WWOOF Korea

I wanted to spend last summer working on a ranch and this past summer farming in northern France. Obviously, neither of those things happened, but I have since remained interested in the idea of working someplace where I could look up and see the sky.

WWOOF connects organic famers around the world with volunteers interested in sustainable agriculture. The volunteers work the lands and learn farming techniques for a designated amount of time in exchange for meals and housing from the farmers. It's a pretty cool program and a great way to travel if you don't mind a little dirt and sweat. I'd been wanting to get involved with the organization for a while now, so this weekend, I did.

Yesterday, with a not-particularly-granola-looking group of fellow organic farming enthusiasts, I attended  WWOOF Korea's "Get Your Hands Dirty" day trip to Ungilsan.

At the meeting point, our WWOOFing guide told us about our task for the day and handed our volunteer t-shirts and pamphlets about AsioGusto. (Free swag!). We then hopped into the back of a pick-up truck and drove to the farm. I found riding in the truck bed to be quite exciting, since I'd only done it once before.

Once at the farm, one of the farmers gave us a brief lesson in strawberry planting -- our task for the day, and then, we were off to work!

We started planting the strawberries in our first greenhouse around 9:45am. None of us were really accustom to the labor of farming, being hunched over working in the mud. We often had to stand straight to stretch our backs and would laugh when we caught our fellow teammates taking breaks to do so.

strawberry plant.

long way to go.

almost done. 

After we finished our first greenhouse, we took a break for steamed red bean buns. I'd never had them before, but will be looking out for them in the future. Yum.

ho bbang.

Rejuvenated by the snack, we moved onto greenhouse #2. With a lot of people needing to use the bathroom and others being hungry for lunch, we were motivated to finish this one more quickly. We got into a rhythm and knocked it out in what felt like no time at all.

We jumped back into the pick-up truck and drove to the main farmhouse for lunch, a home-cooked Korean meal made from organic ingredients fresh from the farm. It was great to sit back and enjoy the company of the team as we laughed and ate together; though, the makgeolli that was flowing may have made some people extra happy.

rice, eggplant, kimchi, eggs, pickled Korean pumpkin, beef, potatoes, and soup.

sooo good.

While we were eating, a ladybug landed on our table. The farmer told us that ladybugs were a sign of organic farming, since the bugs do not populate fields that have been sprayed with chemicals. Cool little fact.

our team.

After lunch, we went back to finish up our third and final greenhouse. We sang a traditional Korean farming song and listened to the rain tap on the roof as we planted. It was perfect. I honestly kept thinking, PTL. Nature does that to you.

all done.

Around 6:30 p.m., we were done. We ended the day's events by celebrating back at the main farmhouse with, of course, more food. This time we had pajun (pajeon), one of my favorites.

lots of chickens at the main farmhouse.
when the farm started, the farmer only had two.

the head farmer, Beyoungsu Kim, made us dinner himself

We chilled until dark, talking and eating. When things started to quiet down, the head farmer, Beyoungsu Kim, told us his story, how he was in mechanical engineering but then came to learn the importance of sustainable agriculture for the environment. He thought the best way to advocate organic farming practices was to become a farmer himself, so that's what he did. About thirty years later, his farm had grown into the beautiful place we were privileged to work at that day.

Beyoungsu also talked to us about three practices he'd incorporated into his life since becoming a farmer: 1) giving up the quest for material wealth, 2) trading in speed and instant gratification for intentionality, and 3) being content even in life's discomforts. Words of wisdom indeed. 

It's an attractive lifestyle, farming. Literally reaping the fruits of your labor and not being polluted with all the opinions and advertisements of society, but rather having fresh air fill your lungs daily. 

a small, small portion of the farm. très belle, non?

Now, my shoes are covered in dirt. My camera's covered in dirt. My jacket has dirt on it. My water bottle has dirt in it. And that's cool. I'd gladly do it again. I'm definitely looking forward to more WWOOFing experiences in the future. Maybe I'll even become a farmer... (Ok, that's highly unlikely, but a garden would be cool.)

Chuseok

Last week, Korea celebrated a holiday known as Chuseok. You can think of it as the Korean version of Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure it's the biggest holiday here but would have to double check. During Chuseok, families visit their ancestors' graves to pay their respects. They also share large, Thanksgiving-like meals but with Korean food, of course.

I didn't know anything about Chuseok until last week. Luckily, I work at a kindergarten-elementary school, so while the kids were doing their lessons about the holiday, I got to learn the material with them. We talked about traditional games (sabangchigi and wrestling), Chuseok attire (hanbok), ceremonial bows, and food. To wrap things up, the students took a field trip to an adorable kids' cafe, where the they got a cooking lesson and then learned to make songpyeon, a chewy rice dough stuffed with sweet sesame seeds and honey. Pretty good. The kids kept trying to get me to eat the ones they made. I didn't resist.

cooking lesson at the kid's cafe.

making songpyeon.

We got three days off work for the holiday. Being new, I had no idea this would be the case and hadn't made any plans or anything.

On one of the days, my co-worker gave me instructions for getting to Seoul, so I took the bus there to meet my aunt and cousin, who has been working in Korea for some time now. While waiting for them at the bus/train station, I watched a bit of a cultural performance.

cultural performers.

My cousin showed my aunt and me around two neighborhoods in Seoul, and taught me how to use the Korean subway, so now I feel relatively confident with public transportation here.

Seoul Station.

For the rest of the days off, I just worked on projects at my apartment and walked around the town I live in. On one walk, I went to find this funny advertisement I remembered passing on the bus. I'd actually tried to find it before, but didn't see it. This time I was successful though. Can you see what I was looking for?

the cartoon Jesus.

Another time, I went to investigate a mysterious staircase I always pass on the way to the grocery store. After, 200+ stairs, I found some cool hiking trails, this ornate pavilion, and a bunch of exercise equipment. Most of the public parks in this area have various work-out machines installed for public use. They work with your body weight, so you can't get super swole or anything unless you want to do a thousand reps, but still pretty cool. More about health than appearances, I suppose.

this doesn't capture the steepness very well...

pavilion off the trail.

pretty elaborate under there.

machines like these were all around the pavilion. they're also in most parks.

So, yeah. That was pretty much my Chuseok. I haven't been taking many pictures; the ones included here are pretty much all I have, but hopefully once I start doing more stuff, I'll be able to include more pics. On Sunday, I went to an international church and signed up for day trip and taekwondo community groups, so I'm excited about those. Also, this weekend, I signed up for a WWOOFing event, which I'm pretty excited about as well. We'll see how it goes...

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Cooking in Korea

If you'd told me last September that at the same time next year I'd be sitting on my bed eating a bowl of seaweed and rice, I wouldn't have not believed you, but I'd probably ask for an explanation.

I've been working in Korea for a little over a week now, which means I'm passed the "eat-out-for-every-meal" mark and need to start packing my lunch and cooking my own dinners. Though, this should alleviate some stress for me, since knowing all of 20-ish words in Korean, my dining options at restaurants are often limited to dishes that have pictures beside them on the menu or that include one of the few words in my Korean vocabulary. Whereas cooking for myself, I can eat whatever I want.

My kitchen.

Don't get me wrong, Korean food is great. Before moving to Korea, I'd only really had it when my Korean friends in New York made it and had me over to eat with them. Between those dinners and my recent exposures, I'm definitely a fan. A few times a week, my coworkers from the UK take me to different places around town to eat and teach me what/how to order. We've had Korean barbecue at a traditional place where you sit on floor cushions, Japanese sushi from a franchise (1/3 the price of NYC sushi, I might add), and mandu at a mom and pop type shop, but my favorite was definitely the bibimbap from this bibimbap place they took me too.

Bibimbap. Soooo good.

Anyway, cooking in my apartment makes me feel like I'm doing a Top Chef Quickfire Challenge or something: only two burners, no oven*, no microwave, and essentially no counter space. There is however a range hood, which is nice, but it doesn't exactly whisk away the sent of sesame seed oil.
*Those who know my love of baking can sense that this is rough.

The cooktop.

It's not a problem, just something to adjust to. My  only fear is that I'll forget to turn the gas off one day and either poison myself or set the building on fire... Eek. Well, so far there've been no problems.

You have to switch on the gas to start the burners.

Hopefully, in a few months time, I'll have mastered the one-pot dish.

Tonight for dinner: rice with egg, seaweed, onion, and carrots. Nomz.

Prepared using this little spatula I picked up from the dollar store. It reads, "LOVEY BERRY: I am hapy because I have sweet cake and lovely friends around me." Poetry.

Now my whole room smells like onions. C'est la vie. At least the vampires will be scared away. Wait. No, that's garlic. Oh well. Until next time...

Notes from the Field: Day Two

• woke up at 05:30. stomach creaking like an 80 year old house. only provisions trail mix and chocolate: ate entire godiva almond, sea salt bar. no guilt. no shame.
• wait for acceptable wake-up time. rediscover itunes library. 
• kindergarten class. so much energy they have. so adorable.
• chuseok origami in final morning class. become paper folding wizard. still must conquer the art of making paper hanbok pants.
• student comments on my new hairstyle--straightened hair pulled into bun. oh, just you wait, young sir...
• girl student has adorable madeline pencil case. where can i acquire such?
• lunch most filling rations yet. five korean dollars worth of sixteen new york dollars of sushi.
• only one afternoon class. student force feeds me paris baguette butter roll. surrender gluten free battle and accept the deliciousness of steam bread.
• walk home from work. in search of wifi. light rain.
• starbucks menu in korean. try to pronounce word for coffee. blank stares. struggz. my korean needs improvement.
• continue the journey home. mad rainy. fear red velvet shoes will not survive. was hoping they’d endure one more winter.
• pass mad smelly parking lot, like soggy burger king. motivation to walk faster.
• landmarks have disappeared. where am i? string of mental expletives.
• land ho! rediscover the path. praise the lord, o my soul! everything that is within me will sing of your great love forever!
• mad tired. review spending while waiting for dinner with coworkers. food very affordable here.
• din din at nearby barbecue place. delish. my spirit is revived. 
• sleep at a regular hour. gentle rain falls outside window. mmmmm.

Vicarious Happiness and the Displacement of the Toaster Moment

This Saturday, I left for South Korea. I was supposed to leave last Sunday. Here's what happened:

Friday morning at 6:45, I took a bus to Atlanta so I could get my visa from the Korean embassy there. Walking towards the embassy down Peachtree Street, I notice a few kids dressed in medieval clothing. Larping, I think. Interesting. Guess they do that sort of thing in Atlanta. Come to find out, I'd arrived downtown just in time for "the world's largest fantasy/SF convention," Dragon Con.

I get to the embassy around 11:30. It's empty, so I'm immediately called to the clerk's window. I hand in all my paperwork and ask how long I should wait. The clerk says, "Three days." I think, She misheard me. Clearly, she meant three hours. The visa process usually only takes two hours, so I ask again. She replies again, "Three days. Come back on Wednesday."

Nooooooo! My flight's on Sunday! Ok. Don't panic. You're an adult. Just explain your situation to her. It's going to be ok. Everything always turns out ok...

So I explain that my flight's already been booked and ask if there's a way to expedite the process, but the clerk rejects my idea. I email my Korean contacts, and after a couple hours of waiting and numerous phone calls, it's made clear that I'm not leaving on Sunday.

The clerk tells me I can bring back a prepaid envelope for my documents to be returned next week. Bummed that I'll be missing my first week in Korea and afraid that my future employers now hate me, I battle my way through all the Katnisses and Banes on Peachtree Street to the nearest FedEx.

Hungry from not having eaten a meal all day, I arrive at FedEx around 3:00 and ask to purchase a prepaid envelope. One of the employees directs me to a computer workstation, then tells me that I have to create an account and print my own label. Really? I can't just give you my address and let you print it real quick? No problem, I guess. Just do what the lady says.

After creating the account and 30 minutes of trying to get the faulty system to accept my credit card, I get up and ask the employee behind the counter for assistance. Without bothering to look at my computer, she tells me that I can't pay with a credit card, only an account number. Why didn't you tell me that half an hour ago?

I go back to my computer, where a zombie doctor has assumed the workstation next to mine. I finally get my transaction paid for, but now the label won't print. I think, Why are we replacing jobs with computer's when the unemployment rate is so high? Because your company is saving money? Well, technology isn't always the best option, like now. I need a human! And this stupid machine isn't working! 

Thinking I'm not going to get the envelope back to the embassy, I bow my head in defeat and try to quell the impending toaster moment.

Toaster moment - noun - The final event in a series of unfavorable outcomes that, though insignificant -- for example, the burning of a piece of toast, causes one to lapse into a breakdown. Origin: a term coined by frustrated college seniors struck by bouts of anxiety whenever reminded of their imminent post-graduation unemployment. 

A male employee walks over to assist the zombie next to me, so after he helps the undead, I present him with my predicament. He calls the manager over-- Thank you. -- and the manager takes me behind the counter to an employee computer where he prints the label. Why couldn't we have done this in the first place?

I thank them for their help and get out of there as fast as I can. About a block up the street, I realize the address on the label is incorrect. Noooooo! Fighting another toaster moment, I walk back to the FedEx. The security guard in the building lobby greets me with a "Hello," and I just want to hug him because that's the kindest thing anyone has said to me all day.

Back in FedEx, I head straight for the manager and restart the process.

A little after 4:00, I drop the envelope off at the Korean embassy.

With about thirty minutes until my bus back to Charlotte departs, I try to grab some food by descending into Middle-earth, otherwise known as the mall food court. Every fast-food place is crowded with Transformers and spandex-clad miniskirt girls, so I choose the shortest line and take my afternoon tea/supper/dinner back outside where I can breathe.

Sitting on a bench with my overpriced, subpar burrito bowl, I start thinking about the melodramatic mindset I'd had all day and how I sounded like #firstworldproblems... #ewww. I mean, nothing really bad had happened. No one got hurt or sick or anything, just inconvenienced.

So, I start listing blessings from the day instead: free wifi from Emory that allowed me to email my contacts in Korea, all the waiting time that let me start reading The Catcher in the Rye, Fedex being only like five blocks away so I could walk there quickly, that nice guy in the food court who gave me tortilla chips for free even though I couldn't eat them because of the gluten free struggle, the lack of rain despite the forecast...

All the while, around me people from Dragon Con are taking pictures in their costumes and striking up conversations with costumed strangers, fellow members of the cosplay community. It dawned on me that no matter how rough of a day you might be having, at that same moment, someone else is having the time of their life, and maybe instead of dwelling on your bad cards, you can be happy for them instead. Walking back to the bus, I tried doing that and found myself genuinely excited for the Dragon Con attendees, even though getting hit by their styrofoam weapons was still testing my limited patience.

The bus ended up being over an hour late, so everyone got to wait outside in the Hotlanta heat. But, it didn't matter. It wasn't bad, just inconvenient. C'est la vie. If anything, I learned something that day.