Articles by mgedwards

Planning an outing in a strange land

My wife and I are going out tonight for dinner and noraebang (karaoke) with a large group of people (about 15).  Korea seems to be built for groups of eight or fewer.  Do you know how hard it is to find a restaurant and a noraebang in Seoul big enough to hold 15 people?  It’s nearly impossible if you’re not Korean or aren’t intimately acquainted with the city and don’t speak good Korean.  Seoul’s hidden secrets (such as places for large groups) don’t divulge themselves easily.  I tried and failed.  I finally turned to a friend’s wife for help.  She is Korean and knew right away where to go.  It’s times like these that really make me feel like I am a stranger in a strange land.  I’m just glad someone could help me organize it!  Well, I’m off to sing with my supper.  Dear Reader, have a great weekend.

Warped time

It occurred to me that the time difference between Korea and the U.S. seems to be working in my favor.  I usually post a blog entry daily around 8 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, giving American readers something new to read virtually every day.  Most visitors read World Adventurers at some time other than when I post a blog entry.  When I post an entry at 10 p.m. in Korea, it appears at 8 a.m. on the East Coast and at 5 a.m. on the West Coast.  Readers usually visit this site hours later, long after I’ve retired for the night.  Blogging from Paraguay will be different.  Paraguay is just one hour ahead of the U.S. East Coast and shares its time zone with Eastern Canada.  While not so advantageous to blogging, this means I will have a longer window of time to make business and personal phone calls to the United States.  In Korea, calling back to home to America is a tricky proposition.  I have a time window of about six hours when I can call at a reasonable time, usually between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.  2 p.m. in Korea is midnight on the U.S. East Coast, and people get cranky when you call them after midnight.
 
I’ve noticed that Asian readers visit this site at all times of the day, although the majority visit in the evening while I’m writing a blog entry.  I usually post a draft blog entry, edit it, do some fact checking, edit it some more, and tinker with the theme.  Sometimes what I actually write turns out to be completely different than what I intended to compose.  The blogging process can be a time consuming venture, resulting in multiple updates at different times as the piece evolves.  Some readers read an unfinished, draft World Adventurers blog entry.  Case in point–tonight’s title evolved from "New Every Morning" to "Time Warp" to "Warped Time" as the entry evolved.  I like pithy and eclectic titles with an ironic and punny twist.
 
I often joke that I live in the future.  I really do while living in Korea.  After all, I live more than 12 hours ahead of most Americans.  When I talk to someone in America, I sometimes joke, "Hey, how’s the past?  The future isn’t so bad!"

Of sunshine and son shy

Today was a good day at the office.  I hadn’t had a good day for awhile, and today was long overdue.  For one, I cruised to another productive day.  I set a personal goal to finish in the top three each day, and I did it for the third day in the row.  I will continue pouring it on mercilessly.  A group of instructors from out of town who came to teach a course left today, ending three days of support, including buying food for class, operating the classroom, and chauffeuring the instructors.  In addition, a project that had been percolating for about five months came to an exciting conclusion today.  Our community association contracted with a vendor to install some photo booths at work, and today the machines arrived.  We had a dickens of a time navigating the machines through the maze-like building and installing them–especially one on the third floor.  It took about six people and four hours to finish.  We signed the contract, and now customers have a quicker and more affordable photo option.  It’s the third new service introduced at work in three months–first, the opening of the cafeteria, then the reopening of the coffee shop and bakery, and now this.  I also found out today that our location in Manila, also a very large operation, really likes our performance management program and will adopt it in its own operations.  Word is starting to spread worldwide about the program, and the response is amazing.  Days like this don’t come along often, so I’ll savor this one for awhile.  Best of all, I now have a little less to do at the office, giving me more time to spend out of the office.
 
Tonight my son and I went over to a colleague’s home for a team dinner.  My son was very popular with my coworkers; unfortunately, he was very uncomfortable around my coworkers.  The only other kid at the dinner was an eight-year-old girl, and my son did not really know any of my coworkers.  The atmosphere was a bit too chaotic.  He was OK for about half an hour, and then he expressed a strong desire to leave.  He ate very little and tried to pacify himself with cookies.  We left after about 45 minutes, just long enough to eat dinner.  I wish we could have stayed longer.  I really like my teammate.  They are a really fun bunch.  As we left, two of my colleagues started dancing a silly dance.  My son couldn’t wait to leave.  I would have loved to have stayed longe, but parenthood trumps spending time with your coworkers, even in Korea.  Korean workers often get together after work as a team, department, or office.  But children are even more important and take precedence.
 
Blog Notes:  Wade3016, you wondered when I would post on your blog, so I thought I would write something I thought you would challenge.  LOL  I am so devious sometimes.  Does this mean you’re going to delay your trip to Korea?