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

First Trip Back

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of November 25, 2012

First trip back to USA

 So I started to feel like I needed to reconnect a bit with some people back in the USA, and started looking for some good dates to make a visit there.  Mid-November seemed like a natural as it marks approximately six months since we moved.  I zeroed in on the week before Thanksgiving, as that would permit me to swing through New York to spend a day or two to check in with some people I wouldn’t get to see in Indiana.  Win-win.

I arranged my airline tickets and started setting up meetings with the people I needed to see.  As you can imagine, as soon as I started this process, many friends and family wanted to know if I would be able to visit them, and perhaps pick up a few items they were planning to send to us for the holidays.  Well, I wouldn’t really be able to visit everyone, but perhaps I could arrange to bring stuff back as it would be much cheaper to bring an extra suitcase than to ship packages across the world.  So, what to do?

Ultimately it was decided that anyone wishing to send stuff back with me should send it to my parents who live near Bloomington.  I would certainly visit them, and could get everything at that time.  Great plan.  Sort of.

As it turned out, and as I had been warned by a veteran expat, once you start gathering stuff to bring back to your adopted home, it’s rather difficult to stop.  My parents started to refer to their spare bedroom as WSFC – Weaver Shipping and Fulfillment Center.  The boxes just kept coming.  My folks were soon on a first-name basis with the UPS guy and the Fedex guy.  The pile grew and grew.  No problem – I would just need an extra suitcase.  Or two.  Or three.  Or four.

By the time I checked in for my flights home, I had four large suitcases, a large duffelbag, a small backpack, and my computer bag.   And I wore the largest shoes I had with me, a blazer I wouldn’t normally wear on a plane, and a large wool coat, just to save luggage space.  The small backpack (which I had to buy) was stuffed full of laundry that simply wouldn’t fit in any of the other bags.  The counter agent looked at me and said, “Is it just you travelling?”  “Yeah.”  I sighed, rolling my eyes at the mountain of bags beside me. 

But I wasn't really travelling alone, for “luggage mountain” represented all the co-workers, friends and family who have supported (and still are supporting) us in this big adventure, and who miss us and love us.  The visit was great, and I feel reconnected and as excited as ever for the challenges ahead.  I just hope the customs agents at the airport in Korea have a sense of humor…

Until next time.

Weaver

Autumn Comes to Seoul

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of October 25, 2012

So, the Seoul summer has definitely migrated south for the winter.   The leaves here are changing rapidly; the morning commute requires a jacket; the alarm goes off in what seems like the middle of the night, and we are, as usual, quite busy with school, work, projects, and life in general. 

A few updates: 

Getting acclimated:  We are adjusting more each day to our adopted city.  The stress around a trip to the store or to a new part of town is all but gone after some months of apprehension about getting lost or just wasting a lot of time.  We are avid users of public transport now and when we do need to take a cab we can communicate pretty well where we want to go.  I haven’t had to “phone a friend” in a couple of weeks, so that is progress.  Finding a parking spot when we do drive is still difficult, but I haven’t been ticketed or towed lately so, again, progress. 

Getting involved:  Through the kids’ school we have gotten involved with a small group of expats.  There are many activities and outings, and one we have tried is Scottish Folk Dancing.  Practice is once a week at the British Embassy, and the endpoint is the St. Andrew’s Society Fall Ball in late November.  Not sure I will go in a kilt and full regalia, but it looks like fun.  It’s an all night affair, with a big English breakfast the morning after.  I will try to get some pix and video to share.  Or perhaps not…

Getting visitors:  Pretty excited about a steady stream of visitors from the home office.  Over the next few weeks we expect a half-dozen or so travelers to swing through Seoul and say hello.  So far, however, no family or friends have made the journey, but we are hopeful in the new year a few will get on a plane and come check out our new city.

Getting out of the city:  We have not ventured out of the city much yet, but I had a chance to play a round of golf a few days ago and, while my performance was not pretty, the scenery was amazing.  The course we played is about 60 km from Seoul.  Here are some pix that some of the other players took.  Enjoy.

Until next time,

Weaver 

Gangnam Style

Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of September 20, 2012

Gangnam Style 

So, in case you have been hiding out in remote village somewhere, there is a music video out there on the interweb called Gangnam Style, by a Korean performer called Psy.  It is a huge it.  A global phenomenon.  It has garnered well over 200 million views on Youtube alone.  Psy is all over the airwaves here in Seoul, as well as advertising campaigns, billboards, and the like.  What makes him different is he has captured the attention of “the West”, and is on shows like Ellen, Saturday Night Live, and the MTV Music Video Awards.  So, a big hit.  It is estimated that there are 8 people globally who haven’t seen or heard of Gangnam Style.  If you (or someone you know) isn’t familiar, you can check out the video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0. (rated PG – fair warning)

So I watched it a while back and asked my friends at the office, “What is Gangnam Style?”  They laughed and tried to explain it.  It seems the word gangnam (pronounced kahngnahm) is a combination of two words – gang (Korean for river) and nam (Korean for south).  So gangnam means, literally, South of the River.  In this case, the Han River.  I thought I had better head over there and check it out for myself.  On the way, my parking coach and tour-guide for the day Yong-Kwan Kim gave me more info on gangnam style.

Turns out “Gangnam style” is an attitude or philosophy that (stereotypically) identifies residents of the Gangnam district of Seoul.  This can be somewhat derisive, but seems to be more or less friendly.   The Gangnam district is quite large and is home to many global companies, financial firms, coffee shops (of course), and many really, really high end luxury goods shops.  

As you can imagine, the people in this district are generally quite well-to-do.  You are just as likely to see someone driving a BMW as a Hyundai.  In fact, the 3-Series BMW is sometimes referred to as a Gangnam Sonata – a reference to the ubiquity of the car model in Gangnam.  So, generally, a reference to “Gangnam style” is a slightly envious slam on the world of wealth and conspicuous consumption that is embodied “South of the River”.

After driving past a great many nice shops, and watching the mid-day shoppers walk to and fro we stopped for lunch at a little bistro called Café 74.  We could have easily been in San Diego, New York, London etc.  Excellent food, and the best cafe latte I have had outside of Italy.  Really nice.  I had the Caprese Panini pictured – delizioso!  To top off my Gangnam experience, just as we were leaving (as if on cue), a gleaming Maserati pulled up in the valet parking lane with a foursome for lunch – that’s Gangnam Style!

I’m told the nightlife there is really incredible, so I will have to make it back some Friday night to check it out.  Need to work on my Gangnam Style dance move first… if I get enough encouragement I might post a video…