one pear, many stairs, and some ridiculous audacity

every time i go hiking, i'm reminded of why i love it so damn much. the trees, the earth, the fresh air, the birds, the insects, my heart pumping, the magnificence of being OUTSIDE, alive and healthy.

unlike other hikes in and around seoul, dobongsan was incredibly straightforward, as in, straight up and down an abundance of steps! no joke. stairs. steps. one after the other. earth steps. wood steps. combination earth and wood steps. rock steps. more rock steps. not for the faint of heart or for those with incredibly weak knees. it was of course, worth every step. (hardy har har!) the views were, as they always are, stunning and exhilarating!

a few trees--maples of course!--showed obvious signs of the change in seasons:

overlooking seoul:



an apple smile:

post lunch bliss:

red, brown, orange, blue:

descending stairs:

sometimes i forget how uncommon it is for native koreans to see a younger korean woman hiking alone. while hiking is considered korea's number 1 past time, many hikers usually go in groups. of course, there are solo hikers, but they consist mostly of older korean men. because of this, i am rather noticeably different. it's not unusual for me to go hiking alone. some days, i quite prefer it, actually. i like changing my pace according to my mood. i like taking longer or shorter breaks. i like taking my time when observing and/or capturing an image. being surrounded by nature, helps me find clarity and serenity...things usually best done alone.

this was not my first time hiking solo, so, it wasn't unsurprising when a couple of older korean men approached me with questions, such as "you're not korean (native), are you?" "where are you from?" and "you must really like hiking?"

on my way down the mountain, a 50 year old korean man asked me what path i took to get to the top...and in all honesty, i had no idea how to explain (in korean) the name of the trail because 1) i forgot and 2) trying to explain the track in the korean vocabulary i did know would just take too damn long and i didn't feel like it was really worth the energy...you must realize, my legs were quivering on the way down!

so then dude asks me if ate my lunch at the summit and i replied, yes!

dude: did you eat everything?
me: yes, i did.
dude: oh you shouldn't do that! you have to save some food for later!
me: ah...(realizing that i hadn't eaten everything!) i still have half an apple.
dude: i have a pear! shall we sit and take a break?
me: (in my head, i'm quickly weighing out the situation. if i say yes, he might be a weird-O. if i say no, i'm turning down a pear and some random hilarity and a chance to practice korean...) uh, sure!

we set out his little blanket, he took out his fold-able and extremely portable chair.

dude: do you know how to peel fruit?
me: yes, i do.
dude: why don't you peel this pear? (asian pear=slightly bigger than a softball)

and so he hands me the pear and his swiss army knife.

me: (stunned. dude! did you just invite me to join you in eating your pear and now you're expecting me to peel your pear?!?) ok.

so i set out about peeling this bigass piece of fruit and am trying--TRYING--to do this rather gracefully. meanwhile, i'm thinking, is this really happening? oh that's right, yes it is happening. i'm in korea. this place knows many and yet no boundaries.
dude: you're good at peeling fruit! you peel it very prettily.
me: (thinking, wtf?!?) uh, thank you.
dude: fruit tastes better when it's peeled by a woman.
me: (thinking, oh shit. did he really say that?!? oh yeah. he did. we're still in korea. i'm speechless.) uh...

he took the pear and cut it up into eatable pieces. the pear was delightfully sweet and juicy but my awkwardness-gauging radar was showing quiet signs of distress. and that's when he asked me if i was good at singing and dancing.

uh-oh. (this is not where i thought the conversation would go.)

in my boldness (and also as a way to quickly end that part of the dialogue) i said, "yes, i'm very good at singing." he invited me to sing karaoke but thankfully, i already had plans so i politely declined. (YIKES!)

after we finished the pear, cleaned up, folded the blanket and his chair, we hiked the rest of the trail down...i would've liked to have taken a different path or made an excuse to escape him, but, at that point, i knew that that wasn't likely to happen. he was a talker! so i nodded and added my "mmhmm's" every now and then so he would think that i was listening. and, i was listening, but, i was also thinking...one of the things that i couldn't believe he had done, before our descent was to blatantly share his opinions on my body. that is also very korean, but, dude! really? really? SERIOUSLY? he told me that i should lose weight and actually poked me in the stomach to show me where i should focus my efforts.

i'm chuckling now at his audacity and radical honesty! i chalk up a lot of his behavior to cultural differences. but, BUT. he was also rude--it's one thing to say something, but, to invade my space by physically touching me, even if it was a poke, is insulting. and guess what old man! i'm not fat! and guess what else! women carry more fat than men--they're supposed to! HMMHPF!