Short Time in Korea

January 12, 2019 0 By AndersWanders

Korea has a totally different energy than the Philippines. The Philippines was hot, chaotic, and developing. Korea was controlled, cold, and advanced. I didn’t realize how much I had adapted to the Philippines until I arrived in Seoul.

Adjusting

I arrived in Seoul the end of October, during autumn. The cold air and colorful trees reminded me of my home in Minnesota. Korea is very different than Minnesota, but also felt familiar.

Man, I forgot how nice hot showers felt!

Most of the time in the Philippines I was doing cold showers or bucket showers. I’ve always enjoyed hot showers but this was a new level of enjoyment!

My first meal I ordered in Korea I was able to accidentally order 2 meals. This was no longer the Philippines where most people spoke English well. I had a sheet of paper with 2 meals that the guy at the front desk recommended written in Korean lettering. I did my best to try to make it clear I only wanted the top one but there was a miss in communication. Oh, well. Breakfast for the next day!

Also, it was nice not having to worry about drinking tap water anymore. In the Philippines I had some instances after having drinks with ice cubes. Towards the end of the Philippines I believe my body was pretty well adjusted. It would be interesting doing a culture of my gut microorganisms by the end of the trip!

2 Week Dash

I only had 2 weeks in Korea so I had to make the most of my time there. Unfortunately, I was burning the candle at both ends in the Philippines so I ended up getting sick before coming to Korea. I looked back at my Fitbit sleep records for my last week in the Philippines and it was pretty obvious why I got sick. A mixture of waking up early to tour, getting some work in, and socializing late into the night was not a sustainable combination. I am learning that I have to take better care of myself while traveling.

Luckily my old college roommate lived around Seoul and was a good part of the reason I decided to go to Korea. He was able to set up a number of meetings for me with his colleagues and friends. I also had some college friends in Daegu teaching English so I was able to visit with them and learn from their experiences in Korea.

The transition of what I was learning about was as stark as the differences between Korea and the Philippines. It began with discussions around quality control of bio pharmaceutical manufacturing and the process involved was super interesting. The system is the same as any manufacturing controls but at a whole new level because you are manufacturing living things. In a lot of ways it reminded me of brewing! (I have done some home brewing and I am a good beer enthusiast!).

Other discussions involved how to motivate people using technology for fitness, words of wisdom from entrepreneurs, and the experience of a foreigner using multiple aspects of the healthcare system for his diagnosis and treatment of testicular cancer.

I was inspired by each person I met with. It’s the energy that people have, hearing about the experiences they have lived, and talks over beers about aspirations for the future. You fall in love with these moments.

My old college roommate lives in Seoul and was my guide for my time there when he was not working. In Korea however, people work a lot. We still got some good quality time in and I had the great privilege to meet and stay with his family. His parents were very inviting and kind and I am very grateful for my time spent there. We ate meals cross legged on the floor which takes some getting used to.

It was also very fun meeting his sister, her husband, and their daughter. This was the first time she had ever seen a person with blonde hair and blue eyes. She just stared. It took her awhile to get used used to me but by the end she didn’t want to leave her grandparents.

Lessons Learned

I got too used to my time in the Philippines where I had a month to go around. Having only 2 weeks was not enough time, especially being sick for the beginning.
It takes more time to set up meetings in Korea. Everybody is pretty busy so you have to set time on their calendar in advance. I should have been more proactive about setting things up with people because there were a number of potential meetings I missed out on because I was already on my way to Japan.
In Korea it is hard to set up meetings in different hospitals. The hospitals want you to be affiliated to an organization and they usually like to have some partnership or exchange between the 2 organizations.

Food

Wow, I ate a lot in Korea! Food is a big part of social culture so most times you go out for a beer you also order food. The food is delicious!!! But you have to watch out because it can be pretty spicy. Most of the times when you order food you have to spend time convincing who is taking your order that you can actually handle spice. Even after all of this effort, they still do not believe you.

Some of the best foods are Korean BBQ, all the different types of fried/roasted chicken (did not expect this one when in Korea), cold and hot noodles, ox soup, and of course you cannot forget about all of the sides you get such as kimchi. On the streets you can find various delicious and cheap street food with one of my favorites being fish cake. You also get piping hot soup with this one which is amazing in the cold months.