Korea - Part 002

As promised, today I'm going to show you more pictures of lovely and beautiful Korea.

Last time I mentioned that I worked for a Korean tech company. Yes, I was at Samsung. For me, it was great to experience both the Korean work culture and life outside the office, especially during my visits. One might wonder: how much common ground exists between outsiders and Koreans, and at the same time, how simple their daily lives can be? Of course, everything here is my personal impression based on what I experienced during my time with this other culture.

Only good stuff. To give you some numbers, it feels like I've flown to Korea more than ten times and stayed longer than a typical tourist would. In any case, it was worth it.

Don't be shocked if, without speaking Korean, the average standard Joe Korea cannot understand you. This isn't unique to Korea, it's what I've experienced in several Asian countries. People simply don't speak English, and in some areas, foreigners are rare. They might lack the context to understand your request for directions or help. Cultures collide here.

Just an example: On my first day in Korea, when I went from Incheon Airport to Seoul Station and asked how to get cash or make my credit card work at an ATM, people would just say 없어요 (eop-seo-yo), basically meaning they didn't understand a word you said.

Never mind that's just one of those tiny moments when communication goes wrong. Sometimes, however, you meet people who speak fluent English, and that's when things get interesting. You make friends, discover incredible generosity and beautiful places in Korea, and everything becomes super fun.

I was looking for an appropriate quote for Part 002 on my blog, and I found this one. Hope you like it:

"In a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If during our whole lifetime, we could reach out and really communicate with just two people, we are indeed very fortunate."
Gene Roddenberry

Now, let's finally move on to the pictures for this post. If you're wondering why I was wearing a mask yes, you guessed it it was back in Corona days.

Enjoy the photos!