The Rain in Seoul...

Weaver Adventure Blog Post for July 2013

The Wet Season!

So it is the rainy time of year here in Seoul.  And I mean rainy.  This part of Korea has a fairly predictable wet season.  I’m told it starts mid-June and ends mid-July.  I have my doubts...

I have also been told that the season has become less predictable in the past few years.  I don’t know, but at this point, I think it’s going to rain forever.   

And the Han River is as high as I have seen it.  I’m expecting a flood soon.  And apparently I’m not the only one.  Check out this building with an Ark built on top.  Serious business. 

 
 

Speaking of buildings, one of the neat things about Seoul is the sculpture that is scattered everywhere.  I’m told there is a city ordinance that requires all builders to include some public space in front of the building with some type of sculpture in it.  This makes the city a kind of huge art museum.  There doesn’t seem to be any criteria for this art.  Some are humorous, some are bizarre, some are patriotic, and some are just shapes.  I found one nearby that allowed me to “collaborate” with the artist.  I’ve gathered some examples to share with you, and there are hundreds or thousands more for the Googling.  Enjoy!

Until next time.

Weaver

Spring Has Sprung!

So Spring has officially sprung in Seoul!  After a period of serious doubt that warmer temps would ever arrive, Seoul has started to bloom in earnest.  (The grass still has a ways to go...)  

This time of year in Korea is marked by a country-wide explosion of cherry blossoms.  Looking at these flowers is a popular Spring pastime, and people flock to areas that boast large numbers of them.

In Yoido-dong, the neighborhood of the city where Cook’s offices are, there are many such trees and several parks.  

At lunchtime, office workers, retirees, parents with young children, and tourists walk, picnic, and generally revel in the beauty of the trees and the warmth of the air.  On the weekends, tens of thousands of people converge on this neighborhood to enjoy a week-long cherry-blossom festival.

I took most of these pictures in Yoido park, which is a two minute walk from the Cook office.  An increasingly green little island in a sea of buildings.

Until next time,

Weaver

Considering North Korea from the South

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of March 8, 2013

So in addition to worrying about global warming, I am now convinced we are all experiencing global time warps.  How can it be March!?  Tempus fugit has become tempus fuggetaboutit!  But what can you do?

Speaking of worries, North Korea has been in the news a lot lately due to their underground nuclear tests, and that gets people asking me about the situation.  “Are we worried? “ “Do your colleagues worry about it?”  “Is it dangerous there?”  Et cetera.  Those are good questions, and my general answer (which may surprise you) for all three is, “Not really.”  But I thought I would put the question to a couple Cook people here and see what they had to say.  First, my buddy Dominic Lee.

Dominic’s perspective is quite unique as he actually visited North Korea several times some years ago when he worked for a German company.    

I also wanted to get the perspective of a younger person too (sorry Dom) so I found another buddy Jung-Hwan Park a.k.a. John.  He served as a guard at the DMZ for two long years (all South Korean men must serve in the military) and I figured he would have a unique perspective on the North.

Thanks to both Dominic and John for sharing their insights, and thanks to all who have asked about how we are feeling about the situation.  For now it seems stable and safe, and we Weavers are happy here in our adopted country.

Until next time,

Weaver

Winter Reflections on Summer of Love

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of Feb 28, 2013

So Cupid was very busy in Korea this past summer.  There were no fewer than five CMK weddings between June and September.  So love was in the air.  Or the water.  Or something.  My social calendar started to look like I needed a social calendar.  Anyway, of the five, I was able to make it to three, and each was special and unique in its own way.

The first of them was held in a wedding facility.  These wedding halls are quite common in Seoul, and are great because they exist just for the purpose of hosting weddings.  So décor, music, videotaping, photography, a lunch reception, everything is under one roof.  I imagine it takes much of the stress of planning a wedding off the happy couple.  Joy Choi, CMK finance manager, explains how it works. 

“Even though our wedding was in the afternoon, we had to go there early in the morning for make-up, hair and all other preparations.  (As Dave explained, everything was done under one roof!!)

For the ceremony, the mothers of the bride and bridegroom enter the room and put the candlelight on; then the bride and bridegroom enter. Then guests are seated for officiator's message. In Korea there’s no license required to be an officiator but anyone who bride and bridegroom want may be an officiator. In our case officiator was church minister where I belong. Next, bride and bridegroom give big bows to their families and guests who came to the wedding, and then a photo session is held where photos are taken to record the happy moment.  As a last part of the photo session, a single friend of bride is to receive a bouquet and we believe the friend who got the bouquet will meet her Mr. Right very soon and get married in next 6 months!   (I really hope so because my friend who got the bouquet is desperately eager to meet one and marry!!)

The second wedding I attended took place in the oldest protestant church in Korea - The Chung-dong United Methodist Church.  Established in 1885, it looks like it was picked up by a huge helicopter in Anytown, USA and dropped in the middle of Seoul.  It really looks just like the church where I got married.  (Except that church burned down after a lightning strike – a different blog post.)  

The service was very familiar – just in Korean.  After the service, we even went to (of course) Wesley Hall for the lunch reception.  It was a very nice event.   Si-Nae Lee , who also works in our finance group, explains why she chose this church.

“The Chung-dong church is one of the most beautiful and historical churches in Seoul. Moreover, it has history of my hubby’s family. The church where my parents-in-law got married about 40 years ago and my hubby got baptized when he was born. So meaningful!” 

The third wedding was in a hotel ballroom in the now ultra-famous Gangnam area of Seoul, with the reception dinner following in the same room as the wedding.  There were many guests, but the bride and groom visited each table to say hello.  After they welcomed everyone, they left to have a second ceremony.  Francis Chang, CMK regulatory affairs manager, explains. 

One of the benefits of a hotel ballroom wedding is a time allowance compare to other wedding centers. The guests and families of bride and groom can have time to enjoy the ceremony and have a good time with relatives and friends. This picture was taken while walking down the stage after wedding vows. At that time the only thing I could see was just bright lights and not the guests.

The second ceremony, we call Pae-Baek. It is a Korean traditional wedding and bride and groom do deep bows to groom’s parents and other family members. The parents throw jujubes (candy) and chestnuts, bride and groom have to receive it like the picture, while praying for fecundity (children) and connection with ancestors.

As it turns out, having the second ceremony is the norm at Korean weddings.  Joy, Si-Nae, and Francis all had them.  Here are pics from those private family ceremonies.  The clothes they wear are traditional Korean clothes called hanbok.  Beautiful!

That’s all for now.  Until next time.

Weaver 

Happy New Year!

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of January 1, 2013

So Happy New Year!  Wow, 2013.  Blows my mind, really.  I can recall hearing about 2000 and thinking it was the distant future, with daily trips to the moon and hovercrafts instead of cars.  Well, 2000 seems like the distant past, no one visits the moon, and I still don’t have a hovercraft.  In fact, I walk more than ever! 

Walking in a big city is the most efficient way to get around.  Bar none.  Sure, there are cabs, subways, buses, etc., but unless you really have a long way to go, it is quicker and easier to just put on your coat and walk.  All the walking I have been doing has an upside – I have lost about 4 kilograms (approx. 10 pounds) since moving here.   But there is a downside as well – my shoes are getting beaten up.

Now, as I have mentioned, I am a slave to fashion.  I have about 5 pairs of shoes.  2 black, 2 brown, and some snow boots.  Perhaps some running shoes that I haven’t seen in a while.  I am also a bit miserly, so I like to get a lot of miles out of a pair of shoes.  This used to be pretty easy to do, as I walked very few miles.  Now, with more trekking in the day, I find my shoes are getting scuffed, stained, and scraped at an alarming rate.  In the past, I relied on the shoe-shine stands in most major airports for a quick shine before my flights.  Alas, these stands are not the norm in APAC.  And I don’t fly as much as I used to anyway.  So what to do?

I asked the advice of my co-workers.  “Where can I get my shoes shined?”  They said not to worry.  “We’ll go after lunch.”

After lunch, we stopped by a tiny cube of a stand on the street around the corner from the office.  These little cubes are everywhere in Seoul.  They often serve as small shops selling food, or magazines, or coffee, or offering a service like, you guessed it, shoe shining

So I popped in and sat down.  The guy took my shoes, and gave me a pair of fashionable sandals to wear while I waited.

Then he polished them up in record time and gave them back to me.

Total time:  5 minutes.  

Total cost:  3,000 Won ($2.75).  

Shiny, clean shoes with many miles left in them:  Priceless.

Until next time.

Weaver