The weekend started a bit early, Thursday night to be exact. There was a Haas alumni dinner, with 41 people showing up, including one undergrad and classes ranging from 1987 to the new admits for this year. My class was out in full-force, with 8 of 11 joining. It was great to see this group, it had been since the poker night that we had all seen each other! I saw a few folks from previous years, colleagues from Samsung (including people I had never met but work right next to!)
Friday was quiet (necessarily so), and Saturday I was dismayed as the rain came down. But there was a silver lining to that cloud, I was able to see a bboy competition (one on one break dancing competition). I definitely felt about 10 years too old, and my ears were assaulted a few times by dog-whistle level screams for one of the Korean dancers. It was highly entertaining, one of Sunghee's friends actually breakdances, and was telling us more about how it is judged, what different hand movements mean, etc.
I also walked to a hotel called the "Imperial Palace" which was really interesting. My camera battery decided to go right in the middle of my tour around the hotel (which was a cool French Renaissance decor), so I ended up with fewer bboy pictures later unfortunately. That specifically meant no pictures of a female dancer with quite possibly the worst color dress (and combination of army boots) I had ever seen. But I have no doubt that floral patterned mumu will not leave my mind for a number of years.
That night was out to a friend's place and then a club. I broke out my "Foreigner" t-shirt, which always gets a bunch of laughs. One of my co-workers girlfriends practically yanked the jacket off my back to ensure that people could see my t-shirt.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Finally done!
The TV commercial that took months (if not years) out of my life is finally almost done. Well it is finished, but now the goal is promoting it. And that takes more time and energy than I originally realized!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCqxSbGdzLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRvXtqUpwtU
What is amazing though is that I started to reach out to people for the TV commercial, as a true grassroots marketing, and it is impressive the responses I get. (Not necessarily the PR stories that I want, but still, that people respond at alL!) And this includes some of these are famous people (Seth Godin), who I would not have thought would respond. Yes, you could say it helps that I work for Samsung, but it does remind you about the importance of a personal touch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCqxSbGdzLY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRvXtqUpwtU
What is amazing though is that I started to reach out to people for the TV commercial, as a true grassroots marketing, and it is impressive the responses I get. (Not necessarily the PR stories that I want, but still, that people respond at alL!) And this includes some of these are famous people (Seth Godin), who I would not have thought would respond. Yes, you could say it helps that I work for Samsung, but it does remind you about the importance of a personal touch...
Monday, June 15, 2009
A light at the end of the tunnel
It has almost been 2 years in Korea (hard to believe), and I finally am near the end of the promotion for the music phone. The downside is that we created something interesting, but it is never enough (at least not for what we wanted to do out of it!) It is hard to believe that my 2 years is almost done though, I am excited about what's next, but also scared since so much is up in the air! It has in some ways made it easier to be more relaxed and try to take things with a grain of salt. I am still not sure how people spent 10 years here though. Perhaps it would help if I was married to a Korean. But I think Michelle would have something to say about that!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Two weddings
Two weddings on consecutive weekends, plus a whole set of work in the week in between. It was great to see friends and former colleagues, but it was a lot to fit in! Michelle and I realized that we can never look at a wedding in the same way again, as we were analyzing details, trying to figure out what we could easily do or not do...I did love being back in the US in some senses, like things like call waiting, voicemail (you know, for a country that is supposedly way ahead of the curve, Korea is in the stone ages for this one!) Was of course welcomed by the other parts of the US (unfriendly old ladies who wouldn't give me directions, thank you chatham NJ, HUGE portion sizes, etc). But i know how to deal with all of that, and it is in a language I can speak ;)
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Athletic weekend
It was a busy athletic weekend. I went biking with with kevin for the 2nd time, a 2 hour ride. I definitely was feeling a little out of shape by the end of it! Then the next day was basketball, which ended in quite a jammed finger (that is still an issue 3 weeks later!) And ended Sunday night with playing Rock Band at a friend's house. The goal was to be as loud as possible to annoy the neighbors (who had called to complain on previous occasions when the music wasn't very loud).
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Trip to Borneo!
Now this was a great little vacation from everything! Michelle came over to Korea and China, and we spent about 5 days in Borneo, exploring a variety of climates, foods, and underwater worlds! We arrived the first night and went off to a local market with a friend of a friend (who was our guide for a few days). We sampled a number of unique dishes, including a great chicken served out of bamboo. The next day we woke up to pouring rain (my heart dropped, since the weather forecast for our whole trip was rain - I had prayed it was wrong). Thankfully the rain lasted about 30 minutes and we went on to enjoy humid but beautiful weather! During breakfast we had birds (small birds like sparrows) flying around and occasionally landing on tables, adding a nice touch. We hired a car for the first day ($200 to drive us around for the day, which must have been a king's ransom in that country!) We drove out to the jungle area, with a range of activities for the day. Tea farms, swimming in the river with suction cup fishes (you bought food to hold in your hand, and these little Hoovers would suck it right out!) Once i gripped my hand tightly, and a fish gave me a massive hickey on my hand! Michelle had fun dropping food pellets as close to my mouth as possible, causing as close to a feeding frenzy as possible!
The afternoon we went to the jungle, including a canopy walk. It happened to be a national holiday, and we spent a good 40 minutes waiting in line to go on the canopy walk (so much so that we ended up missing our hot springs appointment. That and the fact our guide sent us in the wrong direction towards the canopy walk). It was amusing though, we had some people on the canopy walk who were not exactly what you would call comfortable with heights. Michelle did not help matters when casually talking about how the nets did not look safe (as we were 40 meters off the ground). Then, to end the day, we saw a Rafflesia flower, which is the largest flower in the world (it can be up to a meter in diameter. What is amazing is that they take 7-15 months to grow, and then they only bloom for a week!! As a result, they are fairly rare to see, but one of the locals found one on their property. It was well worth the $10 to go and see it!
The next day we wandered around Kinabalu National park, and hopped off to our next stop, an island resort. This was intentionally luxurious, we were on a house on stilts over the water. The resort had snorkel gear, a marine preserve, a spa, and an infinity pool! We made the most of all of the above and then some! What was amazing was that it was about a 15 minute boat ride from Kota Kinabalu (and even visible from it), but you felt miles away. We went swimming, collected shells, and settled down to a nice dinner of fresh fish. You know it is always a good sign when the menu changes based on what was recently caught! We sat by the sea and would continually hear splashing of fish, and at one point we saw a cloud of brown -- it turned out we watched a squid ink a would be predator!
The following day was a big water day, with scuba diving on the horizon. I was battling a cold (NOT a good idea to dive due to inner ear issues, but I decided to be reckless). Needless to say, my morning dive did not go well, and then in the afternoon Michelle almost ran out of oxygen! So it was a bit of an unnerving day, but we were able to see a bunch of marine life. Malaysia is known for some of the best dive sites in the world, and if we had more time, we would have gone to some of them! We happened to go to a beach where there were a number of Koreans. You knew that was the case when we saw a mother and her babies almost completed covered in hats and suits to protect themselves from the sun. (The even funnier part was seeing them in the same getup at the pool in our last day in Kota Kinabalu, after I had predicted to Michelle that they wouldn't stay in an eco-resort, but instead in KK at a resort like ours...) That night was a necessary calm night, and we both enjoyed a great massage. This was in contrast with dinnertime, where we saw some serious forces of brutality (crabs mating - it was hard to tell who was meaner, the men or the women!) We had another fantastic meal though, and went to sleep tired but happy.
2 am provided a scare however, with howling winds. The sun umbrella outside our door was thrown around, and our whole house seemed to shake. Knowing you are sleeping over the water does not help your sense of well-being, but they were well built! We woke up not fully refreshed, but determined to make the most of our last day at the resort. We went kayaking, snorkeling around the resort (Michelle saw a bunch of baracudas within a few meters of us). We took the kayak over to a nearby beach, and started to collect shells. Michelle found one she really liked, the only downside was that there was a hermit crab in it. She tried everything, from blowing on it to some small shaking, he refused to leave (even as she produced one that looked almost exactly the same). The whole scene was highly amusing, although I better hope she doesn't do the same to me at any point ;)
We went to the marine eco-center and planted coral, saw a snapping turtle (this bugger looked mean and like he wanted to climb out of the tank, and man he seemed close!) We picked up a peeing cucumber, saw some of the worlds largest clams, and learned about clownfish. (It is really cool that they are immune to sea anemones - the only animal that is like that - and they have a symbiotic relationship).
The last afternoon we wandered around Kota Kinabalu, seeing the local markets, stopping every 10 minutes for another of Michelle's favorite fruit. We gorged on salak fruit, coconut juice, and many others. The food overall was great in Malaysia, from a milky tea called Tea Tarik, a coffee that seemed mixed with Chai tea, and some really great beef. I could definitely live on this food! We went to Reflexology that night, according to the pressure points that hurt, almost every one of my internal organs and body parts are messed up ;) It was an amazing 1.5 hour reflexology and massage though, definitely worth it! Speaking of which, i need to make the most of the Thai massage places I found in Seoul a few weeks back. About $50 for 90 minutes! We returned to the hotel tired but happy. There was a festival going on in the hotel, and we wandered around, seeing ethnic clothing, dances, and tried a juice called "Noni juice" that tasted about as bad as it smelled. Supposedly good for you though ;)
The afternoon we went to the jungle, including a canopy walk. It happened to be a national holiday, and we spent a good 40 minutes waiting in line to go on the canopy walk (so much so that we ended up missing our hot springs appointment. That and the fact our guide sent us in the wrong direction towards the canopy walk). It was amusing though, we had some people on the canopy walk who were not exactly what you would call comfortable with heights. Michelle did not help matters when casually talking about how the nets did not look safe (as we were 40 meters off the ground). Then, to end the day, we saw a Rafflesia flower, which is the largest flower in the world (it can be up to a meter in diameter. What is amazing is that they take 7-15 months to grow, and then they only bloom for a week!! As a result, they are fairly rare to see, but one of the locals found one on their property. It was well worth the $10 to go and see it!
The next day we wandered around Kinabalu National park, and hopped off to our next stop, an island resort. This was intentionally luxurious, we were on a house on stilts over the water. The resort had snorkel gear, a marine preserve, a spa, and an infinity pool! We made the most of all of the above and then some! What was amazing was that it was about a 15 minute boat ride from Kota Kinabalu (and even visible from it), but you felt miles away. We went swimming, collected shells, and settled down to a nice dinner of fresh fish. You know it is always a good sign when the menu changes based on what was recently caught! We sat by the sea and would continually hear splashing of fish, and at one point we saw a cloud of brown -- it turned out we watched a squid ink a would be predator!
The following day was a big water day, with scuba diving on the horizon. I was battling a cold (NOT a good idea to dive due to inner ear issues, but I decided to be reckless). Needless to say, my morning dive did not go well, and then in the afternoon Michelle almost ran out of oxygen! So it was a bit of an unnerving day, but we were able to see a bunch of marine life. Malaysia is known for some of the best dive sites in the world, and if we had more time, we would have gone to some of them! We happened to go to a beach where there were a number of Koreans. You knew that was the case when we saw a mother and her babies almost completed covered in hats and suits to protect themselves from the sun. (The even funnier part was seeing them in the same getup at the pool in our last day in Kota Kinabalu, after I had predicted to Michelle that they wouldn't stay in an eco-resort, but instead in KK at a resort like ours...) That night was a necessary calm night, and we both enjoyed a great massage. This was in contrast with dinnertime, where we saw some serious forces of brutality (crabs mating - it was hard to tell who was meaner, the men or the women!) We had another fantastic meal though, and went to sleep tired but happy.
2 am provided a scare however, with howling winds. The sun umbrella outside our door was thrown around, and our whole house seemed to shake. Knowing you are sleeping over the water does not help your sense of well-being, but they were well built! We woke up not fully refreshed, but determined to make the most of our last day at the resort. We went kayaking, snorkeling around the resort (Michelle saw a bunch of baracudas within a few meters of us). We took the kayak over to a nearby beach, and started to collect shells. Michelle found one she really liked, the only downside was that there was a hermit crab in it. She tried everything, from blowing on it to some small shaking, he refused to leave (even as she produced one that looked almost exactly the same). The whole scene was highly amusing, although I better hope she doesn't do the same to me at any point ;)
We went to the marine eco-center and planted coral, saw a snapping turtle (this bugger looked mean and like he wanted to climb out of the tank, and man he seemed close!) We picked up a peeing cucumber, saw some of the worlds largest clams, and learned about clownfish. (It is really cool that they are immune to sea anemones - the only animal that is like that - and they have a symbiotic relationship).
The last afternoon we wandered around Kota Kinabalu, seeing the local markets, stopping every 10 minutes for another of Michelle's favorite fruit. We gorged on salak fruit, coconut juice, and many others. The food overall was great in Malaysia, from a milky tea called Tea Tarik, a coffee that seemed mixed with Chai tea, and some really great beef. I could definitely live on this food! We went to Reflexology that night, according to the pressure points that hurt, almost every one of my internal organs and body parts are messed up ;) It was an amazing 1.5 hour reflexology and massage though, definitely worth it! Speaking of which, i need to make the most of the Thai massage places I found in Seoul a few weeks back. About $50 for 90 minutes! We returned to the hotel tired but happy. There was a festival going on in the hotel, and we wandered around, seeing ethnic clothing, dances, and tried a juice called "Noni juice" that tasted about as bad as it smelled. Supposedly good for you though ;)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Weekend in Shanghai
Michelle had two weekends on this side of the world, and we made the most of them. We traveled to Shanghai for one of them. I was still caught up in the middle of a TV commercial - it was not ideal to talk on her phone in Shanghai to clear up issues. Once that phone call was over though, we had a great dinner with a business school classmate and his friend. Some great Balinese food! From there we explored the "artistic street" with all sorts of cute bars and shops (so interesting that we returned there the next day!)
The following day we continued to explore (fairly blind, since neither of us had a guidebook of China, having both left them at home). We returned to a place where we had been the previous year, and man where there about 10 times the number of people! I watched a Chinese older woman just push someone else out of the way. That was NOT well received by the foreigner. Michelle and I looked around for some wedding gifts and centerpieces. Watching her negotiate is always an experience, but she lost it at a certain point when they were trying to yank her around. While it was part of the gamesmanship, we were tired and finished with the game. We took plan B to have a friend in China look into it. We ended the night with a walk along the Bund, which looks beautiful at night with all of the lit up buildings! From there it was back to our hotel with a very large bathtub (definite ideas for a future house!)
We ended the trip with seeing a good friend from high school and his wife and not-so-little anymore baby boy. Tom-Tom seemed to love hanging out on my shoulder, I think it is because i had a super comfortable shirt (i wonder if parents end up wearing soft clothes so their kids like them more? :)
The return was a bit of an ominous sign. Michelle and I played on the ipod touch (which i was officially addicted to after about 4 days. Michelle and I had to have a rule of only 3 games of Scramble at a time on our vacation or we barely talked with each other). We became so engrossed in the game, we managed to miss our stop on the bus. And with very little English ability for the bus driver, that was interesting! The bus karma unfortunately continued for the next week. First I mistimed the bus in the morning, and waited for about 40 minutes for the next one, another day i had to take a cab to work since I was late, and for the first time ever I got on the wrong bus going home! (And that was not ideal, as I tried to politely ask random people next to me if the bus went to Seoul (or heaven forbid, the opposite direction). Thankfully it ended up in Seoul, but about 40 minutes late. That did not go over well for our dinner plans...
The following day we continued to explore (fairly blind, since neither of us had a guidebook of China, having both left them at home). We returned to a place where we had been the previous year, and man where there about 10 times the number of people! I watched a Chinese older woman just push someone else out of the way. That was NOT well received by the foreigner. Michelle and I looked around for some wedding gifts and centerpieces. Watching her negotiate is always an experience, but she lost it at a certain point when they were trying to yank her around. While it was part of the gamesmanship, we were tired and finished with the game. We took plan B to have a friend in China look into it. We ended the night with a walk along the Bund, which looks beautiful at night with all of the lit up buildings! From there it was back to our hotel with a very large bathtub (definite ideas for a future house!)
We ended the trip with seeing a good friend from high school and his wife and not-so-little anymore baby boy. Tom-Tom seemed to love hanging out on my shoulder, I think it is because i had a super comfortable shirt (i wonder if parents end up wearing soft clothes so their kids like them more? :)
The return was a bit of an ominous sign. Michelle and I played on the ipod touch (which i was officially addicted to after about 4 days. Michelle and I had to have a rule of only 3 games of Scramble at a time on our vacation or we barely talked with each other). We became so engrossed in the game, we managed to miss our stop on the bus. And with very little English ability for the bus driver, that was interesting! The bus karma unfortunately continued for the next week. First I mistimed the bus in the morning, and waited for about 40 minutes for the next one, another day i had to take a cab to work since I was late, and for the first time ever I got on the wrong bus going home! (And that was not ideal, as I tried to politely ask random people next to me if the bus went to Seoul (or heaven forbid, the opposite direction). Thankfully it ended up in Seoul, but about 40 minutes late. That did not go over well for our dinner plans...
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