NO PLACE TO WORK
Yestderday, me and Jerry went to Gangnam, a rather high class district of Seoul, where she had to get her medical exams in order to process her visa to travel to Australia. The tests at the hospital went quickly and smoothly, although there were some comments about her low blood pressure, and we ended up with a lot of time on our hands. This was not a problem, as there's no end to interesting places to see in Gangnam.
First we saw a place called Paris Croissant and we could not stop ourselves from entering here. You walk around inside and, similar to a buffet, choose the items you want. There were sandwiches, pizza, all kinds of breads, pastries and doughnuts, hot dogs breakfast type stuff, you name it. This place was amazing. Since we were just getting started, though, we didn't want to pig out and only got a slice of pizza, a calzone and half a sandwich.
As we walked around we saw a host of amazing places. A Japanese sushi place, which she really wanted to visit (I'm not as crazy for sushi as she), a Subway, which may not sound special until you haven't seen one for many moons, Outback, Black Angus, Cold Stone, Smoothie King and tons of awesome looking Korean restaurants, not to mention other shops.
After finishing at the hospital we went for the sushi place. It was better than I expected. The chefs sat behind the bar which had a huge conveyor that went around the whole place. They would make stuff and put it on the conveyor and you could simply choose anything interesting that passed in front of you. I wasn't feeling the "raw food" thing that day and so I mostly stuff with California Rolls, Unagi (grilled eel) and egg. Still it was pretty good.
After that we looked around some other shops. Jerry wanted some hair conditioner and perfume so we checked some of the beauty places. There were plenty. We also went to this British handmade cosmetics store called Lush. This place has all kinds of specially made soap, makeup and creams that are all natural, some strange, but mostly interesting. The stuff looks weird, not like you expect from the normal grocery store products, but apparently it is popular worldwide. We also checked out a small toy store called Kinki Robot. None of the usal toys here. All, I'm guessing, little known figurines and accesories of the type people would want on a keychain or something.
Next we went to a place called Castle Praha (Prague) which was a Czech themed Hof. We went in because in the display window they had this plate which can best be desribed as a circle of Jimmy Dean sausage patties with cheese, spinich, tomato and other stuff all thrown in it. We got that and it was awesome. We wrapped things up with a trip to Cold Stone for ice cream before returning by express bus to Suwon City. Somewhere in there we passed by a cinema and saw that Dragon Ball and Push were playing. Neither at a time we could catch them, but it made us think to go home and try downloading one of them. Neither could be found though.
So what does all this have to do with no place to work? Well, since I spent yesterday out on the town, I am left to wonder what everyone else was doing that day. You see, this morning, I went to the office, which I wrote about before, where I was planning to do my drawing and other work at only to find it all cleaned out! Even most of the furniture was gone. No one was there and the place was an empyt shell of sorts. Kind of put an end to my plans to dominate the Japanese comic market from there. This makes me think that my ideal solution would be to get a simple Notebook so I can work anywhere. It's just one more addition to my general dissatisfaction with being here. The overall reason is simple.
KOREA IS FOR KOREANS
It may sound simple and obvious, but the experience is what counts. Things can be difficult for foreigners here. Their general dislike and mistrust of foreigners is probably no secret. It's a very homogenized society. I won't even get into the clubs that foriegners are not even allowed to enter. That's another story. One of the things that really attracted me here though is that super fast internet I wrote about. Well, it's not all it's cracked up to be. This only works inside Korea, going to Korean sites on a Korean server in Korean language. While you might be able to download an HD movie in 3 minutes from a Korean movie site. Try downloading from iTunes or any of the sites outside of Korea you might be used to and it will be as slow as ever.
That's only one aspect of the problem though. You see, the Korean sites are only for KOrean citizens. To be a member and enjoy the benefits of all the online games, movies and other services you have sign up with a Korean citizen ID number, similar to how Americans have a social security number. You also need a Korean cell phone, which is very difficult for a foriegner to get, because they send a text message with a code you have to enter to complete your sign up. They don't send a simple activation email like most sites. Basically foreigners are almost completely kept out of the loop.
Of course, you can have friends who create a login for you, and I have in some cases, but it doesn't change the fact that the foreigner is not really welcome there. Add to this the general cold and unfriendly attitude of most people here and I start to really miss the warmth and openess of the Philippines. Still, I have some good friends here and there are some nice people one can interact with. It's not all bad. It's the overall picture that is not so great. After Jerry leaves for Australia, I may just have to get out of dodge myself.
First we saw a place called Paris Croissant and we could not stop ourselves from entering here. You walk around inside and, similar to a buffet, choose the items you want. There were sandwiches, pizza, all kinds of breads, pastries and doughnuts, hot dogs breakfast type stuff, you name it. This place was amazing. Since we were just getting started, though, we didn't want to pig out and only got a slice of pizza, a calzone and half a sandwich.
As we walked around we saw a host of amazing places. A Japanese sushi place, which she really wanted to visit (I'm not as crazy for sushi as she), a Subway, which may not sound special until you haven't seen one for many moons, Outback, Black Angus, Cold Stone, Smoothie King and tons of awesome looking Korean restaurants, not to mention other shops.
After finishing at the hospital we went for the sushi place. It was better than I expected. The chefs sat behind the bar which had a huge conveyor that went around the whole place. They would make stuff and put it on the conveyor and you could simply choose anything interesting that passed in front of you. I wasn't feeling the "raw food" thing that day and so I mostly stuff with California Rolls, Unagi (grilled eel) and egg. Still it was pretty good.
After that we looked around some other shops. Jerry wanted some hair conditioner and perfume so we checked some of the beauty places. There were plenty. We also went to this British handmade cosmetics store called Lush. This place has all kinds of specially made soap, makeup and creams that are all natural, some strange, but mostly interesting. The stuff looks weird, not like you expect from the normal grocery store products, but apparently it is popular worldwide. We also checked out a small toy store called Kinki Robot. None of the usal toys here. All, I'm guessing, little known figurines and accesories of the type people would want on a keychain or something.
Next we went to a place called Castle Praha (Prague) which was a Czech themed Hof. We went in because in the display window they had this plate which can best be desribed as a circle of Jimmy Dean sausage patties with cheese, spinich, tomato and other stuff all thrown in it. We got that and it was awesome. We wrapped things up with a trip to Cold Stone for ice cream before returning by express bus to Suwon City. Somewhere in there we passed by a cinema and saw that Dragon Ball and Push were playing. Neither at a time we could catch them, but it made us think to go home and try downloading one of them. Neither could be found though.
So what does all this have to do with no place to work? Well, since I spent yesterday out on the town, I am left to wonder what everyone else was doing that day. You see, this morning, I went to the office, which I wrote about before, where I was planning to do my drawing and other work at only to find it all cleaned out! Even most of the furniture was gone. No one was there and the place was an empyt shell of sorts. Kind of put an end to my plans to dominate the Japanese comic market from there. This makes me think that my ideal solution would be to get a simple Notebook so I can work anywhere. It's just one more addition to my general dissatisfaction with being here. The overall reason is simple.
KOREA IS FOR KOREANS
It may sound simple and obvious, but the experience is what counts. Things can be difficult for foreigners here. Their general dislike and mistrust of foreigners is probably no secret. It's a very homogenized society. I won't even get into the clubs that foriegners are not even allowed to enter. That's another story. One of the things that really attracted me here though is that super fast internet I wrote about. Well, it's not all it's cracked up to be. This only works inside Korea, going to Korean sites on a Korean server in Korean language. While you might be able to download an HD movie in 3 minutes from a Korean movie site. Try downloading from iTunes or any of the sites outside of Korea you might be used to and it will be as slow as ever.
That's only one aspect of the problem though. You see, the Korean sites are only for KOrean citizens. To be a member and enjoy the benefits of all the online games, movies and other services you have sign up with a Korean citizen ID number, similar to how Americans have a social security number. You also need a Korean cell phone, which is very difficult for a foriegner to get, because they send a text message with a code you have to enter to complete your sign up. They don't send a simple activation email like most sites. Basically foreigners are almost completely kept out of the loop.
Of course, you can have friends who create a login for you, and I have in some cases, but it doesn't change the fact that the foreigner is not really welcome there. Add to this the general cold and unfriendly attitude of most people here and I start to really miss the warmth and openess of the Philippines. Still, I have some good friends here and there are some nice people one can interact with. It's not all bad. It's the overall picture that is not so great. After Jerry leaves for Australia, I may just have to get out of dodge myself.
posted by - Terrence at
7:37 PM
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