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Notes From the Land of the Morning Calm

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Second Journal Entry 

Summer Vacation…

(Jim and Deb G rated page)

Par for the course, I shot right out of school into the working world. In fact, I ended up working the same day I finished my last final. Nothing like studying all night, writing an exam all morning and then working all afternoon. Actually, aside from the quick transition, everything has worked out. Nothing ended up working out as planned, but then that is the rule and not the exception here.

By far the best thing about summer vacation is that I have my weekends again. ALL two days to do what I want, hang out with Suk Ja, read some of the books I've been wanting to get to, long Sunday dinners at our favorite "dalk calbi jip" (hard to describe…kind of like a spicy BBQ Chicken place).

Work…You'll love this. I've got three jobs this summer. Two are just what you might expect, an editing job at the Korea Journal and some work for Tamal Vista Pub. The third is as a translator for LG-Caltex, one of the largest petroleum companies in Korea. Talk about being a fish-out-of-water. Although the company is a joint venture between Caltex (American firm), I'm the only 'foreigner' in the department where I landed, the only one who refuses to where a blue shirt and gray slacks (although I have been spotted in a tie more than once), and the only one who knows how totally under qualified I am for the work--(although I think they are catching on).

I work on the 33^rd floor of one of Seoul's most modern buildings. I have a view of nearly the whole city if I turn around, although I don't get to very often. I've been asked to translate the CEO's speeches from the last couple years into English. So for the last three weeks or so I've been working on the CEO's yearly addresses. Basically, I look up words, drinking coffee and try to stay awake. I know, I know… it’s a great opportunity in all sorts of ways. I get paid to learn more Korean and about the Korean corporate world. I can make all sorts of connections. But you know what, if I end up hawking oil for a living, someone find an elephant gun and bury me with all the woolly mammoth bones LG-Caltex is pumping around in liquid form. Aside from all the environmental morality issues, this company sucks the life out of people…and they are all nice people. As I've gotten to know them, I keep asking what they like to do in their free time. Not a single person has had an answer. Most of them tell me they don't know. I ask them what they do on the weekends and they all tell me they just sleep. I ask them if they like their job. No one has said yes. So I'm starting to feel guilty. I'm doing my best to translate the speeches, but the truth is I'm totally under qualified and basically freeloading. I got the job because a professor at school and the CFO are high school buddies. So basically, all these poor working saps are getting a little more sap sucked out of them so I can go to school. I'm kind of taking a "take the money and run" attitude.

The Korea Journal, on the other hand, is right up my alley. Again, I'm basically getting paid to study, but at the Korea Journal there is no worry about contributing to the giant life sucking machine that is LG-Caltex. A UNESCO publication, the journal is an English language journal focused on Korean Studies. I'm a "consulting editor," which basically means I go through articles and make sure they make sense. Most of the articles have been translated from Korean, so a fair number of them need a good once over. If I can't figure something out I take the article to my boss and we go back to the original Korean version and try to sort things out. It's a great opportunity to get an inside track on a lot of the latest research being done in Korea. You all might yawn, but in the last couple weeks I've gotten to read articles on the North Korean film industry, the history of the women's movement in Korean, the changing shape of NGO's in Korea, the impact of network systems and IT on the Korean society, Western philosophy entering Korea at the turn of the century, and a cool Buddhist monk/poet/social activist who's commonly referred to as Manhae. It's also turned out to be a great way for me to practice my Korean. Obviously everyone there has great English skills, but we speak most of the time in Korean. Also, because we are always going back to the original Korean essays my "academic" Korean is getting a lot better.

Tamal Vista Publications…not much to report. Every month the web site gets a little more traffic, sells a few more books. I'm just about finished formatting Tamal Vista's newest, and at the moment top-secret, offering for the woodstrip woodworking world.

Other big events for the summer... Michelle is coming over at the beginning of August. It's gonna be great to see her, catch up on family goings on as well as goings on in SF and the rest of the good old US of A. I can't wait to see what freaks her out. Having been here a while, I've gotten used to the smell of roasted silk worms and seeing pig heads on display at the markets. However, I bet things like this will elicit some pretty cool responses from Michelle... Don't worry Michelle (Mom), we'll avoid the really freaky stuff.

Aside from sniffing some simmering silk worms and petting the honey basted pig heads, we're gonna do some traveling--down to Ju Wang mountain (kind of like a Korean Yosemite), Kwang Ju (A cultural center for the country and Korea's capital a long time ago), Pusan (2^nd largest city in Korea), and Nam Hae (my favorite little-big island off the southern tip of the peninsula). When were not traveling or petting pig heads, we're gonna take in some dance performances, get lost in those huge open-air markets, drink some mokkoli in (really in) the river by Buk Han Mountain, and just catch up. I'm looking forward to it.

…From a Galaxy Far, Far Away…

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