Monster big Korean blog!

I land in Korea after a six hour flight and we have another hour to get to the hotel. I have been looking at the different kind of city landscape wherever I go… the mixture between apartments and businesses, how compact the city is, how tall the buildings are, etc. It tells you a lot about the city. Here in Seoul it’s a very heavily populated, compact city. There are about 49 million people in South Korea and half of them live in Seoul. As with all of the other cities I’ve visited, driving and parking is an issue. Lots of traffic jams. So we get to the hotel. I need to say that they have been putting me up in the most expensive places I’ve ever stayed in. They are luxury hotels – and VERY expensive. Too bad I can’t actually spend more time in them! This time I get to the room and it’s the biggest yet. They bring up my luggage and the gentleman asks me if I want a tour of my room. I figure that if they even ask if you want a “tour” then you should take them up on the offer. So there is the standard stuff, but lots of extras. Since many US phones don’t work over here, they have a cell phone in each room for you to use during your stay. Two huge closets, shower and bath, two desks, couch, lots of extra room. There is a sound system that they turn on to quiet music as you enter. (Trying to figure out if I can hack in and play my iPod on it.) A BIG bonus is they have a couple of US 110 electrical outlets! This is a huge plus for me since I didn’t bring many power adapters and plugs. There is some wonderful Korean furniture and the huge windows have sliding covers that are covered in rice paper to look traditional. But finally, there is this box of gourmet chocolates on the coffee table. First I must digress a bit for backstory… (Yes, a chocolate back story.) I am doing much of my traveling with a Japanese co-worker. He is very hard to get to know, but we are starting to be a little more comfortable with each other. Whenever we eat out together he will always check the menu for the noodle dishes. He doesn’t seem to prefer other foods as much (but he likes Italian!) so he always tries to get one Japanese noodle dish so he has something he likes. Thus, I call him the “Noodle King”. On the other hand, I always look at the desert menu first to see if there is any good chocolate. If something on the dessert menu looks good then I will order dinner accordingly to have enough room at the end. When we go to a buffet (most hotels have one at night) then I walk straight to the dessert area before checking out the dinners. Twice I have actually had one small chocolate dessert before I go get my dinner selections – I do it backward. He finds this quite funny and calls me the “Chocolate Goddess”. Now when we sit down, I find that I’m finding noodle dishes for HIM and he is finding chocolate desserts for ME. So back to the hotel. I asked the hotel person about the chocolates and he said they were complimentary! What a deal. This place has just jumped to the top of my list! At this point I realize that I have an hour to type on the way to work today – and I can type fairly fast – so this may be a very long blog! Worked in the Seoul head office yesterday. The Korean people seem much more energetic and upbeat than the other places I’ve visited. We are laughing a lot more, there is a lot more energetic exchange, more joking, etc. It’s a nice change. (Except that there were a few jokes about the Japanese, in front of my Japan coworker. This has been a huge issue during this trip. I will NOT digress on that right now.) The corporate world anywhere can just be too stuffy – and it’s even more so in Asia. I did ruffle a few feathers yesterday though. I held up a meeting for almost half an hour because I thought the IT manager should be attending – and specifically set up that time to meet with IT staff in Korea – but he thought he didn’t need to attend and that the topics to be addressed were not his responsibility. So, I sent people out to go get him and we waited. He did come back and we covered the topics, but I realize I was pushing the boundaries for both work politics as well as Korean culture. It was one I chose to stand my ground on. We’ll have to see how this one plays out in the end. One of the people I’ve been working with is a young lady named Sun-Hee, but we all call her Sunny. I’ve worked with her for several years now and am so glad to meet her. She is just as beautiful and personable as her name would indicate. I’m very glad I finally get some time with her. I will go out to dinner with her on Friday and will get a picture. I had asked my local coworkers about the tower that I see on this hill outside my hotel room. They said it was an observatory with a rotating restaurant on top – like the Space Needle in Seattle. (It didn’t’ look THAT big.) They said you can walk around “the mountain” and visit the tower. My ears perked up and as soon as I got back to the hotel I asked for a map and directions. The nice gentleman behind the counter said I did not want to walk, I wanted to take a bus. What do I look like, a wilted flower? I can handle a walk! So, it was 7:00 at night and I headed out for a walk before dinner – knowing in advance I could be a couple of hours if I really wanted to reach my goal. It was a beautiful night – the moon was out – clear sky – and I was headed to the mountain. It took about 15 minutes just to get to a starting point… stairs. Acutally, 314 stairs to be specific. (Sydney and Holden have taught me to count them as I go.) Then, you walk on a wide paved path. There was a black side, regular blacktop, and a green side, which I quickly found out was cushiony. Must walk on the cushion side. It was beautiful walking through the woods. There were lamps the entire way and other walkers and joggers on the path. Then I caught a smell I loved. Leaves were just starting to change colors and the wonderful smell of decaying leaves on the ground smelled of fall! I missed this in St. Paul and it was wonderfully comforting. Toilet update on the mountain: Squat toilet with little hood. The ones here face the door – the ones elsewhere all faced the back wall. Not that you really need to know. So, I walk. A lot. Up and down through the rolling hills. I walked for 3000 meters (power walking mode – fairly fast) when I finally came to the end of the path. Then? Stairs. Millions of them. OK – 831 to be specific. They started out small but kept growing the whole time. Finally reach the top an hour after I started. The tower was pretty impressive. Sorry no pictures or postcards. I only took my room key with me – no camera, cash or anything. Headed back down the shorter, steeper route. Still lots of stairs and steeper, less paved paths. Half an hour to get down and another 15 minutes to the hotel. Two hour walk total. Have you made it this far? I’d better stop or nobody will actually read this entire thing. I have a big presentation to the technical community here and I just realized that I didn’t put deodorant on. Hmmmm… Let’s hope THAT goes well. (This falls into the “Things you really didn’t need to know” category.) Sydney and Holden, I loved seeing you last night on the video. Sorry I interrupted your breakfast. I wanted to see you though. I miss you! Kisses and hugs to you both – and give Dad a big hug for me. Love you, Andy! More later.