Flavor of life

Getting to Jeju island is not a simple affair; it involves a 5-hours flight from Montreal to Vancouver, where I had a 2-hour layover. Then came the big 11-hour flight to Seoul, where I had to pick my heavy luggage, get on a bus and ride it for an hour, until I got to Gimpo airport. That’s where a domestic flight took me to Jejudo an hour later. Needless to say I was incredibly tired when I finally got there.

Though I am working for the Korean government (public schools), I work at a language training center and the position is quite good – about 17 kids/class, no Korean co-teacher, I build my own curriculum, and I have class prep time.

That's where I work, and the next picture is the high school right next to us... students are doing their morning gymnastics. Assa!

The only downside of my job is that I ride the bus for 2 hours every day, but that’s just for 6 months, when I will transfer to the center in Jeju-si. I actually enjoy the bus ride since I can read, learn Korean, listen to music and get a glimpse of Jeju’s magnificent beaches, farms, mountains and daily life.

The center is quite high-tech and I have my own fully equipped classroom – computer, flat screen, projector, printer, DVD player, AC, etc.

We also have simulation labs on the second floor – restaurant, living room, supermarket, airport and health center are recreated in order to immerse the kids in a given environment and provide them with specific vocabulary.

There’s also “The Learning News” in which each article is written in both Korean and English.

In my opinion, Koreans are surrounded by opportunities to learn English… it’s incredible. The government spends loads of money on us teachers and teaching facilities. There are TV shows specially designed for kids, and an English section in every department store – where kids sit and read while mommy is grocery shopping.

Halim is the name of the small town I work in. It’s very nice and located by the sea. The main street is filled with tiny local restaurants that serve delicious food. There’s stuff lying everywhere on the streets and street vendors offer everything – from ropes, to fruit and garden tools. On our way to work, Bill and I always smile when we pass this small shop where an old lady sells nothing but rice and cigarettes. It’s all you need in life, really.

Dominatrix women!

Jeju island is a cultural phenomenon in itself. As Korea’s only special self-governing province, it was created entirely from volcanic eruptions approximately 2 million years ago. The island is dominated by Halla-san, a volcano 1,950 metres high and the highest mountain in South Korea.


A distinct aspect of Jeju is the matriarchal family structures arising from social phenomenons such as the haenyeo ("sea women"), who are often the heads of families. They earn their living from free diving, often all year round in quite cold water, without scuba gear in order to harvest abalones, conchs, and a myriad of other marine products.

Those women are skilled divers who are able to hold their breath for more than two minutes and dive to depths of 20 meters. While the job is physically harsh, haenyo must also contend with other dangers such as jelly fish and sharks.



I personally wondered how women could hold such a status in Korea – a very patriarchal society. As it turns out, diving was mostly done by men until the 19th century. The job became unprofitable for men since they had to pay heavy taxes, unlike women who did not. Women took over the diving (which was considered the lowest of jobs) and, because of the great dependence on sea products in most places on Jeju, became the main breadwinners.

Starting from the late 1970s, exports of sea products to Japan such as abalone and conch have made the sea women richer than ever, allowing them to fix their houses, build new ones in Jeju City and send their daughters to college.


With that, they often became "the head" of their family. On Mara Island, where sea products accounted for almost all sources of revenue before it became increasingly attractive as a tourist site, sex roles were entirely reversed. Often men would look after the children and go shopping while the women would bring in money for the family.

As one mught have guess, haenyos clash with Korea’s confucianist tradition, and administrators from Seoul have actually (unsuccessfully) tried to bar the women from diving (ostensibly because they exposed bare skin while at sea).

However, there is a threat to the haenyo's continued success: with their daughters choosing to work in the island's tourism industry or in the big cities, the haenyo will most likely disappear. While in 1950 there were as many as 30,000 haenyo on the island, in 2003 there were only 5,650 sea women registered as divers, of whom 85% were over 50 years old.

One of my coworker’s mom is actually a 60-year-old haenyo. I think those women are simply amazing!

I’m really excited to be living in Jejudo because it’s so different and culturally rich. It is home to thousands of local legends – such as the ubiquitous dol hareubang ("stone grandfather") carved from a block of lava.

Plus Jeju has a subtropical climate, warmer than the rest of Korea, with four distinct seasons, just like home and tons of tourist stuff - waterfalls, Mountain Halla, caves, surrounding islands, horse riding, hunting, fishing, mountain climbing and festivals (penguin swimming contest in winter, cherry blossom festival in spring, midsummer night beach festival in summer, horse festival in autumn, etc.)

Jeju? I’m lovin’ it!

(ref: wikipedia)
(pictures: google images)

Fish eyeballs in my soup

Y’all probably aware that Korea is still strongly under the influence of Confucianism – that is, social hierarchy and blind respect for the elderly. Only people who are the same age can be “friends” and call each other by their first name. Students in my classroom have actually fought because a boy would call an older one by his first name instead of saying “oppa” (older brother).

As a foreigner, I am often excused from social conventions that do not really offend Koreans. My clumsiness is often qualified as “cute” and “lovely”. Nonetheless, I always try to follow the rules – for instance, holding my right wrist with my left hand when pouring a drink to someone older than me.

So today when our big boss took us out for lunch, I knew I’d have to watch myself. Last time she invited me, she complained that Lucie and I were talking while eating (it’s true: most Koreans eat silently) and that, mainly because of this, all the other people had to wait for us. Indeed, at some point we realized that everyone was staring at us while we kept eating. They had already finished eating.

I did pretty well. We ate kimchi, marinated pumpkin, and squid in a hot sauce, and our main course was fish soup and rice. It was delicious. Yes, delicious.

Until I found a piece of fish that looked like fat. “That’s odd, I thought. Fish don’t have that much fat.” That’s when my boss looked at me and said “fish eye! You must eat, it is very healthy.” What could I do? The idea of eating a boiled eyeball totally disgusted me and, for a minute, I thought I’d throw up.

But I did it. I ate it.

Everyone at the table smiled, and my boss said that as a kid, she would fight over the fish eyes with her family. “Fish only have two eyes, you know. We were 5 at the table.” I immediately thought about mutation. “Well, I said, in a few years if you’re lucky you might eat fish that has 5-6 eyes and then you won’t have to fight over it!” I added “But of course, I’m not sure it will be as healthy…”

Typhoon hits Jeju island

It’s so hot. Humid. I’ve got mosquito bites all over my body and my face is itchy. I’m sitting on the bus and I’m sweating. My clothes are sticking to my skin. There’s mud everywhere. Just as I was hopping on the bus, the driver looked at my feet and said “Hey! You! Come!” He took me to a corner - where he clearly wanted me to wash up.

This morning the city almost looks normal. Yesterday the typhoon hit the island. There are still people walking around with brooms, trying to clean up and helping each other. Dead leaves, road signs, broken glass, ad signs, plastic bottles and even food are all over the streets. Men are shoveling water. Policemen stand in the middle of the boulevards. Women wearing pink gloves are multitasking. We are stuck in traffic.



Like it happened to nearly everyone, water flooded in my apartment and I spent most of yesterday worrying. It was pouring rain the whole day, impossible to even see anything from my window. All I could hear was the wind whistling through the entire building. When you almost can’t open your door, that’s scary.



An hour after it stopped I went down the street to survey the damages. A tragedy. It’s frightening to realize that there are (have been and will be!) much worse natural disasters! Cars were piled up on top of each other or upside down. Entire stores were flooded. Broken windows. Trash all over the streets. People looking sorry and helpless in the sight of such a sad picture.

They say it’s the worst one in 80 years. Some people have died. Others are hurt. Some lost their shop while others are still cleaning up their home. It was nothing like a tsunami, drought or even hurricane Katrina, but it was definitely something. Mother nature is strong; we are so weak compared to her. Yet we defy her everyday through careless actions. But… watcha gonna do!?

You can check out all the pictures I took here (http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/233357)