I have found that the most difficult aspect of being in South Korea is the language barrier. Though many Koreans know basic English it is still difficult to communicate. I can finally say hello “annyeonghaseyo” with a little bit of confidence, but that won’t get you very far in South Korea.
It is however amazing how much can be communicated with body language and facial expressions. In the elevator the other day a woman looked at my dog Titan with a weary look on her face. I said “he’s friendly” and pet him on the head. She said something and I thought I heard the word canine in there. She had a look of disgust on her face. I said to her “oh, you don’t like dogs.” She looked kind of surprised by this. I have no idea what she said but her expression said it all.
Just like a picture, a facial expression can be worth a thousand words.
On a separate occasion, a small Korean boy got on the elevator and looked scared of Titan. I said “it’s OK, watch.” I then said “anj-a” which means sit in Korean. Titan sat down and looked at me expectantly and I praised him. The young boy looked pretty impressed and said “wow”. (OK so Titan does not know Korean, I trained him with some basic commands in puppy class years ago using sign language, but the boy didn’t know this). 
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No it is not Atlantis, not in the conventional sense of the word. This is the city of New Songdo, it is not science fiction, this is where I live.
A few months ago when I discovered that we might be moving to South Korea I was excited at the possibility of a new adventure. The economy was pretty stagnant in the U.S. so Josh and I jumped at this opportunity but I had no idea that I was moving to such a fascinating place. The city of Songdo is built upon reclaimed land from the ocean. It is a man-made island, so once again I am an island girl .
I had no idea how NEW this city was. It just opened in August of 2009. There is still a massive amount of construction going on. It’s quite the contrast from the U.S. where many projects have slowed down because of the recession.
There is a park just down the road from us called “Central Park”. There is a canal that runs through it that is actually ocean water. It reminded me a lot of “Central Park” in NYC so I wasn’t surprised to find out this was the source of inspiration for the design. more…
Last weekend I met someone who lives in China. I have read a lot about China recently with respect to the influence it has over the U.S. economy. Speaking with someone who lives there and runs a factory there has only reinforced what I have read. Do not underestimate China.
It is no secret that many of the products that we buy in the U.S. are manufactured in China. I didn’t realize how bad it really was until a few years ago. I was working for Applied Biochemists and I was assigned the task of finding a gift for a visiting customer. Ironically he was from South Korea. The one requirement (besides the monetary one), was that it was something manufactured in the U.S.A. If it said “made in China” it would not be acceptable. My friend and I searched for hours to try to find something that was manufactured in the U.S.A. Try it some time, it is not an easy task.
The manufacturing industry in the U.S. is trailing behind other countries like China. Some will argue that it is because it is burdened with many government regulations that inhibits growth in the manufacturing industry, or that it relates to the strength of the dollar. These are both valid arguments. There is another factor that I think plays a big role and many refuse to discuss it because it forces them to take a closer look at themselves. What is it? Two simple words – work ethic. more…
It’s hard to believe I have been in South Korea for nearly two weeks already. Time has really flown by very quickly and yet it feels like I have done so much. This can probably be attributed to the day to day challenges I face because of the language barrier and difference in lifestyle.
Rice
Rice is an essential part of the diet here and Mrs. Lee was kind enough to give me a rice cooker. It looked really easy when she showed me and I thought I had committed all of the steps to memory. Unfortunately all of the “buttons” were in Korean so that was an obstacle by itself. I thought I remembered which button meant “cooking” and “warming” so I was confused when I plugged it in because the wrong light lit up. There was a lever in front that you had to push down to get the light to go from warming to cooking. I worked this out pretty quickly though.
I remembered to rinse the rice and I measured two cups of rice and filled the water up to the line that said two. Pretty easy right? I thought so until I went on the internet and started reading about the “two to one” ratio and second guessed myself, (and added more water). Needless to say google was not my friend in this case, the rice cooker was already calibrated. I should have trusted my memory. So I had a little bit of overflow – live and learn. It worked perfectly the second time. more…
