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| you know, often times i just forget to post. sometimes it just pure laziness and other times i honestly forget. so here is a short and sweet update of my life.
things are a little crazy and stressful in my life right now. it has nothing to do with my personal life, its all work. and work really seems to have taken control of my life lately. i'm really not a fan of it, but i have just accepted the fact and am trying to adjust.
the second week of january i went with a team back to china. we were there for 16 days, which for those that keep up with my china trips, this was the longest single trip we have taken. the trip in and of itself was really good. my coworkers were fantastic...no drama...nothing. it was great. it was also the most intense trip at the same time. without the great coworkers, i would not have the fond memories that i do. i did however, manage to get the stomach flu two days into the trip. that layed me out in the hotel room for two solid days while i slept.
so i have been back home for two weeks and still do not feel as though i have stepped out from the pile of work that accumliated while i was gone. a little bit of stress has nearly taken me to my wits end, but i think i might be pulling through.
in the middle of all this work, the creative department is currently going through a reorganization. this is turning out to be a good thing. i will be getting a new boss and a new team to work with. i am mainly excited because currently i am the only resource working for the mass channel. with the reorg, we will have a team of 10. so, i am pretty pumped about that. but this change has also been stressful.
on top of this, i am having surgery in two weeks. the wonderful tooth, which has had two root canals, must now be extracted. its a long story with lots of nasty details...but long story short...take the tooth out, wait, go back in for a second surgery, get an implant, wait 6-8 months and then finally a year later...i will have a tooth! i just had my consultation today and am really ready to get moving on this because quite frankly, i just want the damn thing out of my mouth. i must wait two weeks though because....i am leaving again.
this trip i am REALLY excited about! we leave in the morning for frankfurt, germany. we will be going to a gift show to look at new product, but mainly trends. we will spend three days in germany and then travel to paris for three days. it is with work, but we will just be "trend shopping." i really can't wait.
i guess there has been a lot going on in my life. i do however, have hope that things will slow down drastically when we return from this trip. i think that's it. was that good enough ben?
i need to watch survivor and finish packing. hope you all are well.
scot | | |
| Well my time in Korea is almost up. It has been a very enjoyable, quick experience.
Today was a good day. I spent the entire day in the office (or an office that they gave me during my stay), proofed six, 365 page calendars to make sure they got them all in the right order, and visited a packaging factory. We ate lunch at a place similar to a TGI Fridays where I thought I was putting chopped onions on my plate...no it was indeed fish eggs. I swear it looked just like chopped onions, but I can assure you they didn't taste the same.
I spent the afternoon finishing up a few loose ends and then hung around for a bit before the team took me out for dinner. The restaurant was traditional Korean...you must leave your shoes at the door, and then you sit on the floor. It was very cool. The meals here in Korea are so huge. We started out with some water kimchi (the cabbage dish that I mentioned in a previous email) and some pumpkin soup. The soup was fantastic and the water kimchi was much more enjoyable than the other kimchi that I had. Then the waitress just kept bringing the food....three seafood dishes, a salad, some rice cakes, mushrooms, beans, another soup, plum juice, rice with boiled leaves of some sort, a seafood stew and a couple of other things that I can't quite recall at the moment. We had some great conversation and overall a very good ending to the trip.
So, I am back in my room and need to get organized and pack. I leave Seoul at noon and will arrive back in AR at 4:45pm. I hope the flight goes well.
Have a good day everyone.
Scot | | |
| well, south korea is very interesting. it is very similar to my experiences in china...but much cleaner and so much more organized. one thing that is a bit confusing is that you don't call people by their first name, you call them by their initials (which is kind of nice because then you can't really butcher their name). however it gets a little confusing when i am working with J.S., K.S. and S.K.
another bizarre thing is that the shower and bathroom is pretty much all one room. the drain for the shower is right by the toilet (i hear from my friend that i am lucky to have a shower curtain). so everytime i take a shower, the floor of the bathroom pretty much floods. its a bit strange.
i met up with my friend jeff lofting whom i was an ra with at jbu. i found out the day before i left that he is living right outside of seoul. so, we met up for dinner last night which was really nice. it was nice to see a friendly face and someone to have a good conversation with. we ate at a korean fusion joint. it was really good. all the dishes were egg omlettes stuffed with rice. the differences between the dishes were in the sauce and what went on top of the omlette. i had a chicken kabob with a tomato and onion sauce. it was such a strange combination, but good. other options were german sausage, cheeseburger, fried shrimp and loads of other items.
one quite disgusting dish that they love over here is basically rotten cabbage. they take left over cabbage and let it rot in their "special sauce" and serve it. its very spicy, bitter and really, quite gross. my stomach is churning just thinking about it. they will serve this (along with sweet pickles) at nearly every meal. i'm glad i tried it, i think, but i will probably pass the next time it is offered to me.
i am staying in a very nice part of town (bundang). its a place for the "youngsters" as K.S. says. the only draw-back is that it is pretty far from seoul proper. i was able to get a lot accomplished in the office on tuesday, so they told me i didn't need to come in today. i was very happy that they told me that, so i didn't just have to sit around all day in their office. so i decided to see what all seoul had to offer. after finally figuring out how to even get a pass card for the subway (if you are ever in seoul, you must purchase the card at a convience store and then go back to the subway station to charge the card.) i was on my way. i didn't have too much time and was able to do a little research on the internet before i went. i went to the "rodeo drive" of seoul...not as impressive as the actual rodeo drive, but it was sufficient. i then made my way to the namdaemun market. now this reminded me of china. it was just street after street of shops and stalls. there of course were tons of people along with some good finds. i walked around for quite some time in the market and then thought i might just keep walking and explore a little more of the city. i'm not so sure that this was a great idea. i got lost. i found the market again, and then got lost in the market...again. i finally found my way back to the subway station after a few hours. i realized that being lost, tired, hungry and lack of my "personal bubble" is not a good combination.
on my way back to the hotel, there was quite a disturbance in the subway car that i was in. from what i could tell (clearly i couldn't understand what was being said) there was a man in a wheel chair preaching. another man clearly either didn't agree or appreciate what this man was saying. they were yelling and screaming at each other for about three stops. it was so strange because this is the most expression out of any asian person that i have ever seen. at one point the man pushed the guy in the wheel chair. that's not really cool to abuse someone in a wheel chair. i wish i could have known what was being said...but i didn't really have the courage to ask someone to translate for me.
so, here i am...back in my hotel room relaxing and trying get recharged to go back out in a bit.
i go back to the factory in the morning for the day. i'm not sure what all i will be able to do tomorrow, i just hope that things are going smooth with the project they are working on. i will then head back to the states on friday.
i hope you all are well.
scot | | |
| well, i am leaving in the morning for seoul, south korea. i will arrive monday late afternoon and will be returning to the states on friday. it will be a quick trip...but i am getting pretty excited about it. i am nervous, as i am the only person going...which means i have a lot to get done and a lot of pressure to make sure things are going as needed. i feel confident in the factory that is doing the work...so i hoping that it won't be as stressful as i am thinking. any prayers would be greatly appreciated.
i will try and post a few times while i am there...but no promises.
jeff...if you are reading this...respond to my email! i would love to get together one night while i am there. i still haven't heard where i am staying (not sure if that is good or bad) but i will send you an email when i get situated.
adios.
scot | | |
| so the past couple of days at work have been hell. i've been working on a project late into the night and haven't really even had a chance to go to the bathroom during the day. its just been crazy. and so to top it all off, i was informed this afternoon at 3 that i would be leaving to fly to south korea on saturday. yes, that would be correct...in a day and a half. i almost can't believe it. freaking south korea. i will find out how long i will be there in the morning...but i would assume less than a week...perhaps just two/three days. that is a long flight for a short amount of time there.
on the flip side, i'm kind of excited to see something new...that is if i even get to step foot outside of the factory or the hotel. i am trying to be optomistic about it all and i keep reminding myself that this is a good opportunity. but its just hard when you are stressed and then have to think about leaving the county in less than two days. there is just so much to get done.
so now, i will forget all that needs to be done and go to bed. | | |
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