{"id":2157,"date":"2021-11-22T07:46:58","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T07:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/?p=2157"},"modified":"2021-12-15T07:59:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T07:59:38","slug":"how-a-young-korean-family-escapes-from-a-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/how-a-young-korean-family-escapes-from-a-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"From Seoul to Jirisan with love"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Foong Pek Yee<\/p>\n

13 Dec, 2021<\/p>\n

THE Kim family left Seoul for the mountains for good.<\/p>\n

It is do- or- die for Kim Geong-Sik, 40, his wife Ryu Sun- Young, 36 and sons Kim Do-Yun and Kim Do- Yeon aged 11 and seven respectively.<\/p>\n

“My husband\u00a0 cannot\u00a0 take the stress\u00a0 in Seoul anymore ,” shares Sun-Young\u00a0 of how stress- a silent killer- forces her family t0 leave the city for good.<\/p>\n

They\u00a0 escape from’ kwarosa’ which in Korean means\u00a0 stress and death from overwork.<\/p>\n

They left for Namwon in Jirisan – about four-hour-drive from Seoul. Jirisan means\u00a0 Jiri Mountains (san is mountain in Korean) .<\/p>\n

Upon arrival, they stay in Sil Sang Temple at the entrance to a farming village.<\/p>\n

And that marks the beginning of their two months of orientation – to adapt to rural living and life as a farmer.<\/p>\n

That was in 2006.<\/p>\n

The Kim family is among thousands of South Koreans who left big cities like Seoul and Busan for the countryside since the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

A non-governmental organisation (NGO) staff, Sin Bi, says the exodus started shortly after the 1997 Asian Financial crisis.<\/p>\n

Many from the cities who lost their business or jobs in the crisis have left for\u00a0 the countryside to start all over again.<\/p>\n

The trend is called\u00a0 “Return to the Farm”, says Sin Bi who is in Namwon to get an update on how people like Sun-Young are doing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sun-Young\u00a0 (right) and Sin Bi peeling persimmons\u00a0 at Snail Guesthouse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But not all are cut out for farming though, says Sin Bi, adding that the government and relevant NGOs have programmes to help them settle down in the countryside.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0 was in Autumn 2018 when I met Sun-Young and Sin Bi.<\/p>\n

Sun -Young and Geong-Sik\u00a0 has ventured into homestay business in their ‘hanok” (traditional Korean house) in 2013 .<\/p>\n

They built another adjacent’ hanok’\u00a0 three years later (2016) as their business picks up.<\/p>\n

Perched on a hillock, their ‘hanok’ named Snail Guesthouse, commands a panoramic view 0f the picturesque surroundings.<\/p>\n

“We want our guests to experience the beauty of a slow-paced lifestyle.<\/p>\n

“The snail moves slowly, making stops along the way,\u00a0 but it never gives up,”\u00a0 says Sun-Young.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Kim family’s han0k-traditional Korean house.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sun-Young says their guests are like a family to them.<\/p>\n

At 52,\u00a0 Geong-Sik is a\u00a0 doting halabuji (grandfather) to their\u00a0 young guests.<\/p>\n

He mingles with their guests in the morning while Sun-Young is busy preparing breakfast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Geong-Sik and a young guest took his dogs -Sundal (white) and Borum (black)- for morning walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The kitchen is a place for guests and Sun-Young to interact and share their culture.<\/p>\n

A photo of the boys when they first arrived at the village in 2006 is displayed prominently\u00a0 in her kitchen.<\/p>\n

A good conversation starter, the photo speaks volumes of the family’s journey.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Do -Yun, 23 and Do- Yeon, 19 were already in college and high school respectively .<\/p>\n

Besides running the guesthouse, Geong – Sik\u00a0 is also\u00a0 a\u00a0 carpenter and has a workshop in the village.<\/p>\n

His\u00a0 creations are made from the wood of apple trees.<\/p>\n

“Our village is called Apple Village because it is famous for its apples,” says a beaming Sun-Young who is proud of her husband’s creations.<\/p>\n

Sun -Young\u00a0 is warm and cheerful.<\/p>\n

A typical day for her is waking up at 5.0O am to prepare traditional Korean breakfast.<\/p>\n

The breakfast comprises a main dish, several side dishes, soup, rice, fruits and snacks is ready by 7.00am.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"a<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sun-Young busy in her kitchen, and Korean traditional breakfast in Snail Guesthouse (top)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much of her waking hours are spent in her kitchen where she cooks and interacts with her guests and friends at the same time.<\/p>\n

The couple’s hard work, self discipline and perseverance has given their family a new lease on life.<\/p>\n

“I cannot imagine if\u00a0 my husband who cannot take the stress anymore continues to stay in Seoul,” recalls Sun-Young.<\/p>\n

While there is rising awareness on the dangers of prolonged stress, many South Koreans have yet been able to overcome this silent killer.<\/p>\n

The current Covid – 19 pandemic saw some 20 delivery men purportedly died from\u00a0 “kwarosa” – stress and death from overwork.<\/p>\n

tagwords:\u00a0 Seoul, stress, Jirisan, hanok, guesthouse, lifestyle, homestay, kwarosa<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Foong Pek Yee 13 Dec, 2021 THE Kim family left Seoul for the mountains for good. It is do- or- die for Kim Geong-Sik, 40, his wife Ryu Sun- Young, 36 and sons Kim Do-Yun and Kim Do- Yeon aged 11 and seven respectively. “My husband\u00a0 cannot\u00a0 take the stress\u00a0 in Seoul anymore ,” … Continue reading “From Seoul to Jirisan with love”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,55],"tags":[86,85,81,87],"class_list":["post-2157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-korean","category-lifestyle-health","tag-business","tag-cities","tag-korean","tag-stress"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2157"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2494,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions\/2494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevillagemyhome.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}