Just an Average Weekend on Jeju

The 6th Olle

 Jeju is a very special place, because of it's special-ness there have been 21+ hiking paths created for exploring the island. If completed, you have walked around the entire island and have the right to brag for the rest of your life. Each of these trails is anywhere between 8-23km long and they hug the shoreline of the island. There is nothing better than being surrounded by the ocean and oreums (small volcanoes but basically just look like hills) as you walk along these paths.  My friend Emily and I really want to hike off of these paths this summer, so we are planning on hiking them most Saturdays from now on. We started the weekend on March 2 with the attempt to walk the whole Olle 6 but, we overestimated our abilities apparently and got to distracted by all the site that we only made it half way before we ran out of time for the day. So this past weekend, March 9th, was attempt two. Emily invite our other friends to join us of course and this week we had the privilege of hiking with Yeasl and Raynell! This week we really had a time schedule to keep because we wanted to go to the first home game for the Jeju United soccer team after the hike. 

We started the hike at the opposite end than we had started before. It was just such a beautiful place, with a ravine coming in from the ocean. It had the most clear, emerald green water I have ever seen. And to top it all off there were people canoeing in clear canoes, which I really wanted to do. But, we couldn't get distracted this week. We had to finish or else face the endless humiliation from our friends for not finishing the trail two weeks in a row. We pushed onwards, resisted the urge to get a canoe. Off we went, not long into the trail did we come to an oreum that we had to climb. It was a bit rough so we stopped to catch our breath in the middle, then we get passed by two Korean guys. They were fine, no problem getting up the hill. Champions I tell you, champions.

We did it!

We survive the trail of having to climb the oreum and make it to the half way point around our anticipated time. Emily and I were pretty excited that we were going to actually be able to finish this trail! Continuing to walk we end up passing the two Korean guys. This is about 3 hours later. We thought they must be way a head of us since they passed us so long ago, and we had stopped for lunch and rested a few places, but no, this time we were passing them. They notice us first and say "Fast!", we kindly say back to them "Slow." This is clearly an in-depth conversation and lead to an eternal bond of friendship. They were looking down into a river and pointed out a turtle for us saying, "Turtle, like stone." It was about the cutest thing thus making me want to hug him, but I refrained. He was right, the turtle just blended right into the rocks. We observed turtle and continued on. We are at the tail end of the trail and were very excited to finish, partly because we wanted to go to the soccer game and partly because we wanted to just sit...and at the game there would be seats:) We plowed through the end of the trail in fear that we would be late for the game. Just as we finish and we looking for a taxi guess who we see making their was to the end of the trail...the two Korean guys. They must have gotten distracted by the wonderful sights of Jeju. We beat them by a long shot, those slow pokes:)

 Jeju United Soccer Game

Well there isn't too much to say about this, it was just a typical soccer game with lots of fans. I guess one big difference was that they were all cheering in Korean, which was pretty wonderful. I enjoyed the commentary from the guys behind me. I could understand everything he said basically because they use the same type of expressions while watching sports like we do. For instance "Seriously!" "Are you kidding me?!" "GOAL! GOAL!" "Go! Go!"  I was pretty distracted by all of the people that I only maybe watched half of the game. I guess the most eventful thing at the game, besides the game itself, was that during half time while the players were practicing kicking the ball into the goal, one of the girls sitting behind the goal caught a ball with her face. All of a sudden you heard the majority of the crowd go, "OOHHH!" All of the teams doctors came over to help her. I think she was maybe knocked-out. I mean that ball was going fast. She was even a big fan of the team with a jersey on and everything, we'll see if she comes back. And because I am a terrible person, I couldn't stop laughing at her misery. I don't know what my problem is, I will try to work on that.

The Fire Festival

Sunset at the Festival.

I don't think that there is a way for me to properly describe the Fire Festival.  It was...intense, in many ways. There were intense amounts of fire all at one time, there were intense amounts of food in every direction. The amount of people was pretty amazing and the fireworks show was certainly intense. It was freezing outside, which was pretty unexpected because the rest of the island was having nice warm temps. But the winds on the side of Mt. Halla really made it cold.
Right was it got dark the show started. There was a parade of people playing drums and traditional Korean instruments followed by the torches, which were being held by children. Now, this is quite a thought to ponder. Why would you have children holding torches in the insane Jeju winds? Anyways, they survived and successfully complete their mission in the parade and lighting all of the other peoples torches. Then once the large group of people got their torches lit, they started to line up at the base of the oreum. It was pretty neat. Then, the greatest show I have ever seen came to be right before my very eyes. First came the fireworks show. It wasn't very long but it sure was quality. We all just stood there in amazement. Then we had a countdown to starting the oreum on fire. In just seconds, the biggest fire I have ever seen burned before me. The heat was felt almost instantly, which was nice because it was so cold out. And the smoke was filling up the whole sky. It was quite the site. I can say that if you are ever on Jeju during the Fire Festival, GO!
 It's a bit surreal!

After living in Korea for a few months now, I have realized that I have come accustom to things that before I thought before were quite exotic.

In the past six months....

Octopus outside my apt. ready to eat.

1. I don't consider Octopus as an exotic food anymore. It's almost strange to not see tentacles in at least one dish at the dinner table. (I still don't eat them, but they have been hidden in my food before...tricky Korean cooking.)
2. I miss using chopsticks if I don't use them for a few days. I have learned that somethings are just easier to eat with chopsticks...but not soup, we still use a spoon for that.
3. Having everything written in Korean. What else can I expect, I live in Korea. At first, everything is a bit overwhelming because you can't understand anything, but now I still don't understand much, however it has become normal for me to not know what things are. Just content with being confused most days. I still have those days where I really just want to be able to understand a food label or read a menu because it takes so much effort to try and figure out what things are.

Then there are things that even after six months that I still haven't adjusted to, such as...

1. Changing my shoes when I walk into school. At first I was really compliant, but now I just find it annoying and try to get away with it as much as I can:)
2. The smell of seafood. It still makes me want to vomit. It's a real unfortunate situation because there is never a meal where you don't smell it. My tolerance of the smell has increased, but my disdain for seafood has not.
3. The lack of communication about everything. There is never a time that I am able to be prepared, due to the fact that I never know what I have to prepare for. For example, there have been two days when I have come to school and I was told that it was school picture day, one of those days being a picture with the principal. Surprise surprise!

Until Next Time,
- Jenna