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Published: November 24th 2008
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The Office
We are moving at the end of the month for renovations, but this is the office for now. That's the boss man Chris in the back, and our assistant Geuk Y. So there's not really a huge amount to report for this entry. I have been continuing to get used to the area and mainly just settling into life. Everything is relatively easy, except for communicating with people in shops and places. People at work all speak English, but going out for food, etc can be frustrating. I hope to learn Korean as I go, but it's very different. I get by now by pointing at things on menus, or calling Martin to translate for me. My shipment of things from Canada has not arrived, but I got word that it is leaving today. So once it all gets here, I'll be officially and completely moved. I'm still really happy with my apartment. There are a few things that they do differently here. For example, the boiler system controls the room heat, as well as the hot water. So when I want to have a shower or do some dishes by hand, I have to press a little button on the wall that switches power to heat the water. Then I wait five minutes and the hot water starts. It's a little annoying, but you get used to it. Once I forgot
Bulgogi with Martin
This is my buddy Martin. He's a fun guy and my first contact to fix any issues I have. to turn the hot water button off though, so when I got home after work that day the apartment was really cold... All the controls for everything (except the TV) are in Korean. Martin made me a manual that translates all the buttons for everything in the apartment to English.
Speaking of Martin, he's been showing me around town quite a bit. He's not only my go-to guy for figuring out this country (finding things in stores, fixing Korean electronics, etc), he's pretty fun to hang out with. We went for some bulgogi beef last week. It was at a restaurant where your table has a little grill on it and you cook your own meat how you like and there are about a dozen different dishes to try along with it. It was tasty. We finished that night with a bit of Karaoke. They do that a bit differently. Instead of one main stage, there are a bunch of private rooms with a booth for food and drinks. Martin had a few friends there that spoke decent English. He also took me out to a night club one Saturday. It was quite different from the clubs here. First
Bag of fire!
The Korean people are very clever. They figured out how to put [/i]actual[/i] fire in a package! The red bag is kimchi noodles. Very spicy, but delicious! of all, it's huge. There is a stage and dance floor where the DJ spins and there's various entertainment throughout the night. The shows range from softcore, male and female "non-nude" strippers in fountains to a lip-syncing boy band dancing around in what we would consider to be women's tank tops. I thought it was pretty funny. The boy band members were holding guitars, etc, but not actually playing them... One cool thing was that the roof opened up to the sky and they blow fake snow all over. The rest of the club is all laid out with booths and tables where you get drinks and snacks brought out to you. If you want, they have ushers there who will match and introduce singles, ie bring single girls around to your table from time to time for you to meet. It's sort of a speed dating idea, I guess. I suppose it makes more sense than trying lame pickup lines at a cramped bar. The problem is that I have enough trouble communicating with the locals as it is, then try to add in deafening dance music, it makes for some tough conversation...
Work is going well, so
Lotte building
Lotte is a big company (out of the UK maybe?) with one of the tallest buildings in Ulsan. far. Luckily I showed up at a bit of a slower time in the project. Our drill ship doesn't actually start fabrication until late January, so we are in the planning/organization stages still. This is great for me because it has given me enough time to sort out all my affairs, etc. It's going to get crazy busy later on, but we can relax for the most part now. I spent most of my work day either tracking down and analyzing installation drawings and other info, or going to client planning meetings. The Korean guys from HHI are very particular. They demand many more details and documents that are "normal" for clients. It's good that they intend to complete the project correctly, but their comments, queries and change orders have the potential to slow down the project at this rate. We're working on it...
This past weekend I went to a little island town called Okpo. It happens to be the location of another shipyard that NOV operates at, but it wasn't a business trip. My boss here, Chris Manshack, is a KILLER guitarist and he had a blues show scheduled for Saturday night. He gets an old friend
Blues Band
My boss, Chris Manshack, is on the right on guitar. His buddy Hal plays the bass for him (in white on the left). to play bass with him, and he knows a young Korean guy who drums. They play all sorts of old stuff like "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Johnny B. Goode". Chris likes to change the guitar in the songs a bit too, to give them a bit of a personal flair. I hope I can play that good someday... I also met Chris's wife, Nancy, for the first time. She's really nice, and knows the town around here pretty good, so she should be handy. 😊
Thanks for checking in!
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