May 1 - Korea and Ulsan

Panorama of Ulsan from my Hotel

I apologize in the gap of my postings.  It is because of the city above, or at least what I did there.  The picture quality was not stellar, as it was from my cell phone and I did not have my actual camera with me.

The city of Ulsan is the 7th largest city in South Korea (~1.1 million) and is probably their largest industrial center and the home of Hyundai and the world's largest car assembly plant. It is home to the Hyundai car plant as well as the shipyard and a very large refinery operated by SK Energy.  Overall, it takes me just about 2 hours and 14,000 won in tolls to drive to Ulsan from Geoje.

I have spent about 2 weeks of April up in the city of Ulsan.  We have some modules with pressure vessels (if that means anything to you) that were being fabricated nearby at a company called Ilsung.  As the modules (a self-contained operating unit) are being shipped to DSME , we had to ensure that the modules worked as perscribed.  This is called an FAT (Factory Acceptance Test).  I just like the word, FAT.

Anyway, the FAT took us about 4 days to complete and then I stayed another 4 to help start up the disassembly and some kick-off meetings there.  And I just spent another 2 days in Ulsan this week to check on the progress of preparing the modules to ship to DSME.

So in short, I didn't have much time to post, especially since we had to work through one weekend.  And as all of you devotees to my blog know, I usually post on my Sunday night, or your (very early) Sunday morning.

The weather is warming up here and shorts are now a viable option of clothing, but I have a feeling that this part of Korea will become very humid and shorts will be the only intelligent option.  But the green mountainsides makes for a gorgeous backdrop to working in the shipyard.  You look above the pavement and metalclad buildings to see this green wall towering behind.  I love mountains.

As for the language, it is coming ever so slowly.  So slow.  But I am still trying.  I want to have some sort of working capacity in this language, despite functioning on a day-to-day basis in english at work (which makes learning the language very difficult).

I have a lot of time to read, and I have already finished several books.  With the other spare time that I do have, I have started to try my hand at personal investing (nothing big yet, just dabbling). But I need to find some new hobbies, and now that is warmer, I think that I am going to take up climbing the hills behind my apartment.  That should help keep me in shape.

An interesting side note, Easter here is not a big celebration if it is even acknowledged at all.  Our talks in church were not even on the atonement (though I must say the talks on Families were excellent).  I don't know if it is just the culture, but Easter just doesn't really land on the calendar here.

Last of all, if any of you drive with me in the states, I am afraid that I am picking up some bad habits from driving here.  Just wear your seat belt with me and I think everything will be just fine :)

Random Korea Stuff

I thought I would just post some more fun stuff.

I wish we had this in America: McDonald's Delivery.  If they did, I am sure someone in the U.S. would have sued them for it because now they wouldn't even need to get up off of the couch. (My co-worker is the one in the picture)

This picture is a bad one of the bridge that we cross to get to Busan from the island.  After this bridge there is actually an underwater tunnel that follows.  I think the tunnel is about 140 meters under water (about 460 ft).

Last of all, for a team building event between the Construction Engineers, we grew out our beards and then shaved them down to mustaches.  This reminded me of the beard that I had when I got back from my Europe trip.  I have to say, I enjoy being clean shaven (and so do most people around me, I think).

This is my beard in Korea.

 Mustache in Korea.

 

Back to no mustache in Korea.

 This is the beard that I had in Utah.  Enjoy the goofy grin :)

Goatee.

So I only kept this for about 3 minutes, but it was still fun.

 When I shaved down to a mustache in Utah, I couldn't keep my self serious.  To be honest, I couldn't take myself serious in Korea when I had one.

April 10 - Cherry Blossom Festival

 

So it is finally springtime again.  I love this time of year with the trees beginning to bloom and the improving weather.  As way to kick-off spring, a the city of Jinhae has a Cherry Blossom Festival.  It is supposed to be a popular tourist attraction for Koreans every year, and the traffic did get pretty bad.

The project put together a bus for all of us to ride to the festival, about 2 hours away.  I am glad I didn't have to find a place to park, let alone drive.  Sometimes it is nice to just kick back and relax while someone else does the driving.

We left Okpo around 9 AM and arrived a little after 11 AM.  We were there for 5 hours.  A little too long, but it was just fun to be out and seeing some places in Korea.  Jinhae is also home to a Naval Academy which we got to see.  For the trip we walked probably half of the city.  We climbed a local peak to get a view of the surrounding city, walked all the way to the Academy to see some ships, and then wandered through the city.  It was fun to see what the street vendors were selling, as well as just see the cherry blossoms.

Enjoy some of the photos from the trip:

This is one of my favorite views of Jinhae.  We hiked to the top of a local hill to get the view.  I thought the flag was fitting.

We were standing in the main square of the city looking towards the Naval Academy.

The top of the hill with the building is where we hiked to.  We took our pictures halfway up the building.  On the climb the steps counted exactly 365, one for each day of the year.

This is some of the stuff that they were selling at the street vendors.  Dried tentacles.  Mmmmm . . . I didn't try any.

 But I did try this.  A corn dog with fries fried into the dough.  That was delicious.

Another cool spot on the hill we climbed.

These were some of the ships at the Naval Academy.  I think it was also family day or something when we got there, as there were a lot of sailors having picnics with family and walking the Academy.

A cool street in the Academy.

Traffic cop at the Academy.

 What speaks more of the Korean Cherry Festival then Native Americans?  The best part was, they were playing native instruments to the music of Simon and Garfunkle and other stuff.  I just thought this was weird.

One nice shot.

Quote - Elder Johnson

The only way to see the views is to make the climb.

--Elder Paul V. Johnson (General Conference April 2011)

Korea Temple - Last week over March 26

Last week I got to go to the Seoul Temple!  It was a little bit of a drive, but it was worth it despite the exhaustion.  The members spend less then 10 hours actually in Seoul, so the majority of our time is spent traveling.  Here is how my time was spent.

Friday 8 PM: Leave Geoje, pick-up 2 other members, and drive 1 hour to Jinju to catch the bus.
Friday 9:30 PM: Start bus ride that I cannot sleep on.
Saturday 1:45 AM: Arrive at the Seoul Temple and go to the guest house to sleep, but I couldn't actually sleep because I was sleeping on top of hard wood floors.
Saturday 3:30 AM: Go over to the temple and begin preparation to go do sealings (as a witness and a son)
Saturday 4:15 AM: Do sealings for 45 minutes
Saturday 5:15 AM: Begin first endowment session
Saturday 7:15 AM: Begin second endowment session
Saturday 9:30 AM: Go to distribution store
Saturday 10: AM: Leave temple and Seoul to go back to Geoje
Saturday 1 PM: Bus pit-stop and get lunch for a half-hour
Saturday 3:30 PM: Arrive in Jinju and start driving back to Geoje
Saturday 4:45 PM: Arrive home with no sleep.

I don't think that I have quite recovered from the trip.  I can't sleep on buses, but the Koreans can.  As for the guest house, I was anticipating some beds, etc. like the Switzerland temple had for patron housing.  Not so.  I walked into the building and they handed us blankets and I just had to find some room to lay down on wood floor and try sleeping.  Again, for Koreans this wasn't hard and people were snoring within minutes.  I was in the haze of being tired but unable to sleep.

I also over packed.  I figured that we would change clothes and then go into the temple, or shower, something!  But the Korean members wore their suits on the bus, slept in them, and then got right up and went to do a session.  So I had a little bit too much stuff.  But we did fill an entire bus of members from the most southern stake in Korea to go to the temple.

The guest house has the banner hanging out in front out in front, our bus is on the right,  and the temple is behind the guest house and to the left a little.  Directly to my left was the Distribution Center.

Overall, the temple was a great experience.  It is good to receive the grounding effect of the temple.  It helps to refocus my thoughts and my efforts.

Sadly, because of the distance between us and our stake, we didn't spend much time in Seoul.  The city is huge and busy.  In fact, as we left the temple, it quickly is hidden by several buildings.  But I did get to see the Han River and one of the taller buildings in Seoul. Maybe Dustin will remember seeing this potion of Seoul?  This is a picture looking South across the Han River while I was in the Bus.  That is what I got to see.

Korea (Mar 13)

You may wonder on occasion: "I wonder what I should eat tonight?" or "What is on TV?" and even "What does Jason do on the weekends in Korea?"  All 3 really come to mind for me (except I don't think in the 3rd person).

As for dinner, it just depends.  I made a casserole the other day and that has been delicious throughout the week.  Another staple are ramen noodle bowls, etc.  It is like I am back in college (minus the hot dogs).  But most of the time I just eat a large lunch and try to have a small dinner.  At lunch, often times we will have meetings that will bring food in for us.  Other times we fend for ourselves, which leaves us only 2 options.  One, we can go eat in the cafeterias onsite that serve local Korean fare.  This has actually been pretty good and also a good way to discover Korean food.  I actually enjoy Kimchi and pickled radishes.  Our other option is to go into town and buy some lunch.  The most frequented restraunts include: Turkish House, Dheli (Indian food), and Thai Smile.  All delicious.

As for what is on TV, I just finished watching the last season of Lost.  I actually brought over the last season on DVD, so I wasn't really watching TV.  If I am watching Korean TV, I have CNN, BBC, History, Discovery, National Geographic, and the Korean StarCraft Channel :)  (Yes, I said StarCraft.  I may not understand the announcers, but it fun to critique their strategies.  I hope you are all laughing at me right now).  Those are my "go to" channels.  I also have  Slinbox back in the states that has broken recently and it is going to take a long time for it to get fixed.  So I used to watch U.S. TV, but that is on hold.  Some of you may be thinking "Watch Hulu."  Alas, Hulu is blocked in Korea.  Yet others thing, "Get an IP blocker" and I say, "I tried and it didn't work for me."  Oh well.  I will continue to work with Slingbox.

As for what I do on the weekends, we have discovered Screen Golf.  Golf here in Korea is a very expensive sport and time consuming.  Imagine at least a $200 green fee, tipping the mandatory caddy, and very strict Out of Bounds rules that make most people add 10-20 strokes onto a comparable game in the states.  Or, you can pay $20, have a private room, eat, lounge, and play in air conditioned (or heated) rooms for only about 3 hours.  Screen golf is what I have done the last 2 weeks.  It has been pretty fun.  It could ruin my real golf game if I played too often.  For example, when you chip, even if the screen tells you 40 yards, you may only hit it 10 feet while in the room, but the computer calculates your hit as 40 yards.

But the sensation is still fun.

Ryen, one of my co-workers, is in a sand trap.  You will notice that the platform that he is hitting from is actually tilted to the left to simulate the sort of slope that he is on.

This is me teeing off.

The game is not easy to get the hang of, but my first round I shot a 95.  Not too bad.  You can see I had a lot of pars.  This last weekend I shot a 105 (no picture, no evidence), but it had the best score on one hole I have ever recorded, digital or otherwise.  I had an Eagle on a par 4.  I holed in from 160 yds out on my second shot.  Glorious!

So, that is the answer to your 3 most frequent questions.  Maybe you aren't always thinking about me, but now you can worry even less.

Below I leave you with a video.  I want to say, that most of my tee shots are pretty good.  But of course, the hole that I decide to film myself, I hit it fat.  Enjoy and feel free to laugh :)

P.S.  I am alright here in Korea, despite the earthquake in Japan.  I personally didn't feel any movement here in Korea.  And there were no effects from the tsunami, as the islands of Japan shielded the peninsula.

Another Update from the Peninsula (Feb 28)

This post is for the last two weeks

But, here is the scoop.  People here in Geoje say that it hardly rains here and never snows.  And then one morning I come out of our apartments and see this crazy white stuff all over the cars.  Needless to say, now that the snow has melted and gone away, we have had a lot of rain.  Hmmm. . . I wonder what else "never" happens on the island. . .

With all of the snow a good majority of us thought that it would be fun to go skiing.  There is a resort about 2 hours north of us called Moojoo (모조) and we have a bus that leaves from Okpo and goes straight there.  So a group of 7 of us decided to go for a cheap price of about $65; this included our bus fare, our rentals, and our lift pass.  So it was great.  

As for the snow, it wasn't anything to write home about (which, I guess I am doing right now).  I would rate the slopes about the same as Sundance, with less snow and fewer black diamond runs.  In fact, I didn't see a single mogul the entire time.  The runs near the bottom were just a train wreck of humanity, so it made it fun to carve around people.

Sadly, they did discriminate against snowboarders at one lift, and of course it was the lift with no line.  All of my co-workers hopped onto that lift and I went back to the other mountain where I was allowed to ski.

The views from the mountian were pretty spectacular.  And at the very top of one mountain was a Pagoda.  That was just cool.

The plants under the snow just didn't seem like they should even be there.

I am the boarder if you were wondering :)

I guess you are probably all wondering how work is going.  Well, as of today (Feb 28) we began cutting steel.  There was a ceremony at the shop with all of the DSME and ExxonMobil personnel on the project.  The ceremony started with managers from both companies lighting separate candles which is a symbol of luck.  Then, we had a small little talk by the DSME manager, a safety talk from our project manager, and then a Korean prayer asking for luck and safety on the project.  Once this was all accomplished, our project manager pushed the button to start the computer controlled steel cutting machine.  There is also a tradition of cutting and eating a rice cake.  The project managers cut into it together (kind of like a wedding cake), tak a bite and then throw some of the rice cake onto the steel being cut; again, this is for luck.  The festivities were at an end and the rest of the participants ate some rice cake (for luck).

I must say that I grabbed way to large of a piece of the rice cake. It is pretty much taking rice, compressing it together so it is one cohesive piece and there you have it.  It is dense, flavorless, and covered in some red bean flakes.  It wasn't horrible, just didn't have any flavor.

So the adventure begins today.  This time next year we will have constructed over 10,000 tons of steel and finishing up the modules.