End of Week 1!

I’m less than an hour away now from wrapping up my first week at the office and being free for the weekend. Having now been in Seoul for just over a week, I couldn’t be happier about the ease of my transition. I have a great apartment, a cell phone, a (so far) good job, a small network of American friends, and a couple of Korean friends.

The weeks been fairly uneventful, which explains why I haven’t really felt the need to update my blog since Monday night. On Tuesday I had lunch with my boss and a few of my senior co-workers. It was much easier than Mondays lunch, as this time everyone spoke great English. During lunch, I talked mainly with my cubicle neighbor, Mr. Moon. We found common conversational ground when I brought up sports and found that Mr. Moon was somewhat of a Braves fan back in the heyday when we had Glavine, Maddox, and Smoltzy in our line-up.

The rest of my lunches have re-united me with my fellow interns, and fostered more sadly comedic attempts to communicate. I look at it as a positive though, as it has helped me foster friendships with some native Koreans and will force me to really develop my language skills.

Today after lunch we talked over coffee about music. They asked who my favorite artists were and I listed off Adele, Mumford and Sons, and Muse. They had heard of Muse and Adele, but I guess British folk rock still has a ways to go before it penetrates into Asian culture.

After listening to Adele’s single, “Rolling in the Deep,” Lee asked if I had ever heard of Brian McKnight. I said I had not and so he pulled out his phone and played “Still.” I could not hold back my laughter. If you were like me and had no idea who this guy is, I encourage you to type “Brian McKnight Still” into youtube and listen to the song. I suppose that if Brian ever loses his fan base of desperate 12 year-old girls and lonely-hearted middle-aged women, then he can still rely on young Korean men to fill the void.

After I returned from lunch today I wrapped up my second report. This one was a review of another lengthy document, this time overviewing India’s trade policies. I took more time on this one. I don’t think I necessarily did a bad job on my first, but my boss, Mr. Yoo, requested that I give him more detail and provide a more complete picture of the policies. I’ve worked hard the past four days and am now ready to turn in a lengthy 7 page prose discussing India’s successes in the services and manufacturing sectors thanks to trade liberalization and the challenges it faces in propping up its struggling agricultural industry and building up its infrastructure to ensure continued growth (I shortened the title a bit before I turned it in). It’s not the most interesting work I’ve ever done, but it is at least intellectually stimulating and if I ever go back to Tech and take a class on Indian trade policy I think I’ll make an A.

Tomorrow morning at 9AM I will be returning to Kotra’s facilities to embark on my first company outing. We are leaving for an overnight stay at a Buddhist Temple. I was told to wear athletic shoes so that I could “climb a mountain” as well as bring a change of clothes, a towel, and a toothbrush. Other than this I have no idea what to expect, but I am pretty excited, and I will be sure to discuss the adventure in detail when I return on Sunday night.

On a final note I would like to wish Mariah Wolek a (day late) Happy Birthday! I hope you had a good one Mariah, it was great getting to talk to you, Nic, Pep, and the kids on Skype!

First Day at Work

I went to Itaewon and the World Cup Stadium yesterday, and I also made some new friends, but for my post today I want to focus on my first day of work!

I showed up at 8:30 and wasn't sure exactly where to go, so I approached the receptionist who spoke almost no English but managed to find out that I needed to go to the 8th floor and take a right. I rode the elevator up with nerves and anticipation swimming around in my belly. I got to the 8th floor and took a right towards the Information Development department.

I walked into a large room of cubicles filled with people working vigorously on their computers. I began to walk down the aisle, feeling quite awkward and hoping that someone would notice me. Pretty soon someone did. A young man stood up and waved me over. I was directed over to the desk of Mr. Han, the head of Korea's Information Development Department. Mr. Han smiled, stuck out his hand and said "Welcome to Korea." He seemed like a kind enough man. He pointed to a table and had me sit down for a quick chat.

"Do you speak any Korean?" he asked.
"Very little" I replied. To be honest, I'm almost embarrassed to say I've studied Korean for a year while I'm over here. Despite two intense semesters of study, I can only catch clips of words in Korean sentences. Only a couple of times have I managed to grasp a full sentence (even the easy ones).

Mr. Han introduced me to my team (the trade information development team) and the head of the team, Mr. Yoo. Mr. Yoo pointed to a cubicle and I took a seat.

Well, here I am I thought. I pulled out my laptop, and powered it on, feeling a bit odd and having no idea what I was actually supposed to be doing. After a few uncomfortable minutes Mr. Yoo came to my cubicle and told me we were going to get coffee. "Great" I said.

We went down to the basement floor and Mr. Yoo bought me and him a couple of drinks. We then sat down and began talking about my assignment for the day. He pulled out a thick stack of papers held together by a binder clip and handed them to me. "Trade Policy Review. Report by the Secretariat. United States" was printed on the cover. It was about 150 pages of small print.

"We will be focusing on trade with the US, India, and China," explained Mr Yoo. "Today I want you to read through this report and focus on subsidies, anti-dumping measures, etc."
"Can do." I replied.

I never though I'd be relieved to be given the task of reading a 150 page report on Trade Policy, but I was happy to at least feel like I was going to have something useful to occupy myself with on my first day.

I went back upstairs to my cubicle and began reading through the document, underlining key information, and taking notes on a separate notepad. The paper actually touched on a lot of the things I had studied in my International Political Economy class in the Spring, so I somewhat enjoyed the read.

I was about 50 pages in when Mr. Yoo approached me again, it was going on lunchtime and he instructed me that I would be having lunch with Mrs Kim and some other colleagues today. He pointed to the back of a young girl who I assumed was Mrs Kim.
"OK, great!" I replied.

I went back to work for the time being and a few minutes later a heard an "Anyunghaseyo" over my shoulder and turned around to see a girl standing ready to go to lunch.

I stood up smiled, and introduced myself to her. She smiled back and began rattling off in Korean. "More slowly please," I explained, "I'm not very good at Korean."

I had heard that nearly all young people in Korea speak English and I assumed that she would simply switch over to The Queen's and we'd have a nice conversation. Instead she simply busted out an embarrassed laugh and rattled off some more Korean. "Well," I thought, "This might be interesting."

"Sorry, she doesn't speak a lot of English." Said a voice to my left. "Let's eat." I was relieved, it was another one of the interns, another young girl named Yuna, and it seemed that she would be capable of English. I was soon proven wrong however. Apparently, "Sorry, she doesn't speak a lot of English. Let's eat" was pretty close to the extent of Yuna's English.

The three of us struggled through a bit of conversation. I learned that Mrs Kim (whose first name was given so quickly I still do not know it) and Yuna had been interning with Kotra for a few months each and that we would be joined by a third intern. "Does he speak English?" I asked, it was my last hope.

They responded by looking at each other and bursting out in a fit of girlish giggles, something they had done a number of times since we'd met. "Guess that's a no" I said with a chuckle.

Soon I met the final fellow intern, a guy my age named Lee. Lee's English was pretty much limited to one phrase, "You OK?" which he asked me about every ten minutes.

I didn't mind that they spoke almost no English, they were some of the kindest people I'd met since being in Korea. Despite the language barrier, I could tell that they legitimately wanted to befriend me, a great thing to have on your first day at work.

They laughed as I fumbled with my stainless steel chopsticks. In America I considered myself to be an above-average chopstick user, apparently this is not the case in Korea. Yuna tried showing me how to hold the chopsticks a little bit higher to help me out, it only made things worse and I was soon fumbling not only my rice, but my kimchi and everything else on my plate. My fellow interns took great pleasure in watching my plight.

After lunch I was asked if I liked coffee and chocolate. "Neh" I replied (yes). We went back to the snack bar in the basement where Mr. Yoo had given me my assignment. Lee turned to me and said that he would buy me coffee because it was my first day. It was a very nice gesture.

We sat down together and drank coffee and attempted to have a conversation. I was able to impress my fellow interns when I showed them that I could read the hangul (Korean alphabet) on the label of my coffee.

Lee got my telephone number and then said "if you need question, you ask me. because we men!" There was an awkward pause and then all four of us erupted into laughter.

After an eventful lunch break, it was time to head back to work. I sat back down at my cubicle and picked up the article. After a few more hours of reading and note taking, I had digested the gist of the thing and went to Mr. Yoo. "What did you find?" he asked.

I pulled out my notes and began elaborating on some of the key data figures I had pulled out.

"Great," said Mr Yoo, "Can you write me a report with documentation."
"Yes sir" I replied.

It was the first time I was writing a report for anything other than a class. I began to wonder, how do I format this thing, and what is Mr. Yoo even looking for?

I decided that one thing was probably universal amongst businessmen worldwide, numbers. I attempted to write a concise report with as much quantitative evidence as possible. Summarizing a 150 page article into a briefing wasn't an easy task, but I was determined to do my best. The last thing I want is for my boss not to take me seriously for the next 6 months.

I quickly became obsessed with my work, as is habit for me, and when 6PM hit (the official end to the day) I wasn't ready to go. I wanted to finish my report and turn it in before I left. Fortunately, I apparently wasn't the only one who felt this way. Unlike America where people start inching towards the door at a quarter till, every Korean in the office remained working furiously even after the clock hit 6. Around 6:15, the interns finally stood up to leave. They walked to everyone on the team and bid them a farewell, it was a long phrase that sounded familiar to "Anyunghaseyo," but a little different.

Kim looked at me and asked if I was ready to go, I was torn between my work and leaving with my new friends. Unable to pull myself away I gave her a smile and told her that I was going to stay and wrap up my article, I hope she understood.

I stayed for another half an hour and finished up my report. It was 3 pages single spaced, and I considered it to be decent enough, so I emailed it to Mr. Yoo and gathered my things to leave. I leaned over to my cubicle neighbor, Mr. Moon, and asked him "when the interns left, what was it they said to everyone before they left?"

"Anyunghihashipundeyo." Is what I made from his reply. "It means I will see you tomorrow," he said. Despite still being jet lagged and exhausted from a long day, I decided to go for it.

I walked up to one of the senior members of my team, bowed, and said "Anyunghihashipundeyo." I looked to another and attempted to repeat it. I really had no idea what I was saying, and each time I said it it became more jumbled and awkward. By the time I got to Mr. Yoo to say goodbye by I simply gave a defeated grin, switched to English, and said. "Mr. Yoo, have a nice day, Ill see you tomorrow."

The team all started cracking up. Apparently I was amusing, and they seemed to appreciate the effort. I walked out of the office feeling fairly good about the day.

I pulled out my phone and noticed that I had a text message from Lee, it said "Nice to meet you today. The Korean food would not fit in your mouth. I hope you can adapt the road parallel with. Have a nice day!"

I grinned, I had no idea what he was trying to say, but I replied with a "Thank you for the nice welcome."

I made it back to the apartment and collapsed on the bed after an exhausting but eventful first day. After a quick moment I got up, threw on my running shoes, and took a jog on the path near my apartment. The path runs next to a river, and with the Seoul skyline lit up in the background it was one of the most incredible runs I've ever had.

I came back, made some dinner, and caught up with my friends at home via facebook. Now that my blog is done its time for bed and pretty soon I'll be waking up to do it all over again. It appears Ive become a Korean working stiff.

First Day in Seoul

Flight KE036. I took off at 1PM on Wed (eastern standard time) and Arrived at 4PM on Thurs (Seoul time)

My first meal in Seoul. Pulgogi, Kimchi, and sliced fruit. Machisoyo!

The entry to the Kotra building, where I will begin working on Monday.

My new apartment in the Secheon-Gu district, nearby my office at Kotra.

The beautiful path that runs nearby my apartment.

Hello from Seoul! I arrived late yesterday afternoon after a 14 hour flight on Korean Air. A visiting scholar from Seoul whom I met a Ga Tech,Dr. Cha, picked me up from Incheon International and drove me to apartment he had found me in the Secheon-Gu area, nearby my office in Kotra. There I signed my building contract with the owner, Mrs. Jeong. Mrs. Jang and Dr. Cha have both shown me incredible kindness and made my transition to Seoul as easy as I could have hoped for.

After a long day yesterday I woke up this morning and went out to explore the city a bit. The first thing I found was a park with a beautiful path that runs along a riverside. I was immediately taken back by finding such beautiful landscape in the middle of a city, I can't wait to go for a run there tomorrow morning. Later I ate my first true Korean meal at a restaurant called "Kim Ne" The food was incredible, I got a huge helping of Pulgogi with rice for only 5,000 Korean Won (thats less than 5USD)! I then wandered around a bit more and walked over to my office in Kotra, where I will start work on Monday. The building was impressive, and located just across the street from the Hyundai and Kia HQs. The area Im living in is on the Southern edge of Seoul, it is mainly a business district so I don't expect to find too many fellow foreigners in the immediate area (in fact I saw a grand total of zero fellow foreigners in the several hours I spent walking around)

As for this weekend, I'm still throwing together plans. I emailed my Korean Professor, Dr. Jang, who is coming to Seoul tomorrow. I will be meeting a friend of his who wants to hire a private English tutor for his children (a good chance for me to earn some extra cash and buy more of the delicious food!). I am also going to try to meet with the Korean LBAT students this Sunday so that I can start making some American contacts in the area.

Its been a great start to my adventure and I'm optimistic about whats to come.