Isomorphist

I was greeted by this lovely fireworks display on my evening walk home from work last week.  Its still a bit early for Chinese New Year, but I applaud the pyro’s enthusiasm.  It was quite striking to see fireworks launched in the middle of busy Zhaojiabang Road, with ash and debris falling on nearby pedestrians.  Notice the moment when the red light changes and the bus moves out of the way, you can actually see the launching site on the steps of an office building.

Apparently individuals launch fireworks like this ad hoc all over China during the Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year).  And yes, its dangerous.  Similar fireworks launched from the iconic CCTV tower led to the destruction of the  Mandarin Oriental hotel in Beijing back in 2008.

Looking forward to see what they put together in Hong Kong next week.

Another funny translation.

Originally uploaded by john.frager

I think the sign is in fuxing park.Fuxing park is a quaint little french built park in the former french concession. Some say its the best park in Shanghai, but I hate to say that wouldnt mean much. Shanghai has a lot to offer, but its parks are not quite european, not quite chinese and usually oozing with cheesiness.

Weather was nice on saturday and I sat there people watching and devouring the first third of Murakami’s Norwegian Wood. Every time I read one of his books I get transported back to my brief and somewhat surreal trip in Jan 05. I would really love to go back sometime soon, especially to see the countryside.

A favorite beverage in supermarker aisles across China

Originally uploaded by john.frager

I think its actually some kind of leaf…

Some chicken with your laundry?

Originally uploaded by john.frager

A very common sight during winter in china…

I wrote this on my first day on the job back in January. It was a fairly eventful day and I think it nicely encapsulates the anticipation and excitement of a new job combined the the unique particularities of working in an entrepreneurial environment abroad.

I began the day making flyers to post at local universities for a new translator. It took me 5 minutes to design the flyer, which had a rather fetching design if I say so myself. Unfortunately, it then took me 15 minutes to set up black and white print settings. This was something of a metaphor for the day. I went to two universities and flyered the foreign language and business buildings. The campuses were quite nice, with a mix of 19th century pseudo Gothic and hyper modernist architectural styles. However, I had only the architecture to contemplate because the universities were on break – till February 27th (it was early January).  Korean schools are on break from December 22nd to February 27th! They have a combined Christmas and Lunar New Year break. I think it makes sense to take a long break during the bleak, Siberian wind fueled Korean winters.

However, I was not as lucky as these Hyundai Rice Rocket driving, Yonsei University students. No. I was hiking through acres of beautifully manicured campus in -2c, with a cold. So I return the office at lunch time and we go to Outback Steakhouse (unfathomably popular in Korea, its on every corner)  The waitress tells us that we’d be out of our minds and wasting our money if we don’t get their little fruit juice combo. We got the fruit juice. Its just as unappealing as we expected.   I remember having seafood quesadillas which is a ridiculous thing to do in South Korea, but then so was this day.

After lunch I left to make color photocopies. This should have been easy. The previous day, I went to an office supply store and told me they do photocopies. I went back there, but the guy insisted he cant do color. He directed me down the street in broken English (English is barely spoke among the older generations). I find the place down the street, and again, they can’t do color. Fine, so I went even farther down the street. Past the ‘Paris Bakery’ past the incredible and extremely tempting street market, which I’m proud to say I resisted. Even if it was only by spending 90 seconds meditating on the mantra, “you’re not on vacation, you’re at work, you’re not on vacation, you’re at work.” I finally ended up at a third photocopy place. The guy there is ancient and of the friendly species of old people, so I chatted him up a bit. This may have been a mistake because he spent twice as long as necessary poking his Xerox before he proclaimed, “ah, no color.” By twice as long, I mean a full 15-20 minutes. At this point, it had been a long day and I didn’t feel like dealing with any more bullshit or disappointment. Hah. I went back to the hotel and convinced the lady at the information desk to find a photocopy place that actually does color. I get her to write down the address in Korean, and phone number on one of these little blank business cards used by all hotels to for taxi directions (In all my time in Seoul I only met I English speaking taxi driver).  I gave the driver the address, which opened up a whole new basket of confusion.  It turns out that in Korea they don’t use real addresses but only building names. He got this one wrong and dropped me off at the wrong building. A building security guard advised me to cross the street, which is more like a highway, and enter a big blue building. No luck there. Another security guard says to go check the basement level. There was a huge bookstore there. They sell a lot of books and randomly a few designer handbags and earrings. Why not get a Fendi handbag with that organic chemistry textbook? In any case,  I asked a girl shelving books to help me out. She read the card from the hotel, then frowned. She then took me to the information desk. They all laughed, covering their mouths and look at me like a lost puppy. I felt like one too. The book shelving girl turned out to have decent English and guided me toward a pedestrian underpass that connects to the bookstore. She then gave me some complicated directions and I frowned. She felt bad and walked me through a long subterranean walkway, up stairs exiting on the other side of the street and then started asking people exactly how to find my damn building. It turns out that while she is extremely nice, she had only been living in Seoul for a month. Unsurprising given my luck that day.  Finally some older woman buying roasted chestnuts pointed off in some direction that couldn’t possibly be a street. Everyone nodded.

Off I went and after wandering through a couple more lobbies and pedestrian malls…nothing. Ok, so now I needed to just call this place. I went to a bank and that’s where the magic happened. Banks are great and I now treat them as municipal information desks.  It reminds me of a talk I heard by Hakim Bey where he described how ancient Mesopotamian proto-banks were a function of the temples and were part of a system that regulated all layers of social intercourse.  Anyway, the woman at information immediately called the number and a friendly customer with great English was waiting in line and patiently explained to me that my troubles started way back at the original hotel. It turns out that woman who wrote out the address made a mistake and half the address is on one side of the street while the other half is on the other!  I’m still not sure how this works exactly. It must be a testament to Korean scientific progress and dynamism. I found my copy shop.  Anyway, of course my copies were twice what I want to pay and took forever, but I finally got them done.  My final conclusion – Korea, you can’t possibly be a “world class hub” of anything unless you have at least one color photocopier every couple of kilometers. (Koreans seem to be alwalys calling the country a world class hub of something, logistics, higher-education, finance, medical tourism, skyscrapers, toilets etc ) Sorry, it just can’t happen otherwise. Second, I’m a tad surprised you’re still reading. But if you are, don’t think I’m miserable or complaining. As I waited for the elevator I said to myself ‘this beats the hell out of a desk job.’

Today marks my third week here in Seoul.  Its been a great experience so far – interesting work, great coworkers, fun parties, great food, and a city that at first seems a bit bland but becomes terrific once you get to know it.

A quick recap.  I actually started the job four weeks ago, with the annual meeting in Paris.  It was great to meet everyone and I got along well with everyone.  Except perhaps some of the management because my hotel neglected to give me my scheduled wake up call and I rolled into work an hour late on the second day…However, they didn’t seem overly incensed.  Ok, now I’m violating one of Fred Kofman’s cardinal rules, always take responsibility for your actions, even if there really is an external cause.  So, it was my fault for neglecting to better prepare a backup alarm to ensure I would wake up on time.  Mmm, better.  The annual meeting in Paris was a ton of fun and a great way to join the company.  Apparently most people join at other times of the year, and simply get staffed without knowing anyone at the company.

At the end of the week, I find out that I’m going to South Korea to work on a pharmaceutical industry project.  I had heard a rumor that I’d be staying in Paris for a European project, but I am quite happy I came here.  I love East Asia, and given my background in Biology, I find Pharma and Biotech fascinating.  It’s been great learning about the business side of the industry and the specifics of the Korean market.  If I work on a Pharma project as a full-fledged analyst, I will become a real expert on the field.  That’s one of the great aspects of the job, you get to learn about industries in-depth, and meet key personalities, and just at the point where you feel you’ve exhausted what that country and industry has to offer, you move on to another project.

Life here has been a lot of fun.  My coworkers have a number of friends here, and I’ve gotten to know some of them.  We all go out together and hang out on the weekends.  We were gonna go down to Pusan yesterday, but that plan evaporated.  Our project manager is coming for a visit next week, so we can’t go next weekend.  Perhaps the following weekend will work.  I’m not sure how much longer I’m gonna be here, so I don’t want to put it off for too long.  I was considering a temple stay for a weekend, but its quite cold here (Siberian winds blow South and hit the Korean peninsula pretty hard) and I doubt temples have central heating.  They probably have the ondol system, but I’m just not sure it’s worth it.

There are a few neighborhoods here in Seoul that I like.  I stayed my first week in Innsadong, and its pretty cool.  It’s the only neighborhood with a large number of traditional houses (many of them restored).  There are a lot of arts and crafts shops and traditional restaurants and tea houses.  It’s a bit touristy, but there are also a bunch of cool galleries, art spaces, and trendy shops.  There is also Hongdae, which is more or less the East Village of Seoul.  Lots of cool little places with a grungy, artsy, alternative vibe.  Apgujong is the trendier area with lots of clubs, the equivalent to Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.  Then there is also a neighboring area, also in Gangnam-Gu, which has cool backstreets and really trendy restaurants but I cant remember the name…something hill.  Anyway, that’s Seoul’s West Village.  My neighborhood, Itaewon, doesn’t really have an analogous area in New York, though its something like Beyoglu in Istanbul…a historical foreign district.

Anyway, that’s a brief introduction to the city and what I’m doing here.  I’ll be posting soon with a look back at my first day on the job.

I wrote a number of post outlines in my time in Korea, that I’ve just started fleshing out and now I’m starting to upload.  I’m hoping to get through the old stuff this week.  My work schedule has been pretty hectic and I’m only starting to find a time to post regularly.  I aim to firmly establish the habit once I’m staffed on a long-term project, but for now posting will continue ad hoc.