Well-Seasoned October

Every year at this time, when the air turns sharp and the sun begins its slow ascent into a higher sky, I feel lucky and enlivened. The month of October is replete with change, but at the same time so clement and consistent. I believe you can go almost anywhere in the world in October and the weather will be near perfect. For me, it wasn't just the weather that was near perfect this month, but more how enlivened I became while celebrating my first autumn in Korea amidst ancient dwellings and villages with new-found friends, and how lucky I was to be tucked away in a colorful Tea house & Pension with 2 long-time loved ones from my grad school family.

Well Seasoned October - Sugar & Spice

Cruising the curvaceous mountain roads of South Korea's northeast province in Heejin's new VW Golf, sunroof open, Jason Mraz on the stereo, we three friends fled our cities and shed our stresses, and wound our way through the cayenne pepper reds, gingery oranges, and saffron yellows of Hongcheon county. With less than 48 hours to swallow up the smorgasbord of colors that the Korean fall season offers, a "girlfriends' get-away" to Gangwando province was the perfect autumn indulgence.

The spicy stained landscape gave way to our first delicious destination -- a gorgeous Gingko forest. This spectacular sight was conceived and cultivated 25 years ago when a man whose wife had become ill and bed-ridden planted 2500 Gingko trees on his property so she could watch his love for her grow into their golden years. The story goes that over the years, both the man's wife and the trees grew stronger and thus, this familial forest became a symbol of an everlasting, natural love. A heartwarming story surrounded in seasonal splendor, it gave a whole new meaning to "fall in love". It turns out that we weren't the only sentimental spectators here. Because the Gingko forest was opened to the public for the first time ever this year, we shared only a short stroll amidst the over-crowded ochre aura before sampling some other more singular sensations of the season.


Looking to spend the rest of our girlfriends' get-away as "ladies of leisure", we headed further into the hills to claim our spot at a place called Pekoe. Knowing my passion for tea, Jo had arranged not only for afternoon tea here, but also for some recreation, repasts and a room for the night. Getting right to it, Heejin and I engaged in a friendly game of badmitton; a game extremely popular with Koreans and one that I have not played since I was twelve. You might assume that she beat the birdie out of me, but you would be wrong! On a net-less court of gravel the shuttlecock shot back and forth while Jo recorded the pictures and points that proved my triumph. This cross-cultural competition of flicks, drives, kills, lobs and drops left us all parched and ready for a communal pot of tea.


Stepping inside the tea room was like turning back time and taking flight to a country cottage somewhere in Cotswolds. At the door, a fat cat perched on a velvet ottoman purred peacefully while sounds of Chopin sashayed around the skirted and lace-topped tables in the tiny room. A pristine wooden hutch filled with Wedgwood china, cobalt blue dessert cups and dotted with decorative pillar candles stood shyly against the only wall without windows. Opposite was a robust roll top desk that made the perfect self-serv coffee station, and stored stacks of board games in its cabinet below. The only way in which I was made aware that I had not actually traveled outside of this era or area was by scanning the shelves lined with paperbacks and magazines to browse and borrow and not finding one English title in the lot. Luckily, I had brought along one of my own.

After taking tea, we took to our room for a respite before dinner. Once again, the detailed decor gave me a sense of time-travel. Only this virtual venture was to a small chalet in Victorian France. Enveloped in this amethyst attic, we whiled away the l'heure bleue (twilight) talking, reading, and posing on the chaise longue as "ladies of leisure" are want to do. Only after proper preening did we emerge from our purple palace and proceed to the patio dining area for our evening meal.
I was told that we would be having a Korean bar-be-que dinner, which is a typical, if not a traditional style of dining here. However, this fall feast was an excellent example of the owners' efforts to 'fuse' a more perfect union of customs and cultures in Korea. While we sipped on an Italian red, our feet freely dangling from our chairs, a trio of common meats (pork, chicken and sausage) and their surprising sidekicks of chestnuts and flour tortillas sizzled atop a Webber grill. An individual place setting accompanied by Japanese wood chopsticks was precisely arranged in front of each of us as we silently watched the tableside preparation of our main course. When our Korean host/cook/server was satisfied the food was ready for presentation, he sank the teeth of his tongs into a plump piece of pork and holding it between the blades of his scissors, he began to shear slices of it onto each of our plates. He then explained in Korean and demonstrated in universal body language the Korean way of consuming this kind of cuisine. After covering the Webber, topping off our wine glasses and bowing away from our table, he bid us a "Bon Apetite" and disappeared into the darkness, never to be seen again (that night).

As we drove back through the kaleidescope that is the Korean autumn, we realized that while we originally set out to just get a taste of the season, we actually managed to marinade ourselves in sugar and spice and everything nice -- that's what this little girlfriends' get-away was made of.

Well-Seasoned October -- A dash of Andong

With her usual glory, Gloria swerved into the circle drive of my school and popped open the trunk of her car so I could load my bag. Two more stops to pick up Mia and John and we were on our way to 26 hours of action-packed adventure in the self-proclaimed Capital City of Korean Spiritual Culture -- Andong. As we headed due east, the bright morning sun heated the car and the four of us shared breads from Paris Baguette and homemade plum juice and coffee while we chatted away the kilometers to our first destination -- the Andong traditional market. This lively and spirited "shopping mall" sells everything from underwear to octopus and has wing after wing of time-honored foods such as Jjimdak chicken,which is why we roosted there, cooped up at a little table pigging out on this popular dish.

Fueled and fired up for the rest of this fall excursion, we 4 teachers headed straight for the home of Confucian studies and academies during the Joseon Dynasty -- Dosan Seowan and Ochungunia-ri. In its day, Dosan Seowon served two purposes: education and commemoration. The site was well known in Korea as one of the leading academies and was home to the Toegye School of Thought for over 400 years. As a student of life, for life, I was moved by Toegye's own words on education, which resonated inside me and now illuminate my "desktop" at school. A great scholar indeed!


After a brief stop at Andong Dam and a walk across the Wolryung Bridge, it was time to eat again -- yet another famous dish from this area, Heotjesabap, which is a variety of bibimbap, served with soy sauce instead of the gochujang (hot pepper paste). The term Heotjesabap literally means "dishes for fake jesa", which are ceremonies for death anniversaries and ancestor veneration held in Korea. In my opinion, the food was to die for...for real!

Having covered countless kilometers and enjoyed endless activities, we were all ready to call it a day and get to the Gotaek, a traditional-style Korean residence of the upper-class during the Joseon Dynasty. Unfortunately, Gloria's GPS did not register the Gotaek address, so we called the owners for a rescue. While the car crouched motionless in the blue-black night of the countryside, our eight eyes searched widely for some sign of life. Within 2 minutes, a set of beaming headlights brightened our spirits and our bed-ready bodies. It turned out that we were less than 1 kilometer away from hitting the hay!

On the floor inside the women's quarters, morning had broken with the sounds of soft snoring punctuated by nearby crescendos of "cock-a-doodle-doo" (or as they say in Korean: coke-ee-yo, coke-ee-yo). As the 3 of us ladies lay there laughing about the 'universal language' of animals and trying our tongues at the foreign phrases of farmyard friends, we heard a rustling outside and thought we had managed to call one of the countryside creatures near to us. I slowly opened the creaking rice-paper window to see what kind of animal had been lured into our multilingual morning...but alas, it was onlyJohn (a very brave-to-be-traveling-with-3 women, Chinese-Canadian teacher) tip-toeing into a misty patch of chrysanthemums to take pictures!

On that cool, quiet morning as the four of us strolled the grounds through the pale, thinned-out light, walking off our breakfast that was fit for kings, it was easy to see why the Gwon Seong-baek Gotaek is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site (and one of the most picturesque places I've ever been). This ancient enclave was dotted with chogajips & giwajips, and dense with now nearly naked chestnut, persimmon & date trees. Sesame stalks and red pepper plants stood drying in a dormant field that foreshadowed winter. Streaks of smoke from a neighbor's fireplace rose above a field of rice sheaths slumped over in seasonal slumber, while a party of iridescent magpies carelessly chattered their way through the trees. For me, this sensory scene with all its vibrancy was actually a kind of kaleidoscope of tranquility. A much appreciated respite before tearing into the main tourist attractions in Andong -- Byeongsan Seowon (a Confucian School), Hahoe Maeul (a folk village), and Buyongdae (cliff overlooking the folk village).

Established by esteemed Confucian scholars to pay tribute to the memory of Seong-nyong Yu who was well-respected for his writings and personality, Byeongsan Seowon enjoyed many freedoms under the Joseon rule, as in students and scholars of this Confucian school were exempt from taxation and other expenses. The academy stands sentinel over the Nakdong-gang river and like a folding screen around the school, the Byeongsan mountains both protect and add a serene beauty to the once academic arena.

Hahoe Maeul is a well-visited traditional folk village, which has the shape of a lotus flower, or two interlocking comma shapes. Hahoe Village (translates loosely to "Village Enveloped by Water") and was robust with cultural delights and scenic sights. We ambled our way along the alleys of the village until we reached the renowned "ribbon-wishing tree" where we stopped to tie our paper-prayers on the giant Zelkova tree. From there, we wound our way onto a playground where we released our inner children to soar above the sandpit on massive swings, jump with jubilee on the nol-ttwigi boards (a kind of Korean seesaw), and lick up ice cream cones like we were 10 again. Perhaps the pinnacle of this exquisitely scenic sight was from atop the magnificent Buyongdae cliff to which we took a small boat ride across the river and climbed the 64 meters for a panoramic view of the village.



This first venture into fall festivities with friends certainly proved my theory of October enchantment, and truly spiced up my favorite season. To enjoy a full slide show of photos, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/kristinaeisenhower/AndongAdventure#