Spoke to my dad first thing when I got into the office. I told him about my plans to go home, not work for a while and to train to become a yoga master – I left out the part about hanging out in obscure places while writing twisted poetry.
He was totally supportive and thinks I have gone mad. He’s right.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Humidity and suits
Last year when I did the Yonsei program I used to wear shorts and t-shirts/wifebeaters everyday and I used to look at Korean people and wonder how they could possibly wear jeans, long sleeve shirts, jackets or even suits in the hot weather. I thought they were freaking crazy… and now I have turned into one of those. Damn I’ve conformed. I lose again!
Fake accent
Most Korean people know a lot of English vocabulary and they can read English, but because they are usually taught English by a Korean person during their schooling, they don’t usually pick up on the accent. When I mix English words here and there in conversation, I assume they know, I sometimes have to repeat words but Korean-ize it. Instead of “video” I have to say “bee-dee-oh” which is cool, but when it comes to other words like “software” I have to say “soh-hop-put-where” and it makes me feel silly using a really bad thick, fake, Korean accent.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Conforming to korean ways
As stubborn as i am, i have conformed to two office customs which i thought was pretty strange when i started working here.
I bought my first pair of slippers for work. Koreans tend to take off their shoes and wear really ugly sandals. I’ve been to some offices where walk into a room and stick your shoes in a locker and then put on any pair of available sandals. It’s like the whole asian-taking off their shoes custom transferred from home, work and many restaurants. Koreans must not get bad toe fungus and athletes foot bc they seem to let their feet breathe.
Anyway, I bought a pair of pink adidas knock-off sandals. And it’s been pleasant, except for when people look down at my feet, bc I hate it when ppl look at my feet…
Koreans brush their teeth after every meal which I think is awesome despite the fact that they never floss. I recently bought a toothbrush and have it tucked in a drawer of my desk and am waiting for the right day to bust it out (not that anyone would care) and use it. Ideally I like to brush really wild and have toothpaste foam running down the side of my mouth like a monster. But save that for home. When I’m alone.
I bought my first pair of slippers for work. Koreans tend to take off their shoes and wear really ugly sandals. I’ve been to some offices where walk into a room and stick your shoes in a locker and then put on any pair of available sandals. It’s like the whole asian-taking off their shoes custom transferred from home, work and many restaurants. Koreans must not get bad toe fungus and athletes foot bc they seem to let their feet breathe.
Anyway, I bought a pair of pink adidas knock-off sandals. And it’s been pleasant, except for when people look down at my feet, bc I hate it when ppl look at my feet…
Koreans brush their teeth after every meal which I think is awesome despite the fact that they never floss. I recently bought a toothbrush and have it tucked in a drawer of my desk and am waiting for the right day to bust it out (not that anyone would care) and use it. Ideally I like to brush really wild and have toothpaste foam running down the side of my mouth like a monster. But save that for home. When I’m alone.
Dinosaurs
For lunch 3 coworkers and I went to Mr. Pizza and after loads of salad and sweet potato crusted shrimp pizza, we got a bowl of fruit. I picked up a lychee and started to peel it. The outside of lychee always reminds me of what I imagine dinosaur skin to look and feel like. I started peeling the lychee slowly, and started smiling because I was pretending to peel a dinosaur open. Lost in my thoughts my coworker asked me “why are you smiling?” in korean and I didn’t know how to say dinosaur… and probably shouldn’t let her know what I was really thinking, so I responded.. “oh, uhmm.... i was thinking about something funny i did yesterday..."
Friday, August 14, 2009
Work
Since i write 90% of my posts while at work, i feel like i should slowly introduce my coworkers whom i interact with the most. I'll start off with the following four:
Baldy is a 41 year old, overweight, father of two, balding director of one of the procurement dept. He’s a jolly man who doesn’t stress out too much and is very quick and smart. He and I worked together on a project two months ago and are now working on the same project which has been going on for about 1 month now. I’ll admit that I have a semi crush on him in a friendly, I-wish-you-were-my-uncle way.
Hyena – he’s a 38 year old sales manager who smokes 3 packs of cigarettes per day (once I witnessed him finish one pack between 7 am – 11 am) and drinks everyday. He once told me that on weekdays he eats dinner at home with his family only around 5 times a year. He has a laugh like a hyena and farts whenever he feels like it (he sits one partition away from me) and sings wondergirls songs whenever he’s bored
Dennis – He is self named Dennis, named after dennis the menace, and is an assistant sales manager. He talks a lot. And I mean A LOT and always insists on speaking in English to me. He once called me up when he was drunk with some coworkers and I introduced him to three san jose friends, whom thought he was hilarious. He jokingly hits on me and once tried to kiss me when he was drunk. Yuck.
Mr. Hwang – My manager. We don’t get along and rarely talk. Our relationship used to be much better but when we once went on a department business trip, he drank a whole bottle of whiskey together and started scolding my coworkers and I for over an hour, then he and I began to verbally fight, leading him to cry… and cry himself to sleep. When I started working here in January he was 15 lbs heavier and had no gray hairs. Now he’s rail thin and has mostly gray hairs… and im pretty sure I caused a lot of those.
more later - baldy and i are about to have a mtg *SCREAM IN DELIGHT*
Baldy is a 41 year old, overweight, father of two, balding director of one of the procurement dept. He’s a jolly man who doesn’t stress out too much and is very quick and smart. He and I worked together on a project two months ago and are now working on the same project which has been going on for about 1 month now. I’ll admit that I have a semi crush on him in a friendly, I-wish-you-were-my-uncle way.
Hyena – he’s a 38 year old sales manager who smokes 3 packs of cigarettes per day (once I witnessed him finish one pack between 7 am – 11 am) and drinks everyday. He once told me that on weekdays he eats dinner at home with his family only around 5 times a year. He has a laugh like a hyena and farts whenever he feels like it (he sits one partition away from me) and sings wondergirls songs whenever he’s bored
Dennis – He is self named Dennis, named after dennis the menace, and is an assistant sales manager. He talks a lot. And I mean A LOT and always insists on speaking in English to me. He once called me up when he was drunk with some coworkers and I introduced him to three san jose friends, whom thought he was hilarious. He jokingly hits on me and once tried to kiss me when he was drunk. Yuck.
Mr. Hwang – My manager. We don’t get along and rarely talk. Our relationship used to be much better but when we once went on a department business trip, he drank a whole bottle of whiskey together and started scolding my coworkers and I for over an hour, then he and I began to verbally fight, leading him to cry… and cry himself to sleep. When I started working here in January he was 15 lbs heavier and had no gray hairs. Now he’s rail thin and has mostly gray hairs… and im pretty sure I caused a lot of those.
more later - baldy and i are about to have a mtg *SCREAM IN DELIGHT*
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
shout out to pirate
It seems that at least once or twice a week we get a new employee in the office. We’re always hiring but only from a small and specific demographic of engineers. At the same time every so often people leave the company for an assortment of reasons. Because the company is still a private venture company, we work harder and longer than other companies.
I just dream of the day when I can work from 9-5. Last night I left work at 10 pm, and I thought that was late. This morning I walk up to to my one legged coworker (im going to refer to him as “pirate” from now on) only to find out that he pulled another all nighter (his 5th in the past 3 weeks) and on top of that, his vacation started today yet he’s STIlL in the office. I think… everyone in this office is going to die 10 years premature.
So last night as I was talking to pirate we got into the discussion about korean work culture which just so happens to be my favorite subject. He reminded me that most companies arent as intense as this one (we’re particularly intense because we’re still a private venture company) and he told me that most Koreans are let go after they hit 45 and for those who work past 45 are either really high up in the company or really really lucky. After 45 most own restaurants, move to the country side, do other random jobs.
*car brakes*
45?!?!?
So a little introduction to Korean work culture:
Korean men typically go to college, go to the army, go back to college, graduate and then join the work force. At the youngest Korean guys are 26 (assuming they attend a 4 year university) but most first year workers seem to be more around 27-28 when they start working. Koreans also tend to tend to take breaks from college to go abroad, just play and whatnot for 1+ years! Mr hong, started working here when he was 29 and this was his first full time job.
Just from the starting point Korean guys are behind. By the time I hit 28 I will already have 6 years of work experience under my belt (and I’ll probably actually look 28, whereas Korean men always seem to look 18) since I started working here we’ve already had around 20 interns and every single one of them (girl or guy) has always been older than me. It’s very bizarre. Sometimes I’ll look at an intern and swear he’s 18 but then he’ll tell me he’s actually 28. Kandice once looked at a pic of my female coworker and thought I was hanging out with the CEO’s kid. She thought my coworker was 14 – she’s 34.
Back to the main point, an average Korean will work between the ages 28-45 which totals 17 or so years. An average American (assuming they attend a 4 yr university) will start working from 22/23 – 60+/- which calculates to around 38 years. So YEAH Koreans may work double the hours of Americans… and the rest of the world (according to Wikipedia and most other sources) but they also spend half the amount of years sitting in cubes, doing mental voodoo on their superiors!
Now the real point – well… like most of the things I think about and say, there really is no real point.
I just dream of the day when I can work from 9-5. Last night I left work at 10 pm, and I thought that was late. This morning I walk up to to my one legged coworker (im going to refer to him as “pirate” from now on) only to find out that he pulled another all nighter (his 5th in the past 3 weeks) and on top of that, his vacation started today yet he’s STIlL in the office. I think… everyone in this office is going to die 10 years premature.
So last night as I was talking to pirate we got into the discussion about korean work culture which just so happens to be my favorite subject. He reminded me that most companies arent as intense as this one (we’re particularly intense because we’re still a private venture company) and he told me that most Koreans are let go after they hit 45 and for those who work past 45 are either really high up in the company or really really lucky. After 45 most own restaurants, move to the country side, do other random jobs.
*car brakes*
45?!?!?
So a little introduction to Korean work culture:
Korean men typically go to college, go to the army, go back to college, graduate and then join the work force. At the youngest Korean guys are 26 (assuming they attend a 4 year university) but most first year workers seem to be more around 27-28 when they start working. Koreans also tend to tend to take breaks from college to go abroad, just play and whatnot for 1+ years! Mr hong, started working here when he was 29 and this was his first full time job.
Just from the starting point Korean guys are behind. By the time I hit 28 I will already have 6 years of work experience under my belt (and I’ll probably actually look 28, whereas Korean men always seem to look 18) since I started working here we’ve already had around 20 interns and every single one of them (girl or guy) has always been older than me. It’s very bizarre. Sometimes I’ll look at an intern and swear he’s 18 but then he’ll tell me he’s actually 28. Kandice once looked at a pic of my female coworker and thought I was hanging out with the CEO’s kid. She thought my coworker was 14 – she’s 34.
Back to the main point, an average Korean will work between the ages 28-45 which totals 17 or so years. An average American (assuming they attend a 4 yr university) will start working from 22/23 – 60+/- which calculates to around 38 years. So YEAH Koreans may work double the hours of Americans… and the rest of the world (according to Wikipedia and most other sources) but they also spend half the amount of years sitting in cubes, doing mental voodoo on their superiors!
Now the real point – well… like most of the things I think about and say, there really is no real point.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
distractornator
i'm really good at distracting people from their work. if you ever want to get things done then make sure to stay away from me. college was the worst. whenever i studied with other ppl i would get sooo excited and just talk or stare at them... i always got serious studying done alone. Before going to bed i would always want to talk and talk and talk to a point where jenn would pretend to sleep and stop responding to get me to stop.
The point of that ramble babble was - i just spent the last 2.5 hours talking to my one legged coworker about everything, anything. Too bad we're working on a deadline that was due 3 hours ago! gahhh. it's already 8 30 pm, not that my coworker really cares bc he's down to pull another all nighter.
im just waitin for esta molesta to call me so i can meet her and surprise her with a cake cuz its her bday in a few hrs. i am totally her bf. it'd be nice to live with a really quiet geisha girl or guy who would stay home all the time and clean the apt, cook me food, pick up my dry cleaning and massage my feet after a long day. i guess i can see why guys want to have milfs tanning all day and taking yoga classes. i'd also make my geisha girl/guy listen to me ramble for a few hours and then her tuck me into bed and sing me a story til i doze off. maybe slap it around a little. wow way off task.
foreals, back to work.
The point of that ramble babble was - i just spent the last 2.5 hours talking to my one legged coworker about everything, anything. Too bad we're working on a deadline that was due 3 hours ago! gahhh. it's already 8 30 pm, not that my coworker really cares bc he's down to pull another all nighter.
im just waitin for esta molesta to call me so i can meet her and surprise her with a cake cuz its her bday in a few hrs. i am totally her bf. it'd be nice to live with a really quiet geisha girl or guy who would stay home all the time and clean the apt, cook me food, pick up my dry cleaning and massage my feet after a long day. i guess i can see why guys want to have milfs tanning all day and taking yoga classes. i'd also make my geisha girl/guy listen to me ramble for a few hours and then her tuck me into bed and sing me a story til i doze off. maybe slap it around a little. wow way off task.
foreals, back to work.
O_O
my coworker (the one with one leg) told me that while i was on vacation he pulled two all nighters working on the next project. O_O
last night he worked super late but from home... and now we're in a mtg talking about how to execute our project plan... and he almost happily said "looks like we'll be pulling an all nighter soon!" :O
iono how that man does it. here i am pretending to work... but actually bblogging. OK BACK TO WORK, bbl
last night he worked super late but from home... and now we're in a mtg talking about how to execute our project plan... and he almost happily said "looks like we'll be pulling an all nighter soon!" :O
iono how that man does it. here i am pretending to work... but actually bblogging. OK BACK TO WORK, bbl
Monday, August 10, 2009
mullet cowboy
I got my hair cut at Five Color Cowboy for the second time. The first time my hair turned out pretty awesome, and the second time around… not so awesome. I told steve (the bald guy with all the tattoos) that I need an office friendly haircut with a young flair… and iono about you, but I cant remember when a mullet was considered office friendly. You should see me after I blow dry my hair… a layer of my hair is a little longer than an inch long. After soaking my hair in products it doesn’t look that bad but cmon steve… try a little harder next time. Which btw he has a reputation for doing this, he juggled 3 clients while cutting my hair so it took around 1 hr 20 mins to finish a trim.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)