2008. 10. 30
What follows is all the video clips and the explanation about them taken during Oh's visitation to China last week. Enjoy!
(Did not expect to see the Samsung logo out of nowhere in China)
The view from Oh's room in the Seagull Hotel. Pretty decent. It was drizzling so even better!
The Seagull Hotel. The bellboys were so friendly. A four star hotel it was.
Oh was on a road trip with one of the participants. The other guy was afraid of sitting in front, so Oh had to. :( BTW, just like the states, there is a protective glass in a cab. Oh thought that this proves how safe it is to live in South Korea.
Take a gooood look at it. Pedestrians, cars and bicycles are mingled like crazy. The traffic in South Korea is not that disruptive.
Granted it, it was Saturday. Too many people simply.
Some garden. Also, where'd these people come from?
Chinese McDonald. It was NOT cheap at all.
Chinese subway station. It was like during the rush hour at Shindorim station in Seoul.
A subway station. It was a saturday afternoon and raining. Still many people.
Another subways peek. Actually the trains were nice. They were just like NYT transit. Small and narrow. The best subway Oh has ever ridden is the one in D.C.!!
Email from half way around the planet
2008. 10. 29
Still busy at work, Oh received a letter from the girl that he was interested in back at the convention last week. Although Oh gave her his business card, she claimed she did not get one. So, she said that she asked one of the Korean participants that she met in Shanghai about my email address and thus got ahold of me. Well, since she went through all the trouble, Oh started to feel good about it.
She lamented the fact that she was caught up with her work and with her colleague and thus could not even get back to me on my proposition. But she promised that she is going to have a cup of coffee when they meet again. Well, what are the odds? She lives half way around the world.
Anyways, in response, Oh wrote her back and also lamented on the fact that the get-together did not occur and asked the girl if she is going be at another convention coming up next year to which she said yes. Oh is going to participate in that convention as well.
Which does not really mean anything. What was Oh thinking? Right? Oh was obviously brave, but not smart. He did not even know the person at all.
But then again Oh defends himself, saying “Well, no pain, no gain. Only the brave gets the beauty.” And this is damn true. Girls would not come to you if you just think that they are interested in you. You need to get confident, get ready to get embarrassed, get up on your feet, accost her and strike a conversation. This time, Oh did not succeed. But he learned the lesson and is moving on.
New Part timer?
2008. 10. 28
Fatigued from the restless night and the lack of sleep, Oh came to work.
Today’s biggest mission to accomplish is to vet and to hire a new part-timer. Since the temp is going to quit this Friday, Oh has been in charge of recruiting and scrutinizing applicants and thus he has winnowed it down the four people. After the team captain picked out one particular person, Oh called her to let her know the interview date yesterday.
So she showed.
Looked older then her photo in her resume. Yes, in Korea, you HAVE TO put your “glamour shot” in a resume. And it goes without saying that the better looking you are, the higher chances you are going to get a gig.
Oh found it very odd when he told some acquaintances (guys only) at work that his team is hiring a new temp, they all said that “Hire a pretty one” Sure, better looking would not harm anyone, but it would necessarily guarantee one’s job performance. In their own defense, they said “It is just a temp, what is the big deal? It is not that she is going to be a full time here. So why not choose a dumb blonde girl?”
At any rate, the girl that showed today did not get the gig and notifying her that she is not going to get the job was Oh’s responsibility. No wonder why many companies or schools, while composing rejection letters, start them by saying “I regret to …”
In stead of calling the girl on the phone, Oh just texted her and delivered the unpleasant news. Oh thought it was could come off as less personal and less insulting.
Again, back to square one. Now Oh needs to vet more applicants to choose better candidates.
Today’s biggest mission to accomplish is to vet and to hire a new part-timer. Since the temp is going to quit this Friday, Oh has been in charge of recruiting and scrutinizing applicants and thus he has winnowed it down the four people. After the team captain picked out one particular person, Oh called her to let her know the interview date yesterday.
So she showed.
Looked older then her photo in her resume. Yes, in Korea, you HAVE TO put your “glamour shot” in a resume. And it goes without saying that the better looking you are, the higher chances you are going to get a gig.
Oh found it very odd when he told some acquaintances (guys only) at work that his team is hiring a new temp, they all said that “Hire a pretty one” Sure, better looking would not harm anyone, but it would necessarily guarantee one’s job performance. In their own defense, they said “It is just a temp, what is the big deal? It is not that she is going to be a full time here. So why not choose a dumb blonde girl?”
At any rate, the girl that showed today did not get the gig and notifying her that she is not going to get the job was Oh’s responsibility. No wonder why many companies or schools, while composing rejection letters, start them by saying “I regret to …”
In stead of calling the girl on the phone, Oh just texted her and delivered the unpleasant news. Oh thought it was could come off as less personal and less insulting.
Again, back to square one. Now Oh needs to vet more applicants to choose better candidates.
Back to Normal
2008. 10. 27
Ah..the past 5 days was like a dream for Oh. But he now needed to realize that he is not in it anymore, but in an inevitable reality.
First, he was super tired from the trip. Nevertheless, he could not take a day off because…well.. because he simply can’t. If you knew only a bit about Korean work ethics, it would be not too hard to understand why he has come to work.
Secondly, he literally had a pile of work. First because, since he took on a trip, he workload has been snowballing. Secondly, since one of the colleagues is on a business trip to Toronto and the states, Oh and the other team members had to pick up his slack. And the slack is immense. The first thing, as soon as Oh came to work, that he noticed was a manila folder sitting on the desk. There were several pieces of paper that said what Oh needed to take care of the workload that the aforementioned colleague left for the rest of the team.
Lastly, Oh needed to organize all the war-relics that he acquired from Shanghai. He meant, the brocures, tons of name cards, pictures, and whatnot. He needed to sort them out, save them somewhere and even dole them out to the participants of the convention. No wonder why Oh’s colleagues has been saying that going on a business trip is not as sweet as it sounds. Now Oh realizes why.
As a result, Oh had to work as late as 11PM. 11PM. Well, he could not care less about the slack or the work of his to finish up. But it was a team thing. Well, since Oh’s company is fully funded by the government, the gov periodically conducts audit. Yes, just like accountants, they scrutinize how every single dime of tax has been consumed. If there is any kind of a flaw or suspicious expense, the ceo is going to take the hit from the local congressmen. If the ceo gets the hit, the rest of the company is also getting to hit. So, the entire company needs to file the report that manifest that how it has wasted (or efficiently used) the tax.
It turned out that Oh’s team, which is a foreign overseas marketing team, has a big load of budget, they needed to file ton of expense reports. This is why Oh and the rest of the team stayed up late. Thus, no gym for Oh. But, Oh had no idea what is ahead of him the next four
Ah..the past 5 days was like a dream for Oh. But he now needed to realize that he is not in it anymore, but in an inevitable reality.
First, he was super tired from the trip. Nevertheless, he could not take a day off because…well.. because he simply can’t. If you knew only a bit about Korean work ethics, it would be not too hard to understand why he has come to work.
Secondly, he literally had a pile of work. First because, since he took on a trip, he workload has been snowballing. Secondly, since one of the colleagues is on a business trip to Toronto and the states, Oh and the other team members had to pick up his slack. And the slack is immense. The first thing, as soon as Oh came to work, that he noticed was a manila folder sitting on the desk. There were several pieces of paper that said what Oh needed to take care of the workload that the aforementioned colleague left for the rest of the team.
Lastly, Oh needed to organize all the war-relics that he acquired from Shanghai. He meant, the brocures, tons of name cards, pictures, and whatnot. He needed to sort them out, save them somewhere and even dole them out to the participants of the convention. No wonder why Oh’s colleagues has been saying that going on a business trip is not as sweet as it sounds. Now Oh realizes why.
As a result, Oh had to work as late as 11PM. 11PM. Well, he could not care less about the slack or the work of his to finish up. But it was a team thing. Well, since Oh’s company is fully funded by the government, the gov periodically conducts audit. Yes, just like accountants, they scrutinize how every single dime of tax has been consumed. If there is any kind of a flaw or suspicious expense, the ceo is going to take the hit from the local congressmen. If the ceo gets the hit, the rest of the company is also getting to hit. So, the entire company needs to file the report that manifest that how it has wasted (or efficiently used) the tax.
It turned out that Oh’s team, which is a foreign overseas marketing team, has a big load of budget, they needed to file ton of expense reports. This is why Oh and the rest of the team stayed up late. Thus, no gym for Oh. But, Oh had no idea what is ahead of him the next four
days.
Goodbye Shanghai : Day 5
2008. 10. 26
Before hopping on the bus to the airport, he took some photos of the street that the Seagull Hotel is standing in order to bring home memories.
Oh was sad. Plainly speaking, he was. Well, at least, on the bus ride to the airport he was. He had fun and learned a lot about the industry. And his hatred toward the public servants has definitely heightened.
As he though, the culture, the food, everything was different and it was challenging.
Then he thought of someone who has spent quite a long time in his country. That person is half away from the world where the language and the culture is completely different from Oh’s. Believe it or not, one of the reasons Oh had a crush on that person was the fact that individual has stomached such culture shock, cultural dissimilarities and has assimilated to the land of morning calm. It is not impossible to pull off, but never easy to accomplish. For sure.
At any rate,
So, now Oh has finally come to the realization that China is going to be the next super power in the world society. Although Oh has a very strong faith in the U.S. and its potential, What he has seen past five day in China was simply amazing. The sky high skyline, the population, the ubiquitous sings of development and growth was indicative of how fast China is evolving.
As he though, the culture, the food, everything was different and it was challenging.
Then he thought of someone who has spent quite a long time in his country. That person is half away from the world where the language and the culture is completely different from Oh’s. Believe it or not, one of the reasons Oh had a crush on that person was the fact that individual has stomached such culture shock, cultural dissimilarities and has assimilated to the land of morning calm. It is not impossible to pull off, but never easy to accomplish. For sure.
At any rate,
So, now Oh has finally come to the realization that China is going to be the next super power in the world society. Although Oh has a very strong faith in the U.S. and its potential, What he has seen past five day in China was simply amazing. The sky high skyline, the population, the ubiquitous sings of development and growth was indicative of how fast China is evolving.
On the other hand, as many has pointed out, China has lots of pitfall equivalent to its potential. The bipolarization of the cities, pollution are such examples. Oh once thought, China is really hard to expect. Because you turn around a corner, you see a brothel. Then at the next corner, you see all the big brand name foreign cars. After the third corner, you see people’s underwear hanging on the street wish-wash. You have no idea what is going to show at each corner.
Back in Korea, the weather was pretty cold. But Oh’s heart was not. His heart was full of good memories. And it was so good to be back home. Home, sweet home.
Back in Korea, the weather was pretty cold. But Oh’s heart was not. His heart was full of good memories. And it was so good to be back home. Home, sweet home.
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