By Kim Solar-ae
For greater than 10 years, I’ve wished to dwell within the countryside. This autumn, I had a chance to expertise rural life, staying in Inje, Gangwon Province (the northeastern area of South Korea), for 2 months.
The air in Inje may be very clear as a result of 90 p.c of the county is roofed in forests. Right here, wherever you’re, you’ll be able to see stunning mountains.
In October, I took half in a program wherein contributors might see the evening sky at Mount Hanseok in Garisan-ri, a village in Inje. The chief who guided us over the mountain has climbed mountains rather a lot. I might really feel her inside energy from her not-so-big physique.
Earlier than strolling, we had a dinner cooked by a few of the villagers. Three contributors together with myself had been vegan, and we had been grateful that they ready a scrumptious vegan meal for us.
The aim of this system was to grow to be one with nature in a spot with out synthetic lights. We went up the mountain somewhat by van and walked for about half-hour. Then, once we arrived at a large house within the mountain, every of us selected a spot the place we wished to lie down. We put a mat on the bottom and lay down in a sleeping bag.
A delicate breeze blew. The cool autumn wind touched my cheeks. The half-moon and stars had been shining fantastically within the huge sky. The wind dropped and the evening deepened. Mendacity within the darkness, I might see increasingly more stars that I couldn’t see at first. Though some individuals don’t know they’re shining, all of us are shining like a star.
Some tiny shining issues crossed the sky slowly, and I questioned what they had been. Later, the chief advised us they had been satellites, which might grow to be house particles sooner or later.
After trying on the evening sky within the quiet for about an hour, we stood up once more. Our sleeping luggage had been coated with the evening dew.
We went again to the spot the place we had began the stroll. The chief advised us, “Let’s stroll by the moonlight and starlight.” Her phrases touched me.
Why can we dwell relying solely on synthetic lights like electrical lights? The moon and stars shone our manner down the mountain. After being with out synthetic mild for an hour, we might see the trail even at midnight, as our eyes grew accustomed to the low mild.
When the path began getting steeper, the chief gave every of us a flashlight. After some level, my flashlight stopped operating, perhaps as a result of it was out of batteries. Nonetheless, the lights from different individuals’s flashlights had been ample to prepared the ground. We walked slowly within the average darkness.
It was a treasured expertise to really feel that we’re small members of the universe, embraced by the evening sky filled with stars.
Kim Solar-ae (weblog.naver.com/everythingchanges) wrote “Previous Potato, New Potato” and translated “Little Lord Fauntleroy.”
