It's more than a week that I'm here, in another almost anonymous Korean village in the southern part, and I have still mixed feelings about me being here. All the feelings are positive, no worry about that. It's a place that could be called almost weird, but calling it that way would be probably offensive for the folk living here, so let's call it amazing. How did I find it? I didn't. I came here through a friend of a friend, I've never met her before but she was willing to help me finding a place to stay and to work. That was the first weir.. ahem, sorry, amazing thing. The second w.. amazing thing was that she told me that here folks are mostly engaged in organic farming. I was used to Korean "organic" farming, but it seems that here they take it seriously. To continue, she is vegetarian. Next, the fields landscape is not ruined by tons of vynil and other garbage. The nearest supermarket is 40 km away. But the most amazing of all is the family she found to host me. I just couldn't believe my ears when she told me that they have a ten years old son who doesn't go to school. I have to admit that for a short moment I tought of a total moron, unable to walk and speak... shame on me. No, they don't send him to school because they don't believe in this educational system. Which is cool. I couldn't agree more. I will never forget an article of a family in Slovenia that doesn't send their kids to school because "..in schools kids have to read stories about dragons and we won't let our children learn about that Satan's creatures...", as the mother said. Of course she had also other arguments, all concerning Satan and God. And that is just stupid.
So I moved on a mountain to live with this great folks and their son, one of the brightest kids I've met. Well behaved, friendly, curious, with a good taste. He likes my cooking. Above all he likes my laptop. Not that he hasn't his own copmuter, but on mine he found the complete Evangerion series and now he is daily struggling through the Japanese audio and the English subtitles.
Actually I live "on my own", in a small building near the main house.
And this is the view from my window. And it's the same all around, but I have only this window.
Through the same window, but from the outside, it looks like this.
With my own kitchen and fireplace for floor heating. Yes, I'm already using it. During the day the temperatures are autumnly nice, sometimes even hot, but the nights are already chilly.
I started working immediately. Different works. Building a toilet. Finishing a porch roof. Field work. And, surprise surprise, making a floor heating system. With my host as boss, of course, not alone. The best part was that we had to dismantle the old one, almost 100 years old, to make a new one. I can't tell you how much more you learn from this rather than from just making one. And I also learned a few new tips and tricks, that aren't used in the northern mountains. Clearly I will not write about them, they are our trade secrets, you know.
But I could write novels about the people living here. I didn't manage to eat a single dinner at home because I'm invited somewhere every day. Sometimes it's related to work, sometimes to pleasure. In two days I'm having more than ten people here for dinner, I promised a Mediterranean menu and I fear I will have to borrow my hosts kitchen and dinning room. Yes, I had to go to that 40 km away supermarket to buy spaghetti, but it's worth to entertain those who were filling my fridge with food in the first days, when I was still a bit lost. Yes, I had to pay quite a lot but I just can't believe that I actually earn more here than with slavery work. In a relative way, because here I'm working less. Mostly I have troubles because everyone here is so cooled and relaxed. They just keep telling me to slow down. One I had to be unpluged to leave the tools and have a break. I only have to learn Korean to realize how easy is making friends here.
The day I arrived I was jokingly told that they'll do their best to settle me down here. I laughed with them. Now I'm not laughing anymore, I just hope this dream can become true. Even if I miss my princess, she can come here for any holidays!
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