I need a James Bond Camera...

...which would allow me to take pictures of some of the more interesting things in Korea. Unfortunately, since security everywhere is so tight, I was unable to get a picture of lunch last Thursday. We went to visit a potential Tier customer and arrived about an hour and a half early so we could have lunch and strategize. All pretense of doing any actual work was dispensed of, however, as soon as the various side dishes were brought out to accompany another meal of Koran BBQ (this time spicy duck). The side dishes included the usual items such as kimchi and assorted cucumbers, roots, mushrooms. The new twist this time - silkworm grubs. Apparently before the silkworm turns into a worm that makes silk, it is a grub - about the size and shape of a large bee. My colleague Tim and I (Tim has a pretty adventurous palate, moreso that some previous North American guests) looked at each other and kind of silently agreed that we couldn't leave Korea without trying them. I wasn't too impressed, and I don't really know how to describe what they tasted like. To be honest, they looked kind of like peanuts, so maybe I was expecting them to taste like peanuts, so I pretty much decided I didn't care for them. All I know is they tasted like something you probably shouldn't eat, as in, "ugh, that didn't taste like food, I won't do that again."

So now I am sitting in the beautiful Ginny's apartment in Chicago waiting to go home. I've had a good, if not jet-lagged, visit in Chicago these past few days, but I am definitely ready to head home. Trip of Brother Rice and U of M fame is driving me home, bless him, since I kind of got stranded here (initially I was supposed to meet family here, but that fell through, and then as it turns out there is not a single rental car available anywhere in the city of Chicago). It's cold, rainy, and extremely windy, and I couldn't be happier to be back in the States! Right now we are thinking much of our activity in Korea can be managed from the US, so I have no immediate plans to go back, at least not for an extended period (maybe a week or two at a time). For now, I am enjoying my full week off of work, and can't wait to veg out with the fam and friends.

Dinner with Them Duke Boys

The previous post aside, I must confess that weekends in Seoul are usually time well spent. At this point, I think Mr. Hurr considers me his infant son, since he takes me on trips to places like the zoo.

However, Friday night last week was all grown-up activity. Two of the top Hyundai purchasing guys for Chassis (the guy who signed our letter of intent for this whole project and his boss) had heard through the grapevine that the ITW guys were doing a good job and working very hard at the R&D center, so they invited us to a fancy dinner in Seoul. We got all gussied up in our best suits and ties from TJ Maxx (what?) and headed out.

ITW guys arrived first, and stretched out on the floor, since that's where you sit at these places - at this point it was me, Paul, Tim, and KB. Mr. Hurr, Ms. Kang, and YG had not yet shown up. Hyundai guys were the next to arrive. The conversation went something like this:

KB (introducing the first guy): Mac, this is Deputy General Lee, you met him during our first purchasing meeting back in September.

Mac: An-nyeong ha-ssea-yo, Mr. Lee, it is nice to meet you.

Deputy General Lee: Ne, and how are you?

KB (introducting the second guy): Mac, this is General Lee, he is Deputy General Lee's boss.

Mac: An-nyeong ha-ssea-yo, Mr. Lee, it is nice to meet you.

KB: Oh no, you should call him General Lee, not Mr. Lee.

Mac (with visible excitement): It is very nice to meet you, Generel Lee!

I am not sure what it says about me, since I skipped right over the Civil War reference and immediately in my head began referring to the two Lees as Dem Duke Boys. This made dinner infinitely more enjoyable, since every time I looked their way I envisioned one of them sliding across the hood of an orange muscle car.

This, I assume, was helped throughout the night by the two bottles of very smooth and likely expensive scotch whisky that they brought as gifts. After the introductions to the bane of Hazzard County law enforcement, Deputy General Lee produced a 17-year old bottle of Chivas. We respectfully poured whisky into shot glasses for everybody (there is no ice, there is no water, this is KOREA, dammit, we drink it strong!) and had a sip, and indicated our appreciation. However, as Mr. Hurr (Dad) had not yet arrived, we decided to wait before really getting going.

A few minutes later he did arrive, shook hands with everyone (he already knew the Hyundai guys), and proceeded to down his previously-poured shot without any real ceremony - no "thanks," no "cheers," no real acknowledgement at all, nuthin'. Just chugged and put his glass down. This happened at least 4 more times in the next twenty or so minutes, and the bottle was easily drained, and so we ate (Korean BBQ, but not pork, it was beef this time, and it was exceptional).

The real excitement came when Deputy General Lee produced a second bottle of whisky, this time 21-year-old Ballantine whisky.

Paul and Mr. Hurr showing off.

Again, very good stuff, and we dispatched of it in a hurry, but not before the light show. We were lubed enough for the Koreans to start telling stories, and it came out that when Mr. Hurr's old company was purchased by ITW, they celebrated by drinking flaming shots of whisky. The obvious next step here was to get a lighter from the waitress and start setting our drinks on fire. Mr. Hurr, after some effort, managed to drink the contents of his glass without setting his face on fire, but the interesting thing was that when he put the glass down, it was still aflame. Methinks there's been a lot of practice here. After he was done, since he was sitting right next to me, he reached over, grabbed my goatee, and announced it was my turn. I politely but sternly declined. Not to be outdone by a supplier, General Lee performed his own spirits-on-fire tricks.

Mr. Hurr setting the table on fire for the second time out of two weekends that I've been with him. Both were accidents, but the first was more enjoyable, since the waitstaff noticed that our super-fatty pork had caught fire and that it was starting to rage out of control. We had damn near the whole restaraunt batting at our grill to put out the flames, but not before ashes covered the place.

Deputy General Lee, setting up Atomic Bombs (soju in beer) for everyone, via the Dominoes Method. Yes, we're all professionals here.

I swear, we do more here than just eat and drink. I can just never remember what it is.

Time to Update...

Well, the last week has not exactly been overflowing with excitement, other than I am for the most part very bored while at work, and spend most of my free time reading. Namyang is just that uninteresting. I have made a handful of new friends around here, including Scott, a shaved-head sporting, Harley Davidson T-shirt wearing, no-punch-pulling Texan who was here for a week. I'm kind of a big scary guy with my goatee, he was king of a big scary guy with a goatee, it was inevitable.

Scott and I had a fun little sympathy session outside of the elevators a few days ago. The good news is, misery loves company. Scott works for a company that does rapid prototyping. I don't exactly know what this means, but I do know that he finished setting up his machine at the R&D center around 1pm that day, got it running, debugged it, and announced he was heading back to the hotel so he could catch up on some other things and get back into his computer (recall, they tape up all the data ports on your laptop). Alas! His contact, quite upset with this statement, told him that no, he was not allowed to leave, he had to stay to do his work. Scott indicated that his work there was done, that all he would be doing is watch the machine run, so it was better for him to go back to the hotel. He was summarily told, without exception, that he was to sit and watch the machine until 5pm, just the like the rest of us. So he did what any red-blooded American would do when faced with such a situation: he put a chair in front of that machine, leaned back in it, put his feet up, and took a nap. Eventually his stubborn behavior won out in the end, and he was 'allowed' to leave half an hour early.

Of course, when he asked how long I was here and I told him since September, he just shook his head slowly and said "you poor bastard."

So the good news is, I'm not alone. The bad news is, if I don't have it worse than anyone else, I apparently have it longer than anyone else. Suffice it to say, I get on an airplane on Friday morning to come home for Thanksgiving, and I am already packed.

The Irish are Taking Over the World

Perhaps you thought the imperialistic American military machine was trying to take over the world. Or perhaps the wily Japanese, what with their sleek cameras and reliable automobiles. Or maybe it's just Wal-Mart (yes, there's a Wal-Mart here in Seoul). But no, the Celts and the Gaels are slowly, silently, and slyly stamping their seal on every corner from Dublin to Chicago to Seoul.

What to do as a jet-lagged American on a 36-hour holiday in Seoul during Autumn? Find an Irish pub called Dublins and explain to your Korean host the meaning behind the Orange and the Green, St. James' Gate, harps facing to the right vs. harps facing to the left, and enjoy a Guiness or two (two, in my case). They even drew a shamrock on the head! Well played, Korean guys!

I thought it was just an American, thing, the Irish Pub. Every crappy little town near the D has at least one "Authentic Irish Pub," which somehow is supposed to be distinct and unique and fun. It's to the point where one must assume that every American bar is actually an Irish bar. It takes me about 75 seconds to walk from my front door in Berkley to "The Blarney Stone." There is also "O'Tooles" in Royal Oak. The D has The Old Shil and, less famously but much more interestingly, the Tipperary Pub, on the Northwest side - you can see it driving south on the Southfield. Beemerham has Dick O'Dows (the entire interior was imported from Ireland); Ann Arbor has Conor O'Neil's. It's like an epidemic; I just didn't realize it was a MOVEMENT.

Back to World Domination. The Irish have slowly but surely penetrated every major market with their guile, and it's only a matter of time before the harp becomes the official musical instrument of South Korea. Viva al Celtic Tiger!

You know how sometimes bars or restaraunts will tack articles about themselves to their walls? This place was no exception. The Korean proprietor, according to the article, has tried to recreate the Irish (or at least the North Atlantic) experience at the bar. He explained that most Koreans will drink until they can't feel their legs (take it easy, soju), but they'll do it in the company of only those few folks they showed up with. There is no social interaction outside of the group with which one arrives to the bar.

Mr. Proprieter is evidently quite Worldly, and was quite taken with the open social interaction that takes place within Irish and British pubs. One hundred strangers can enter an alehouse in Dublin, watch one soccer match, and leave the pub as best friends. He evidently wants to recreate this same sense of cameraderie within the confines of Seoul. Alas, if only we had a soccer match to watch. I was instead forced to endure a Britney Spears-a-thon. This actually wasn't so bad for me, since they were showing all her videos, before she got, um, socially awkward. I didn't see any Koreans making new friends, but neither did I see that the bar was chock full of Westerners; it was definitely Korean-dominated, which was kind of fun, since with a name like Dublin's I expected it to be full of Americans, Canadians, Australians, and other Westerners. Let's hear it for breaking down ethnic barriers!

Oh yeah, a Guiness at Dublin's is 16,500 won, which is roughly US$18. That's one pint. We won't be going back.

Autumn Blossoms in Seoul

Help!

OK, I need some help. This is really directed at Chi Basson, if you are actually still reading this. My grizzled mug now adorns the top of this blog, but it's entirely too big. I just can't figure out how to make it smaller and more manageable. Thoughts? The picture is actually from a camping/fishing trip that Eric Leigh and I took this past summer. We went to Craig Lake State Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This was a pretty phenomenal trip, although the fishing was nowhere near as good as Eric led me to believe.

Nothing real exciting has happened in Korea the last couple of days, save for lunch today. I made the mistake of letting Mr. Hurr order for me, and what arrived was an excruciatingly spicy broth filled with noodles, shrimp, oysters, clams, some other shellfish I didn't recognize, and the piece de resistance, a whole octopus. The server severed the tentacles from the, uh, torso (?) with scissors, and I was totally going to eat the thing, but when I tried to pick it up with my chopsticks a bunch of gooey purple fluid squirted out, and I was no longer hungry. No cajones, I suppose. My only real regret is that I did not have the foresight to snap a pic of the thing before she hacked it up. Oh well.

Speaking of pictures, I tried to get some more up here, but I keep getting errors, so it will have to wait for another time.