Jeong in the Mountains

My first weekend at my homestay I was informed that on Saturday we would be meeting some friends in the mountains. I asked what I should wear and was told that I would get dirty and wet, there would be mosquitos, and we would be in the mountains all day so I would need to wear lots of sunscreen and bring a visor. Based on my clues, I thought that we would be hiking. My host mother made eggs and toast for breakfast before our "big day" and we left to meet the crew. I was introduced to about twenty people that all congreated together outside of the apartment. One of the men in the group handed out maps with a marked trail and we got into the car to head out.

We drove in a caravan for a while and eventually we pulled up into a grass area between two mountains and parked the car. My host father looked at the map and said, "we're here." When he left the map in the car, I was suspicious that we might not be hiking. One of the cars held lots of coolers that we quickly unloaded and carried over to a picnic sight. The kids took off their shoes and headed for a stream nearby to play.
Within a few minutes the coolers were unloaded and there, in the middle of two mountains, the women started to prepare bowls of kimchi and boil soup on portable stoves, while the men started heating up grills and stones. For the next hour, a huge lunch was prepared and I was introduced to everyone from neighbors to the priest of the Catholic Church that my family belongs to. Lots of food was prepared and there in the middle of the valley we took off our shoes, climbed up onto tables and ate sitting with our legs crossed. The men were at one table and the women were at another. Before we ate we said Grace and soju cups were passed out. It was noon on a Saturday and I was at a cookout with the priest and my host family. Why wouldn't we be taking shots of soju and drinking beer?

We did not end up drinking very much, but we did play some drinking games as a group. My friend Aaron says, that if you can dream it, it can happen in Korea. I would have never guessed that I would have so much fun playing games with a bunch of church ladies in the valley of two mountains. That is where jeong is created.