Leaving the hustle and bustle in the big city, young people change their weekend lifestyle

After finishing a busy working week in the city, Park So-yeon (28 years old, yoga instructor in Seoul) left the city to a house located near Gyeryong Mountain, South Chungcheong Province, about a distance from Seoul. 140 km to the southwest.

This is her friend’s parents house where there is no convenience store or supermarket. Here, she practices relaxation yoga and does housework. She also spends time exploring life style countryside – life style completely different from her weekdays in the city.

Sharing with The Korean Times, Park So-Yeaon said, “As a yoga instructor, I need to travel a lot on the subway to meet students. I am easily stressed and exhausted on the subway. crowded, because I don’t have my own space. I spend 4 to 5 days in the city and 2 days in the countryside to balance my life. It makes me feel like I’m living, not just existing. continue to live like this.”

She added, “I feel grateful to live in the city because I can easily buy food, meet friends and be part of a yoga network in Seoul. But here I often feel life. There’s something missing in my life, and I want to explore nature.”

Before starting to live life style Harmony between urban and rural areas, Park has traveled extensively to escape the urban life that makes her always stressed and tired. Finding the right accommodation for each trip also took her a lot of time and energy.

Realizing traveling is just a temporary escape, she decides to look for a unique place to spend the weekend there. The ideal location she chose should not be too far from the capital Seoul, must be close to nature so that she can easily travel between the two places.

Life style This is often called “5-do 2-chon” in Korean – and is interpreted as “5 days in the city, 2 days in the countryside”.

Recently, this phrase has been used mainly by urban people in their 50s who are interested in rural life and want to be farming in retirement. However, life style “5-do 2-chon” is increasingly popular among young people.

And Choi Byeol (32 years old, a producer of MBC) produced a video about her journey to buy a 115-year-old house in the southwestern city of Gimje, north Jeolla province, about 200km from Seoul, and took 1 hour. ,5 hours driving. Here she “started” her life from zero.

Here, Choi works and communicates remotely with her colleagues in Seoul.

In a recent interview, she told The Korea Times, “One of the reasons I wanted to move here and take some time off was that I wanted to write about myself and focus my energy on myself.” .

Experts say that life style This new trend reflects young people increasingly looking for ways to separate life from work and know how to balance life more.

“The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought many changes in the way of working. Many companies allow their employees to work remotely or work from home, new jobs connected to the economy. the platform has also appeared. Through the change of technology, people now work without having to meet in person,” said Jeon Young-soo, professor of Global Socio-Economic Studies at Hanyang University. shall.

Professor Jeon Young-soo shared, “The phenomenon of ‘5-do 2-chon’ reflects the change in the way of thinking of the young generation, from which people can have a basis to choose where to live and work. Moreover, we may see fewer people moving to the countryside after leaving the city. Instead, many people are accepting. life style This new is traveling between the city and the countryside as an affordable option. This change has happened before, but the pandemic has made it stronger.”