scuba divers. They say it’s the Hawaii of South Korea, and while I think that’s a bit of a stretch, it is a lovely place. No need to compare it to Hawaii, Korea. Why say an apple is an orange trying to trick people into eating it? You just make yourself look silly for not knowing that an apple is not an orange, and maybe they like apples better anyway.

I met some English professors from Jeju National University, and they’ve been beyond hospitable; taking me into their homes, helping me out with rides to places, sharing dinners and beers together, making me breakfast! They’re a good crew. I’m happy to have met them. If I’m still here on Friday, I’ll join them and sail out to the neighboring island of Udo for a weekend of camping.

It’s interesting to learn about another culture through the eyes of people submersed in it, but not from it. I actually think it’s kind of a good way to go about the whole affair. Instead of feeling overwhelmed with the newness of everything all at once, you can ease into the new perspective, Korean-Lite.

Lately I’ve been struggling with the concept of pace. Life as I knew it before was all about timetables, schedules, traffic calculations, and hurry, hurry, hurry. Those elements have always been a huge part of traveling as well, trying to fit everything possible into the classic American-sized two week vacation. I’m finding it a challenge to unlearn the habit of rushing through everything. I have to constantly remind myself that I have plenty of time for what I want to do, there’s no schedule or deadline to be met.

Shedding this frantic mindset, for me, is the key to getting nicer images. As it is now, I’m still rushing, by default, and taking masses of snapshots rather than being thoughtful about what I’m doing. I like casual photography, and I don’t think it needs to be overworked, but there’s a huge difference in the feel when I’m relaxed and not just running from one place to the next. I’m still working on it, how to be an explorer rather than a tourist.

My new roommate is at work and I have the place to myself, WooHoo! It’s the first bit of alone time I’ve had since leaving. I’m sitting around doing nothing, taking my time in the bathroom, vegging out in front of the computer with coffee, and lounging in general. It feels great.

A pop up seafood restaurant on the waterfront

A pop up seafood restaurant on the waterfront. The ladies in the bonnets were frying up squid with kimchi on the side.

I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. The population there is predominantly white, but there was a decent sized African American community, black community, please just insert whatever sounds good to your ears here. As a kid I observed a phenomenon within that community that I couldn’t really comprehend as a white person, Caucasion person, please just insert whatever sounds good to your ears here. Folks that had no previous knowledge of each other would pass on the street and say hello, nod their heads, or even give a “What’s up my brother.” in aknowledgement of the other. I had nothing to compare it to. White people seemed to be content to amicably ignore each other unless necessary that we needed some kind of information that required us speaking to other people; directions, the price of something, anything that could confirm the fact that the rest of the world was crazy and we were, in fact, superior beings. Seeing total strangers just saying yo, what’s up was an indication that there was the existence of some kind of secret society out there, that I wasn’t a part of. That society is called The Minority, and I have been initiated.

Yesterday I was standing outside a coffee shop, pirating Internet on my phone, and this white guy came riding by on a bike. In my head I said, “No way am I going to say hello just because we’re both white.” and then it happened, we said hello. Before I knew it, we were talking about his bike, and where the good paths on Jeju are. Oh well. What’s up my brother.

Shared experience can create a bond like no other. We all like feeling understood, and if that can happen without a lot of explanation, all the better. I think this is why we tend to gravitate towards people we feel are similar to us; like the same music, have the same taste in movies, grew up watching Alf and Family Ties, and know all the lyrics to the Fraggle Rock theme song. We just get lazy and want the ease of all this knowledge being there without having to deconstruct and reconstruct it in order for a joke or a cultural reference to make sense. So, we got lazy and went to a volleyball tournament consisting of all native English speakers. There was one Korean girl there, and when we went out to dinner she said what she was going to have and we all ordered the same thing. Ha. Awesome.

Tomorrow I’m checking out of the jjimjilbang and I’m going to try to get on top of a mountain or inside some volcanic crater. Let’s see what happens. Hope you’re having fun out there, friends. Big Hugs.