Apsan Park's Many Paths

I try to climb some of Apsan Mountain on one weekend day. It is, after all, right behind my house. The climb is rigorous, but the view is amazing. I like to exercise, and I've never been one for gyms, so the presence of a mountain behind my house is a godsend.

Every week I get puzzled at some point on my climb. I've always been kind of bad with directions, but even I am not so absent minded that I can't get the path on the sixth time I take it. I have been wondering what's going on, and it finally hit me. People are bushwacking new paths! Every weekend I see someone chopping wood in the park. At first I thought that everyone was fueling a stove or fireplace. I've finally figured out that this is recreation!

If I were to choose one defining characteristic for Koreans (a fallacy for any group of 30 million people, but indulge me), it would be that Koreans never half ass anything. This is evident at every 30 plate lunch spread I walk in on (my peanut butter sandwich is so sad in comparison, but luckily Koreans don't let people eat alone either), every drunken man I see fall face first on the pavement, pick himself up, and head for another bar, and the three ring circus that is my grocery store on Saturdays. This is a mixed blessing. The strength, determination, and sheer chutzpah it must have taken to pull the country from post-civil-war shambles to a seat on the G20 in 50 years boggles the mind. People who lived in Korea in the 70's warned us of primitive conditions before we came over, and instead we found talking appliances. On the other hand, English teachers I have encountered assure me that Korean momzillas would eat American momzillas for breakfast. (Momzillas being the pushy maniacs preparing their elementary age children, who have never seen the outdoors, for the LSAT). North Koreans are certainly not doing communism half assed, and have an old school Stalinist dictatorship—complete media control, maniacal devotion to one leader, widespread imprisonment of dissenters, the whole nine yards.

Anyways, back to Apsan park. It's not enough for Koreans to climb the rigorous path up the mountain. There is exercise equipment at the base of the path, and a hula hoop and push up device halfway up. I believe they throw in wood chopping and bushwacking for upper body exercise. This is bad news for the trees, but impressive to me. That climb up the mountain is, in fact, too much for me. I have never made it to the top.

*For fans of trees: the lack of suburbs in Korea is very good for trees. It balances out, I imagine.