My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 10 - Hotel room tour and so long for now...

[HOTEL]

Another business trip means another hotel! And another hotel means another room tour!

For this trip I was at the JW Marriott Seoul. This hotel was fairly close to what is considered the "Gangnam" area of town. In Korean, Gangnam literally means south of the river so actually, a lot of Seoul is south of the river. The actual Gangnam neighborhood is just east of where the hotel is located. 

The hotel is actually connected to the express bus terminal, a shopping center, a department store, and a subway station. It is actually quite convenient for many things - a little shopping, eating, getting around Seoul, etc. I often would take the subway to other parts of Seoul and the subway station is what I would consider the 'bottom' of the stack. Going up one level you hit Central City, which is like a small shopping mall area complete with restaurants, a movie theater, and many shops. In fact, a recent addition was a huge UNIQLO. The next level up is the express bus terminal. The terminal itself also housed quite a few restaurants and shops...it more or less acts as an extension of Central City. Going up another level is part of Shinsegae department store. You can also access Shinsegae from Central City and the subway station I think... 

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I had a room on the 23rd floor that was very close to the elevators. I thought this would be an issue but the room was quiet enough and I wasn't even in it most of the time during the day. I would say the most impressive aspect of these rooms are the bathrooms, you can check it out in the video below.

Below is the hotel room walkthrough:

[WRAP UP]
It was a busy but fun and productive trip. I got to see my friends and I also believe the work aspect of my trip went smoothly as well. Honestly, every time I return from Korea I go right to planning my next trip back. It's a matter of finding time in my schedule as I work full time here in the USA. I also have a strong urge to continue studying Korean. I recently perused a local community college course listing but it sounds like I know or have learned almost all they offer. I believe total immersion is really the only way to effectively learn a language later in life (that is past grade school age). If I was learning here in the USA, I would never have to use Korean and would probably rarely practice it. Heck, I rarely practice now. Anyway, I hope to go back to Korea in the near future and maybe continue my language education.

Until next time...

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My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 7 - 끝!

It was Friday and the trade days of the air show had come to an end. It had been quite a busy week for me with work and trying to see as many people as possible in Korea while I was there. Add in the jet lag for the result of not much sleep and when I did get sleep it wasn't always that peaceful, restful sleep one needs on trips like this. Anyway, I believe the whole show went quite well; there was a lot going on at our booth most of the show.

After wrapping up the logistics of sending everything back to the USA that needed to go back, I headed back to the hotel. I grabbed a quick bite with one of my friends who actually works for the hotel we stayed at. And in addition to this meal, I was invited out by some colleagues for Korean BBQ as well later that evening.

Saturday and Sunday are considered the public days of the exhibition and typically most of the business/trade participants do not show up on this day. This is unless the company exhibiting has a public demo or event to show. In our case, we did not have any demonstration for the public so...it was finally time for a break!

I spent the weekend seeing my friends in Seoul and just enjoying the free time.
Saturday I splurged and ate at the hotel steakhouse/western restaurant with two of my friends. It was amazing~

I also saw the movie Thor: The Dark World which I learned is pronounced like TOE-ruh in Korean. I was confused at first when my friend said that the two American movies out were Gravity and TOE-ruh...she showed me the movie poster and it hit me..."OH! You mean Thor!"

Sunday I hopped from Hongdae to Itaewon to Anyang to see a variety of friends. It was a great day. I honestly do not get to see these friends half as much as I wish I could due to the distance...so I try to maximize every visit to Korea with seeing folks I know in country.

My time in Korea is coming to and end...next up...a wrap up and walk through of my hotel room!

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 6 - 회식...not really

Well, I wouldn't call the dinner I had with my co-workers a full on 회식 but it's as close as we could come to one. We all gathered in the hotel lobby to walk to a traditional Korean restaurant just a block from the hotel. I know there is probably an official Korean name for the type of meal we ate but it escapes me. Basically it was a bunch of different courses of Korean food, along with beer and soju.

We had a private room upstairs where we all removed our shoes and sat at a long banquet table. I thought that we'd be sitting on the floor initially since we took off our shoes but...I was wrong. I waited to be told where to sit as this seems to be the norm when dining with Koreans, especially people you work with. I was probably the lowest man on the totem pole so I waited off to the side. Eventually we all found an appropriate place to sit down and prepared to eat.

We had a ton of courses, this included salads, different types of kimchi, soup, various meats, and rice. A few speeches and drinks were shared...it was overall a very pleasant evening.

Also at this establishment was an area where you could try on classic king or queen clothing from back-in-the-day and take your picture on a fancy looking chair/throne. A few of us partook in this activity, complete with headgear. I won't embarrass myself or my co-workers by posting pictures :)

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My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 5 - Getting to know you

After a long day at show site I had arranged to have dinner with two of my former teaching assistants from the Korean Immersion program I attended this past summer. We decided to meet by campus for some BBQ and drinks. 

After a 30 minute subway ride, I was back to my old stomping ground. Exiting the station it seemed a lot of Korean students were out and about with friends. Most were sporting their class jackets, unique to each major. This concept is similar to letter jackets athletes wear in the USA except these have the year you started school and a special design depending on your major. I was told that the jackets are designed by a senior class for the new incoming freshmen.

Anyway, we eventually met up and went to a 갈매기살 restaurant which I think is skirt meat from a pig (not seagull as it translates to). We got the regular kind and a spicy kind; both were excellent. I had actually been to the same restaurant in another part of town. They also pour some scrambled egg around a little well at the edge of the grill which cooks up as you BBQ. After dinner my TAs gave me a choice of drinks or coffee...I chose drinks...my excuse was that I was still jet lagged and needed to sleep ^^

We found a small cafe/restaurant/drinking establishment and ordered some beer and what I think was plum wine. I was not a fan of the plum wine as it reminded me of cough syrup...but the beer was great :) We talked and caught up on things for a while longer and decided to call it a night after a few hours due to one of them having class the next morning and me having to get up early for work.

I really enjoyed talking with my former TAs as we didn't get that much time to sit and get to know each other during the summer. The TAs did act as chaperones for our field trips & excursions; and were often running around campus helping teachers...but I personally didn't get many chances just to hang out with them. I hope to keep in touch with them and also hope to see them in the future soon!

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My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 3 - Seoul ADEX 2013

The main reason I was in Korea this October was a large aerospace and defense trade show called Seoul ADEX. It doesn't actually take place in Seoul but in a satellite city northwest of Seoul. The venue this year was moved from an airbase southeast of town due to construction. I had never visited this new venue before and I must say, it was quite an improvement in my opinion. The only thing was that the air demonstration part of the trade show had to take place before the actual event at another airport. Even with this change, the air demonstration/air show aspect of the show drew over 150,000 people!

I wish I would have taken more pictures of some of the humongous indoor booths. The Korean companies dominated the scene with the largest stands (booths) bathed in white walls and bright display areas. One stand even had an area for a set of those quadcopter machines that did a synchronized performance. Many of the largest stands were double-decker, often accommodating dining areas, office spaces, and meeting rooms.

If you have ever attended a car show or any other type of similar exposition. Most all of them start with a blank concrete expanse. Just an open room with nothing in it. No electrical lines run, no phone lines, plumbing, etc. All of the booths are constructed and then fed electricity/Internet/whatever from the venue. At a lot of these large international exhibitions, the booths are considered "build-and-burn". In other words, nothing is saved after the exhibition is complete (save for company products or items).

This particular show ran for four business days and two public days.

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My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 2 - See you soon?

It is Sunday evening and I have made some ad-hoc plans to see my friend who studies at a local university. During my trip I was south of the river, fairly close to the now famous Gang-nam area of town. My friend was coming from the opposite side so we picked a large mall in between us.

I got there early and decided to walk around and scout out some possible items to purchase later. In Seoul there are a few fairly large bookstore chains that not only sell books but stationary, writing utensils, office supplies, and a wide variety of different accessories. I browsed here for a bit and decided to pick up a leather shielded passport folio. With my frequent traveling, my passport has begun to get quite abused, so I justified the premium price :)

Anyway, I met my friend and we strolled around the mall for a bit and caught a glimpse of a T-ARA fan signing event in the main atrium. I don't really follow the group but there was definitely a large crowd gathered around to get a chance to get something signed by the idol group.

After many walks up and down the food court area, we decided on 부대찌개.

While I know a lot of Korean food is spicy by default, this dish didn't look all that spicy on the outset. I was wrong. The spiciness built with each bite. Noses were running and my mouth tingled at the end of the meal. Delicious, filling, but don't forget...spicy. The bowl you see above had tons of stuff in it...a lot of hot dog type meats and veggies plus we added ramen noodles for just a buck.

The evening continued at the coffee shop where I actually didn't have coffee but a smoothie, since I knew I should try and get some real sleep that night. This shop closed when the mall did so by 9:45PM they were making announcements that you don't have to go home but you couldn't stay there. The English version of the announcement was almost perfect...save for two words I think...

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The goodbyes I tend to have with my friends abroad is a kind of "I'll see you when I see you". It's so great to see them when I can but also sad to not know when I'll see them again.

It is the bittersweet aspect of my travels I suppose. Knowing that every meeting must come to an end...and not knowing when the next one will occur.

~

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 0 - Airplane!

It is October and I am off again to Korea but this time for work. My journey to the motherland should be much more comfortable as I am flying business class and even first class on my leg from Narita to Seoul. My mind set for these long haul flights is normally just to get them over with. I have flown so much over the years the actual flying does not bother me...it's mostly everything that goes with flying (security lines, waiting for baggage, waiting at immigration, etc.).

The flight from the USA to Narita was quite uneventful, I watched a few movies and slept maybe 4-6 hours total so it was not too bad.

Getting off the airplane in Narita, I had a mission! One of my Korean friends requested I look for some cosmetic products in the duty free shop for her. I'm no makeup expert so luckily I had a picture of the product to look for. I also speak about 2 words of Japanese. Thankfully the girl working in the shop spoke a moderate amount of English. I was greeted in Japanese as expected then showed the picture to her. As she was working to pronounce the name written in English she went over to a drawer and pulled out exactly what I was looking for. Great success! The product was much less than the price my friend was quoting so I was satisfied.

Another great success was being bumped to first class from Narita to Seoul. This also netted me access to the exclusive first class lounge area (quieter, less populated). After relaxing there for about an hour my co-workers and I lined up to board and off we were to Korea. I power walked my way off the plane straight towards immigration after landing because not only were all the people from Japan landing, but a very large flight from the Philippines touched down around the same time.

Long story short I had a safe and successful flight from the USA to Korea. Stay tuned for more regarding my time in the motherland.

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