love

For New Years I visited my uncle and aunt in Gunsan, a small town along the Yellow Sea. Surprisingly, my grandmother was there and so it was a reunion of some sort. The last time I had seen them was back in 1995 when they visited America. My two cousins were also there. During my stay, we were confined mostly to their home because of a blizzard. This was my first experience with that much snow. It snowed about 8 inches on Friday night. I now understand why people hate snow. 

Since we were home most of the time there, we watched T.V., caught up with each other's lives (with my broken Korean of course), ate, and ate some more. Everyone was convinced that I was starving myself. They had never seen such an emaciated human in their life. They kept feeding me. I think I had at least four meals on Saturday not including the snacks in between. Feeling rather insecure after they almost convinced that I was, I weighed myself. After some calculations (they use kilograms here, not pounds) I figured I had lost close to 15 pounds since I first got to Korea.

All my stories have some sort of connection with a word that I learn and this story is definitely not exempt from it. There is a word called "jeong" (情). The Japanese and Chinese also use this word. It means "feelings." In Korean though, this word goes beyond the generic meaning of feeling. It can mean love, sacrifice, affection, passion, compassion, how well you click with someone, desires... It is used between a mother and child, the mother sacrificing her needs for her child. It is used between friends who share much in common and much of their lives together. It is used when one devotes their time and effort into a person or a project and they become attached to it. It is the connection between family members and their devotion and love to them no matter what the circumstances are. It is an extremely strong word and used sparingly. 

Though I do not know my family here in Korea very well, they treated me as though I had been a long time member. It is that "jeong" that comes into play. They worried about my health, kept feeding me, cried when they saw me go, and sent me away with a LOT of money because of "jeong." I think I understand this word now.