Weeks 1–6 · Seoul, South Korea · January 2014
Arriving
As many of you know, I recently changed jobs and relocated to Seoul, South Korea. Someone suggested a blog, but that is above my skill set so instead of a blog, I am going to post an update about once a week. Once reason for doing this is that when I told people I was taking this assignment, they looked at it as a hardship but it is an opportunity and I want people to see that experiences outside your comfort zone are good.
Very rough start. As Sharon and I pulled into the airport parking lot, she received a call that her father had passed away after a long illness. We had already planned for this contingency — push ahead. This logical approach was based on the perspective of a project manager and banking executive…but in hindsight I may have done it differently. Sharon handled the situation exceptionally well and her dad would have been very proud of her…and I am too. Alexandra and Annelise really stepped up as well and I am proud of them too.
As for work, my position was changed to address a current need which has pros and cons. But a big plus is that I’ll get home more frequently than planned. So far, the logistics of the transition have gone great — including installation of Slingbox so I am watching Manning-Brady in real time, as well as seeing the Cowboys get hosed at KU. My next update hopefully will be a little more upbeat and have more pictures than words.
Seoul is the capital and largest city of South Korea, with approximately 9.7 million people in the city proper and close to 26 million in the greater metropolitan area — making it one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world, comparable to the New York metro area. The city sits on the Han River and is surrounded on three sides by mountains. South Korea's economy grew from one of the world's poorest in the 1950s to the world's 13th largest by GDP today — a transformation often called the “Miracle on the Han River.” Samsung, the company referenced throughout these posts, is South Korea's largest conglomerate (chaebol) and its revenue represents roughly a fifth of South Korea's total exports.
A lot happened the first week, more than I could include in an update so I will pace myself. This week’s focus is on a teambuilding hike for the management team to celebrate the new year (Chinese New Year is coming up next week) and wish for “Safety for our workers and good finances.” It started off well as we met at the office for breakfast at 6am. I sat down with a group of people that I didn’t know but I was sporting an OSU sweatshirt and the gentleman across from me said “how come you lose to Sooners? Makes no sense, OSU beats Texas, Texas beats OU, OSU plays OU and loses?” I said it can’t be explained. Turns out he went to graduate school at Texas.
After 4 hours up and down, we were taken to lunch where people gave toasts (I had to give the second toast as a new person in front of 200 people) and then more toasts where you had to drink rice wine from a bowl. A lot of merriment and hugging followed and I could see a lot of pride and camaraderie with the company and the country, followed by naps on the bus ride home.
Being asked to give the second toast to 200 people in your first week — in a country where you don’t speak the language and haven’t yet figured out what is on your plate at the company canteen — is either a welcoming gesture or a hazing ritual. Based on the pride and camaraderie on display, it was the former. The OSU-Sooners conversation at breakfast at 6am on the first day, unprompted, with a Korean executive who went to graduate school in Texas, is a reasonable preview of the two years ahead.
Last night I arrived in Mexico to visit a project for a week, but one advantage of the change is that at the layover at LAX I got to see Alexandra. After Mexico, swinging by DC on the way back to watch and gamble on the Super Bowl with Annelise and Sharon (OK…maybe Sharon isn’t involved in the gambling) and a couple of 50th birthday parties. Glad I am not that old.
Most of this week was travelling in Mexico and back through DC and it was good to get home for a bit. I have another week on the east coast as I have some stuff to wrap up here so probably won’t have an update next week. Mexico was a bit of a bummer — Sunday afternoon, 75 degrees and we were one mile from the ocean, but because of security precautions travel was limited to visiting a jobsite, to/from airport, and hotel.
Seoul is a world-class city, the only comparison I can really make is to NYC. About the same size, a lot of people in a limited area but with more modern infrastructure (subways/roads/airports) than NYC. With regard to the Korean people, I shouldn’t stereotype but generally friendly, smart, and very pro-US with a strong desire to speak English. Lastly, my new company (Samsung) handles a lot of the details of setting up accommodations/utilities and provides translation services, through with my command of languages I won’t need this for long.
Seoul’s metropolitan subway system is one of the largest and most advanced in the world. It has 23 lines, over 700 stations, and carries approximately 7 million passengers per day. Trains run with headways as short as 90 seconds during peak hours, are universally air-conditioned in summer, have heated seats in winter, and provide free Wi-Fi throughout the network including underground. The system is consistently rated among the top metro systems in the world by independent rankings — a contrast the early posts draw sharply against DC and New York.
Within 10 minutes of my apartment is all of the practical stuff I need — a 6-storey Emart (like Target) and at least 50 restaurants. The company is very paternal and combined with technology, either pretty cool or pretty invasive. Two examples: the company cafeteria and fitness centre.
The cafeteria has at least 10 different food options. You walk up to a kiosk and look at all the menus and order on the kiosk and pay with your badge, then a ticket is printed out to take to the food stations. The meals are subsidised — the more you make the less the subsidy. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The fitness centre is first class — a little different than you would see in the US. All you need are shoes, everything else is provided, and to maintain your membership you have to meet minimum workout requirements. How you ask? You swipe your badge and it logs your time and you must meet your commitment or you are suspended.
“Travel geek notes — Airbus A380 is pretty nice and Mexico City T2 terminal is good for a long layover.”
My goal is to remain positive and upbeat — but this approach may have left some people with the impression that I don’t have all of the chores and drudgery of everyday life that we all hate — not true for me either, I am just not sharing it. So now that we have that straight, I spent the last three weeks at home (wrapping up chores and other stuff) and in Mexico so not a lot to update.
Mexico, at least where I am going, has security issues so I just work and go to the hotel. But I did have one free night in Mexico City as I landed about 8pm and wasn’t leaving until the next morning. The airport is near the central part of town and my original plan was to grab a taxi into town and explore and find an interesting place in a historic plaza for dinner. However, I was hungry and was lured into a steakhouse at the airport and then was tired so I took an airport train to a place called the “Courtyard by Marriott” and was done for the evening. Next time through Mexico City I will get out.
The cover photo for this post: approximately $60 USD for a SPAM holiday gift set. SPAM is very popular in South Korea for gifts as it is sentimental to the only meat that people got in the 1950s and 1960s. The US military introduced SPAM to Korea during and after the Korean War, and it became deeply embedded in Korean food culture. Korea is now one of the largest consumers of SPAM in the world, and premium gift sets remain a popular choice for holidays and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). It is sold in department stores alongside other luxury food items.
One highlight while I was home was attending a kickoff event for our neighbourhood 25th anniversary and got to see a lot of friends — most who remarked that they see me more now that I live in Seoul than when I lived in Kentlands. I needed to see some sun, so I routed through LA to see Alexandra and some gratuitous pictures are attached for my east coast friends. Now heading to Tokyo for a couple of days. 자렛캔트렐 (my name in Korean).
