정  – combination of compassion, empathy, and bond on a very soulful level. It is a connection that is formed between people.

정, pronounced Jung, is a word that doesn’t exactly have an English equivalent, and when I learned it in my korean class last semester, I didn’t fully understand what it meant. Now I do. Jung isn’t just a word – it’s an experience.  It’s a feeling.

This past weekend, I traveled to Jeonju, South Korea.. about a three hour bus ride from Seoul. I wasn’t too excited for it. To be honest, I was just exhausted at this point. Our program had us go go go nonstop from the moment I landed in Korea, and all I really wanted was one solid day to rest and overcome my jetlag. Yet here we were, off to Jeonju!  So drink an extra cup of coffee and pack your bags!

I hadn’t even heard of Jeonju prior to this excursion. Aside from Seoul, I had only heard of a handful of other cities in Korea.

BUT LET ME TELL YOU. JEONJU WAS WONDERFUL. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS WONDERFUL. So many people were dressed in 한복 (hanbok), korean traditional dress. There was a traditional village, side by side with the modern buildings. We even went to a Buddhist Temple, Paper Museum, and learned traditional korean drum & dance… all probably sound incredibly boring to you but I promise it wasn’t. Not even a little. I loved everything about Jeonju!

But what I loved the most was the atmosphere, and the people. It was just entirely different from Seoul. Like night and day. Seoul is great, and I love it a lot. But it’s crazy busy to the point where it can be overwhelming. People are all on a mission. They’re going to work, they’re going clubbing, they’re going shopping. They energetic and busy and all over the place at every hour of the day.

But Jeonju is more slow pace. They have smaller shops. People are out and about just for the sake of it. I referred to them as the “little Jeonju people” at one point.. because that’s what they were to me! Just sweet little Jeonju people going about their day. The city (if it can even be called a city?) was so cute and quiet and lovely.

On Friday night for dinner, my group of friends and I were struggling to find a place to eat… which never really happens in Seoul. In Seoul, you turn down one street and there is ten food places. You turn down another and there’s fifteen more. In Jeonju, the food places were a bit more spread out and hidden. When we were passing by one, an 아줌마 (ahjumma – older lady) came out of the restaurant and gestured us towards her. We quickly learned that she didn’t speak any english, but she was so sweet and excited to see a group of foreigners that we really couldn’t say no.

We entered and saw that we had to take off our shoes and sit on the floor at one of the low set tables. I love when I encounter experiences like this. It’s cool to come across parts of a culture that are so different from my own, and I’m always eager to give it a try.

We ate bulgogi, which is marinated beef and happens to be my all time favorite food in the history of ever (yes, ever). I was stoked when I saw they had it. When we finally got all our food, I was more than ready to dig in!

That’s when the 아줌마 came up next to me, a huge grin on her face, and began to prep my food for me. I tried to tell her I was okay, I didn’t need help, but before I knew it she was holding the food up to my mouth and literally feeding me.  When I took a bite, she laughed loudly and slapped my bum. I kid you not. I feel as though in that moment I gained a korean grandmother and all was right in the world.

That, my friends, is 정. We were also given free soda drinks for dinner without even asking, and they didn’t charge us any extra for the extra bowls of rice we ate. 정 정 정!

Ahhhh, Jeonju. I was very sad to leave so soon, but I will be back before I return to America. I miss the little Jeonju people already!

More information on the concept of Jung if you are interested!

Location: Jeonju, South Korea