Tick Tock

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of May 23, 2012

The Adventure Heats Up

Korean Won

So our one-way flights are ten days away.  Lots of last minute things are on our to-do lists.  However, in general, we are in good shape.

For those of you who were losing sleep over it, I did, finally, get my Alien Registration Card.  I was a bit surprised at how monochromatic the ARC card is as the money in Korea is quite colorful.  However, immigration law is filled with grey areas so perhaps this is a testament to that fact.  Dunno, just glad to have it.

Dog Carriers

Speaking of our flights, we are planning to fly out of Detroit so it is just one hop.  Delta has a flight direct to Seoul from Detroit.  It’s a scenic flight up and over the continental US, Alaska, Russia, China and finally into South Korea.  Takes about 14 hours.  Our plan is to carry the dogs on the plane in little carriers and put them under the seats in front of us.  While I have some pretty significant misgivings about this plan, it seems better than shipping them as cargo and having them in the belly of the plane.  Time will tell, but I have 35 free drink coupons to distribute to those around us if this backfires horribly, and another 35 for myself.

Pak Mail

In move-related news, while much of the world’s communication has become electronic, we still get a lot of mail.  So we had to figure out what to do with all of our mail while we’re gone.  As luck would have it, we found a place in Bloomington that will rent us a mailbox and as often as we like will box up our mail and send it to us.  They will even weed out the catalogs and other items we don’t want.  However, I imagine it will only take Hammacher-Schlemmer about  48 hours to get our Korean address and start sending their catalogs to us there. 

One Day's Mail

We have been spending quite of bit of time saying goodbye to family and friends.  It is a strange sort of goodbye as it is not permanent.  If we were on a 30-year space voyage or something it would be quite different.  But it will be tough to not hug parents and friends for what might be a year.  We will be back at least once a year, but I imagine around the holidays and other important events emotions will run a little higher.  But we will persevere with Facetime and Skype and the occasional visit from our more intrepid relatives and friends.

Might be a little gap in the blog as we actually get settled, but expect a full report in early June with tales of our travel and first few nights as a family in a new country.  Now where did I put those drink tickets…?

Until next time.

Weaver

Driving

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of May 7, 2012

The Adventure Continues

  

Started doing some driving this week in Seoul.  Talk about the adventure continuing!

Firstly, the people who invented satellite navigation should win a Nobel prize.  I have never had a “satnav” until now, relying on maps and my wife’s inherent sense of direction to get where I needed to go.  However, in a city of this magnitude and complexity, these electronic gadgets are absolutely essential.  If the satellites ever go offline, well, I don’t know what will happen; some kind of zombie apocalypse I imagine.

Secondly, the driving rules are pretty straightforward.  Thankfully, the British never really visited Korea until the 1950’s, so car layout and road rules are similar to the US, where I have done most of my driving.  But the parking rules…well, I missed that memo.  I had possession of a car for a little less than one hour in Seoul before it was towed away.  I’ve been driving for almost 30 years, and this was a first, so before you judge me too harshly, let me explain.

I drove to our apartment to meet the landlord and get the keys.  You’ll recall that was a goal for the week.  So, since to be early is to be on time, I got there 15 minutes early and parked in a spot on the street where many other cars were parked.  A sign nearby with a car icon on it was blue, not red, and it seemed like a great spot.  I walked around the neighborhood for a few minutes and then came back, met the landlord and went in.

During the tour of the place, I glanced out the window (we are on the third floor) and watched in disbelief as a tow truck was just finishing hooking up my car.  By the time I got out to the street, it was gone.  In its place was an orange sticker on the curb, and although it was all in Korean, I was pretty sure it said, “We towed your car.”   The landlord was very helpful and we drove to the impound yard which was just a short ways away and got the car back.  Relative to a tow charge in the US, it was even pretty cheap – 47,000 Won – about 45 US dollars.  

So of what infraction was I guilty?  Turns out the parking spots along that street are assigned to certain houses.  Written on the pavement are numbers that correspond to the houses.  I did not know this – my bad.

The other thing I didn’t know, but would not have helped me much due to my Korean language deficiency, is that in Seoul, EVERY car has a sticker or card in the front window with the owner’s telephone number on it.  Instead of automatically getting a ticket, or getting towed, you will get a call and you can go move your car!  It’s a very friendly, pragmatic practice.  As a result, people park with some creativity knowing they will probably not get a ticket or inconvenience others too badly.  Pretty cool.  Anyway, a great lesson learned, and a great value at only 47,000 Won. 

Until next time.

Weaver

Blessed SatNav

Secret Parking Codes

Friendly Parking Sign

Phone Number in Car Window

My rental car

The Adventure Continues

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of May 1, 2012

The Adventure Continues

So I’m back in Seoul after about a month.  The biggest change is the weather.  When I was last here, it was about 30 degrees F.  Today it was 23 degrees C!  Figure that one out. 

Also, the foliage in the city has gone into full bloom mode.  Every tree and plant seems ready for Summer.  In fact, many people have commented that Spring was skipped.  It is apparently quite warm for late April/early May in Seoul.  But I’m not complaining. 

As our apartment is not ready yet, I am staying at a hotel near the Cook Korea office.  The short walk to the office is now very pleasant, although getting across the 13 lane street in front of the office reminds me a bit of Frogger.

Apart from starting to get my desk organized, my big goal this week is to get my Alien Registration Card – sounds like something from Men in Black.  I need it to allow our stuff to be imported into Korea and so I can stay for more than 90 days.  I am supposed to go on Wednesday to get it.  I will post a picture of it when I get it.

Another item on my to-do list is to get the keys to the apartment and then figure out how to get there.  As I have mentioned, this is a very large city and The Han River cuts it in half. The office is in an area called Yeoido.  It is kind of like a mini-Manhattan on an island in the Han, so getting here requires either bridges or tunnels.  I need to learn how to use the bus or subway or a combination to get to and from work.  In a pinch, I could take a cab.  They are everywhere and are quite cheap.  I just need to learn more Korean so I can tell them where I want to go. 

  

If I ever drive to work, I will need to learn about the parking rules here.  There is a very interesting system whereby you can block people already parked by leaving your car in neutral.  Then if the person you blocked needs to leave, they just slide your car out of the way.  Kind of a city wide automotive Tetris.  I will try to get a video of someone doing this, as it seems efficient and friendly.  Except perhaps on a hill…

Until next time.

Weaver

Spring in Seoul

Yeouido Subway Stop

Treelined Street

Ubiquitous 

Map Of Seoul

Weaver's Big Adventure

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of April 16, 2012

Obligatory Corporate Update:

As some of you know, my family and I are moving to Seoul, South Korea in June.  I have been assigned to work with Cook Medical Korea for a few years as Cook’s business there evolves and grows. 

Cook has been doing business in Korea for almost 30 years, but has always sold products through a distributor.  Currently we are in the middle of a transition to a direct sales model.  I am going there to help with this transition in any way I can while also building stronger connections between Korea and Bloomington, helping foster the Cook culture there, and learning about living and doing business in another part of the world.

Cue the Weaver Adventure Blog Post:

So our own transition is underway too.  This past week, the shippers came to our house to take the few items we decided to ship over.  As you can imagine, shipping stuff to the other side of the world is quite expensive, so we only shipped vital stuff – like deodorant, peanut butter, and some stuffed animals the kids wanted. 

Prior to shipping our stuff, we did some research on what to expect and even visited Seoul to check out how things work there.  Our online research and our in-person research taught us several important lessons:

1.     We are bigger than many/most/all Koreans.  This means buying clothes there will be a challenge, especially for me as I am not only large but a slave to fashion…

2.     We need to learn to read and speak Korean - quickly.  Most cabs, stores, groceries, restaurants, etc. are not English friendly.  The Korean people are incredibly friendly and welcoming, but English is not very common.  So far I can say “hello”, “thank you”, and…that’s it for now…If we don’t get up to speed soon, we will have to play menu roulette when we go out to eat.

3.     It is easier to take children to Korea than pets.  We have filled out twice as many forms for our two dogs (below) than we have our daughters (below), but at least their flights are cheaper. 

4.     Seoul is a very, very large city.  In the city proper are about 12 million people, and in the metro area there are 25 million.  Many of these people have cars, so rush hour can be pretty tangled, and lasts most of the day.

I’m sure there will be many more lessons and adventures.   I will share them with you from time to time, but that’s it for now.  Gotta go weigh my luggage to see if I can squeeze a few more jars of Jif in there…

Weaver

The Girls and Pam

Luna

Gizmo