Korea – Page 10

Go when they ain’t

This weekend my family will take our long-awaited trip to Jeju Island, the "Hawai’i of Korea" (except when it’s snowing). No person in their right mind who has been in Korea for any extended period of time would miss out on visiting Jeju Island. Jeju is Korea’s largest island located off the southern coast of Korea to the west of Japan. Why did we wait 1.5 years to visit one of Korea’s biggest attractions? We couldn’t find a good three-day weekend to visit it. It takes at least three days to enjoy Jeju by air, four days by car/ferry. It isn’t very nice in the winter, and in the summer Koreans converge on it. There’s only a few holiday weekends that are ideal for travel around Korea, and these are American holidays–namely Memorial Day in May and Labor Day in September. Last May, we didn’t go anywhere because we had just returned from our visit to the states. Last September, we visited the other must-see natural wonder of Korea, Seoraksan National Park. So, here we are visiting Jeju just a few months before our departure. Better late than never! We thought about going someplace like Thailand but knew we should exhaust our travel here before visiting Southeast Asia.

Not only is it much cheaper to travel during the off-season, but we don’t have to fight the crowds. Koreans tend to go on vacation during specific times of the year, namely mid-August, when they converge on many of the same popular destinations around Korea and favorite international destinations such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Thailand. Each year the newspapers publish a photo of the beach at Haeundae (near Busan) in August when thousands of vacationers descend on the beach. It’s absolutely insane. Who wants to spend hours snarled in traffic just be lie wall to wall with other people? We would rather go when there are far fewer people and the rates are cheaper. Of course, it helps immensely that Korean children are now back in school. Koreans are far less likely to take extended trips to places such as Jeju Island during the months of September and October (or in early spring), because children usually attend private academies in the evening and school on Saturdays. That inevitably keeps Korean familiess closer to home. So we’ll go to Jeju Island when they ain’t.

Cinderellas in our midst

I am apparently the last one to learn that one of my Korean friends will marry an American acquaintance. Apparently it was a whirlwind romance. The slipper fit, and she found her Prince. This is just a week or so after another Korean friend departed for the United States to marry an American man whom she met while he was here on a short-term visit. None of the Koreans I’ve met here in Korea have dated or married foreigners, until now. Two announcements in recent months is noteworthy. Is there a third on the horizon? I don’t know. I’m not plugged into the rumor mill, so I don’t know.

I have many Korean acquaintances. Some of them are not presently dating anyone, but they have hinted that they would be open to dating and marrying foreigners. For some, dating a foreigner is reminiscent of the Cinderella story, especially when the one who meets and marries the foreigner finds their culture far different from their own. It is even more intriguing when the foreigner is a traveling expatriate, moving from culture to culture, allowing the person to experience places and things they never would if they remained in their own culture.

I assume that dramatic news occurs in trios. For example, famous persons often die in threes. Now, two of my acquaintances have recently announced their intentions to marry. Is a third on the way? I don’t know. I’m very happy for the ones who found true love. Perhaps my belief that it will happen a third time stems from the hope that it will happen to yet another Korean I know. I hope so.

Chinese in the Hermit Kingdom

Last night my wife and I ate at a Korean restaurant. The waitress who served us spoke Korean, but her accent seemed a bit strange. I could not decipher anything she tried to say. Although I am by no means fluent in Korean, I can hold my own in a restaurant setting. It turns out that she’s an ethnic Chinese woman married to a Korean man. I don’t recall what triggered the realization that she was not native Korean, but as soon as we realized it, our conversation immediately switched from Korean to Mandarin Chinese. (My Chinese is much better than my Korean.) I asked her a question or two I would normally ask a Korean, questions Koreans would readily answer, but she was rather coy in her responses. Finally, I gave up and resorted to speculation about her background based on facts I know about her, such as her approximate age and occupation.

Although the waitress looked Korean, she will never truly be Korean because she is ethnic Chinese. Although Chinese find it easier to assimilate into Korean culture than other ethnic groups, they can never be truly Korean. The experience reminds me of an acquaintance I know from South Asia. He is a Korean citizen and has assimilated well in Korean society. His wife is Korean, and his children are mixed. He speaks fluent Korean and is well connected in the Korean business community. He has even taken a Korean name, a requirement for Korean citizenship. However, he will never truly be Korean. The waitress we met last night met and married a Korean man in China, and I venture that he is either a businessman or a teacher, perhaps a covert missionary. Korean men, particularly rural-dwelling bachelors such as farmers, sometimes marry Chinese women when they cannot find a suitable Korean mate. In fact, some Korean men prefer Chinese wives because they consider them extremely dedicated and hard working. Sometimes Chinese mates–male or female–are ethnic Koreans who were born and raised in China or emigrated from North Korea. Most often, though, they are ethnic Han who married interracially into a Korean household.

The Chinese Korean women we met last night was somewhat evasive about responding to our questions. We did not ask her questions we thought were too personal. We finally understood that she did not want to us to know much about her personal life and how she made her way to Korea. Most likely, she, like many foreigners who are Korean citizens, finds it necessary to conceal her background in order to minimize the disparaties between her and her adopted country. It’s a defensive mechanism that helps her blend better into Korean culture. It seems a bit distrustful, but it’s understandable. Those who have adopted Korea as their homeland do not want to do anything that will make them more conspicuous than they already are–particularly discussing their non-Korean past.