The people of Korea - Thought it be
might be a good idea this month to show you some of the
people we work with in Seoul, Korea. Like with all travels,
we have met some great people, and Asia has been no different.
Below left, is Valeria with 4 of her students. In this
picture they are in a restaurant doing a lesson, taking
a break from the classroom. Below right, from the the
left are three of the ladies I work with. About once a
month, as is traditional in most Koreans companies, everyone
in our office goes out together with the company footing
the bill.
All
photos by Valeria Lo Iacono & Paul Symonds - 2003
Our office recently was relocated to the other
sideof the road, about 50 meters away. This change
fortunately resulted in my getting a office with an
excellent view, overlooking the concrete jungle of
Kangnam. On the left side of that photo is where we
have our apartment. Kangnam is the most expensive
part of Seoul and most Koreans would like to be able
to afford to live in Kangnam and to get access to
the best institutes in this area,for their young children.
Education is extremely competitive and thus getting
ones children into the best school is a priority.The
name of the school and University is everything. To
get the best jobs it helps tremendously if you attended
Seoul National University for example. Alumni are
an essential part of the network of contacts Koreans
make and on first meetings it is normal for Koreans
to hand you their business card immediately. With
a population of 11million in Seoul, a quarter of the
population crammed into one big city, the streets
of Kangnam are also packed. I never really appreciated
the spacious British countryside but now I do.
A look below at some more of the ladies in the office
at work. I can honestly say that we've been very lucky
with the people we work with. One thing I have never
understood though,is why Korean ladies always do the
two finger salute, which is visible in both of the
pictures below. Any thoughts, contact
me.
Eating is an essential part of Korean culture. The restaurant
culture in Korea is similar to the pub culture in Ireland
and Britain, with regards to their popularity. You can walk
around where we live and see about 500 restaurants or more
and that is no exaggeration, and that is in a very small
area. We always wonder how they can all possibly stay in
business but you have to consider that there are so many
people crammed into Kangnam and other areas of Seoul.
Just about every day there is a new place being put up
or taken down. In the last month 3 restaurants have been
taken down and the road outside our apartment half torn
up, whilst 4 new restaurants have been built.They are usually
built within weeks and you can usually tell by the shoddy
construction. At work, in my office I control half of the
air conditioning (A/C) for my room and half for the next
room, whilst the room to my left controls half of my rooms
A/C. On the bottom floor there are 3 lifts (elevators) but
they forgot to include the usual display which tells you
where the lifts are, thus you just stand waiting with no
perception of which lift or when they will come and when
one does, you may find a elbow or two in your side as people
jossle for the lift. To be fair, in other ways, Koreans
have excellent attention to detail.. Below a couple of photos
as we eat out locally.
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Below a picture of one of my co-workers, Wade
from South Africa, as he prepares to go home after a days
work.
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