The Things I Threw Away

Typically I leave the country within a day--or three--of the end of school either for the stateside summer sojourn or a trip to somewhere else before the stateside summer sojourn.  Granted, this pattern did not emerge until after I departed Germany for Asian destinations; in fact, I spent entire summers in Europe several times with no stateside visit whatsoever.  After a brief review and analysis of my history and circumstances, two reasons loom for why this current pattern established itself:  (1) In Asia I have always lived in densely populated metropolitan areas, and I am not a big-city girl at heart; give me some space and empty.  (2) No one ever comes to visit me in Asia.  (WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!!!)  Okay, except for Carolee, who came to visit me once in both Japan and in Korea.  But we're looking at eight years in Asia for me now, a time frame logging a statistically relevant dearth of visitors!

This summer, though, has unfolded a bit differently.  I will have spent nine days beyond the ending of school in-country before I depart for San Francisco to meet my friend Tammy.  Complete responsibility--or blame, but in a good way--for this unlikely reality of mine resides fully with Tammy who insisted that she needed at least a week after the end of school before she could head to the states and meet me in San Francisco.  (Yeah, well, Tammy lives in Germany.)  So, with all potential hang-out and/or travel buddies flown to or dwelling on other continents, I definitely had some down time to while away.  What to do, what to do?  Productivity or dilly dally?

A CONFESSION:  I have never fully unpacked all my stuff since I moved to Baalborn, Germany, in June of 2001, and I have moved three times since then!  In all four abodes, including my current one, one room's destiny fell to the designation "the denial room," and it remained a jumble of boxes--many still taped and stickered by the most recent moving company--and other clutter not immediately pertinent to my day to day existence.  Alas, with the passing years, I drift ever closer to a vagabond status.  So, in a supreme effort to circumvent a total degeneration into a "hiss and a byword" status, during this week of "unassigned leisure" I confronted my current denial room, and the ensuing struggle encompassed the better parts of three days.

In the end, I threw away lots and lots of stuff--some with relief, some with glee, and some with waves of nostalgia.  Although the neighborhood recycling center, the garrison thrift shop, and my church's pass-along table have become the appointed beneficiaries, the relief, the glee, and waves of nostalgia have moved me to bear record of some of those things I threw away. (IN KOREA, NO LESS. WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK THE END OF THEIR TIME WITH ME WOULD BE HERE?!)  Included below are only my most notable discards.

• Financial records for 2001 and 2002 (three bags-worth of shredding).  I finally did locate the box in which I stored them for safe keeping way back in the day!

• All the magazines--two different weeks' worth of issues, actually, so six in total--dedicated to Princess Diana after her death:  Time, Newsweek, and People.  (Yes, I still remember that moment when I learned she had died.

• All my books and notes for learning how to speak German, French, Japanese, and Korean.  (I did hold onto the flashcards I made for Korean, but who knows if they shall ever again be loosed from the rubber bands!)

• The poems I saved written by my third graders from way back when.  (The faded pencil made them impossible to read anymore and so much easier to let go.)

• Every last book and school file for teaching any kind of social studies--history or otherwise. 

• The hospital wristband from when I had encephalitis.

• Two match books taken from the hotel Diane and I stayed in on that Sun Valley trip when we were teenagers.

• The sand and sea sample--actual sea in liquid form long since evaporated--given to me by Carl after he went home to California for spring break.  At that point in my life--a nineteen-year-old junior because I was on the three-year plan--I had never seen the Pacific Ocean, so he brought it to me.  A zoology graduate student (I worked part-time in the zoology department my first two years in college), Carl had meticulously labeled the jar:  sand and sea sample, Newport Beach, CA.  I have loved that gift a long time and pretty much all around the world.  It is documented even if the sand will now reside on the other side of the Pacific Ocean!

This is the "after" photo, and obviously there is more winnowing to be done--photographs and personal history stuff mostly.  There is no "before" photo!

Jeju, Ambivalently Speaking

For Memorial Day weekend, my friend Pam and I checked out Jeju, a volcanic island off Korea's southern coast and often touted—to Americans, anyway--as Korea's "Hawaii."  Whether or not I ever visit Jeju again, I am technically suspending judgment on that "Hawaii" analogy for now, even if, in the meantime, I remain largely skeptical.  Yes, Jeju is an island created by volcanic activity.  However, latitude, for sure, negates a tropical designation even if it certainly has a more temperate climate than the rest of Korea.  Despite the fact that palm trees dot coastal areas and Jeju oranges are famous, the Jeju palm trees look more like those found in southern California and Arizona—two places also capable of producing citrus.  So, again, this Hawaii comparison . . . I'm not feeling it.

Granted, my mental and emotional state at the time of the visit ranked a goodly distance below optimal:  weary and school-stressed, I lacked both energy and attitude to embark on a true adventure.  We also spent inordinate amounts of time in airports on both ends of our get-away due to delayed flights.  And, to do justice to the island, one really should rent a car, which we did not—neither one of us very excited at the prospect of engaging in the act of driving, totally based on our Seoul driving experiences, of course . . . and which, to be honest, really should not be used to judge driving in the rest of Korea!

Hence, with this preface and subsequent disclaimers, I shall now present some photos of the trip and allow you to draw your own conclusions:

Here are views of Hamdeok Beach from our hotel room balcony on various days at various times.

Looking back at the seawall running in front of our hotel.

I did quite like the "stone grandfathers,” or dol hareubang, carved from blocks of basalt.  Traditionally placed outside of gates of villages and homes, these distinctive stone gods offered protection against demons traveling between realities. 

I loved this "stone grandfather" telephone booth!

On Saturday, we took a short ferry ride to the small island of Udo, just off the coast of Jeju.  Here are some of the things we saw there.

Apparently Jeju, which for centuries was quite isolated from mainland Korea, developed a matriarchal family structure, especially in Udo and Mara, two out-lying islands.  Haenyeo, or "sea women"—usually the heads of their families who controlled the income-- earned their living from free diving, often all year round in quite cold water without scuba gear in order to harvest abalones, conchs, and other marine products.  Because of their superior ability to resist cold, women were believed to be better at spending all day deep-water diving.  Even if rapid   economic development and modernization have greatly diminished the numbers of haenyeo still actively working, we spotted some in several different places off the coast of Udo.  

Next are bangsataps, towers made by stacking or piling stones, which were believed to ward off evil, provide protection, and promote prosperity.  Quite large ones can be found on certain beaches, in cities and towns, and out in the countryside.

These last photos are from Hamdeok town, where our hotel was located.

So, do tell:  Are you catching a Hawaiian vibe here?!!