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June 22, 2005

Holy crap I'm in Korea!

Busiest few days of at least six months. Finally got luggage after forty minutes Monday, Sun Jung picked me up at the airport and I stayed with David Moll (deputy editor in charge of the national page-- page 2). The next morning I went to the area around Yonsei University with Sun Jung and found a boarding house to stay at. The old lady seems nice, but it is so frustrating not to be able to speak any Korean. I feel like a bad person (not to mention rude). But that will soon be remedied. Next week I start Korean lessons with a tutor referred to me by Sei (another deputy editor). The teacher also speaks Japanese, so I'm considering having her teach me Korean in Japanese and kill two birds with one stone.

Seoul is big and hot and smelly. And totally awesome. My job so far has consisted of preparing "The Ticket," the entertainment listings that come out this Friday. Fortunately we have interns for everything that involves speaking Korean, but even then it's time-consuming. I'm also called upon with every other native speaker in the office to proofread the pages, so in fact you can already see a few of my lovely typo fixes in the pages of the JoongAng. Ticket for this Friday is done (Dad, I hope you enjoy the way-too-verbose orchestra series section) and tomorrow I start learning how to do the Diplomatic Pouch section from Sun Jung.

This morning I had an enormous breakfast followed by some kind of tiny melon pear that I think is called "sawa." Also met the Korean-Canadian English teacher who lives above me.

Went out last night to a tiny place with David, Sun Jung, Sei and Lance, a former editor now working at Samsung. It looked like it was a train car. I was still so jet-lagged I don't really remember anything that was said.

Hopefully I can start on a story as soon as I get settled. Something that involves Japanesitude. Maybe a textbook story for the next time that flares up.

Summary: This is right up there as coolest thing I have ever done.

Posted by Ben at June 22, 2005 07:06 AM

Comments

Is the textbook content issue of widespread concern for most of the regular people you've met? Sounds as if it is from here. What about N. Korea's nuke situation. Does concern for that compare with the textbook problem?
This is so amazing. You're in Korea.
Yow.

Posted by: Bagmom at June 23, 2005 09:44 AM

This all sounds very cool, Ben! Enjoy!

Posted by: Denise at June 23, 2005 10:05 AM

Ben, You are the coolest thing we've ever known. Great to hear from you, since it's so difficult for you to email us. We'll just live this experience through your blog and not have to go through the jetlag and boarding house hunt to just get in touch.

Posted by: Gregg & June at June 23, 2005 11:02 AM

Seems like you're getting into the swing of things pretty well. Sweet deal getting Korean lessons lined-up so quickly. The Korean via Japanese thing strikes me as extra tricky, but I've got a feeling if anyone can make it work, it's you. :)

Posted by: Karl Olson at June 23, 2005 05:52 PM

Sounds like you're having a gas! Koreans are actually very healthy eaters. Have you tried Korean BBQ or or fermented cabbage? Its great! If you want to touch base witgh any of myfriends in Korea let me know. They really know there way around

Posted by: uncle dave at June 24, 2005 09:50 AM

Sounds like you're having a gas! Koreans are actually very healthy eaters. Have you tried Korean BBQ or or fermented cabbage? Its great! If you want to touch base witgh any of myfriends in Korea let me know. They really know there way around

Posted by: uncle dave at June 24, 2005 09:51 AM

Hey man. I just happened to notice your summer plans on facebook and I just wanted to confess my admiration for your coolness, working in Seoul this summer. Seoul is actually my favorite city-- I was there for only too short a time last year. This will change in 2 weeks however when I fly to Taipei to study Chinese in Taiwan. Your posts on this blog are also very erudite.

Subway in Seoul is awesome, as I'm sure you've discovered. I recommend seeing other parts of the country via bullet train too-- I went to Taegu and Pusan in a day. And take a trip to Kyongju at some point! What an amazing country-- you are a very lucky man to be living there, I think. Feel free to drop me a line if you want any travel suggestions. I'd be curious to know how you found a real-world job with a Korean newspaper!

Posted by: John McHale at June 24, 2005 03:24 PM