I am on my third week in Jeonju and the place is slowly becoming more familiar, the coffeeshops in every corner, the almost empty streets even though it’s rush hour, the e-mart that closes every second Sunday, the acquiescent look of people.
If you don’t speak the language (like me), Jeonju can be a resolute place for you. It’s hard to start a conversation and even harder to sustain one. It’s like singing a very familiar song and finding out later that you’re the only one who knows the lyrics. I live my days practically trying hard to mime everything when I am conversing with a local.Eating in a restaurant is even harder. My knowledge in Hangul is as basic as knowing what common books have to offer to foreigners who are desperate in getting both the accent and the pronunciation right.
Jeonju, which is four hours away from the capital city of Korea, is like a mix of both the fast-paced life of the metropolis and the placidness feel of living in the countryside. There’s more streets than there’s more people. Walking around the area becomes a pleasure especially at night when the wind is cold.
raytsbaron 