What is the word for toilet in Korean?

1430 hrs
18^th August 2012, Saturday
HHI Office, Ulsan. 

Yes, I am at office on a Saturday. There has been a lot of confusion over whether we should be working on Saturdays or not. When we signed our deputation contract it was told that we would be working overtime on Saturdays (and hence we and KBR would make more money). When we started working here, HHI told us that they didn’t want us to work on Saturdays (they want to save money I guess). Friday night arrived and there was no resolution to this issue and we received instructions from Singapore to go and do our 7 hours for Saturday (also, our timesheets are not approved yet). So here I am in office on a Saturday afternoon with no real work to do.

Let me quickly recap what we have been up to since my last entry. On 15^th (Wednesday) evening, Srini and I decided to check out the clubhouse after work. We knew from going through the HHI website that they had a gym and two squash courts; and we wanted to make full use of these during our stay (we had therefore brought squash racquets from Singapore). So for a mere 10,000 Won (refundable) we got access cards to the gym and the squash courts. We then played squash for an hour or so. It was good to get some exercise after a break of few weeks. (I hadn’t been to the gym or got any real exercise since 29^th July).

16^th (Thursday) was pretty uneventful, so I would like to use up this space to talk about some other random stuff. Firstly, I would like to discuss the office culture over here. Quite simply put -this place reminds me of primary school. Work starts at 8am and everyone is expected to be at their desks by 7:45am. At around 7:50am the small televisions installed all around the floor suddenly turn on and start an exercise video. Almost all the employees follow the woman on the screen and do some stretching exercises. At 7:56am the video stops. At 8am sharp every department has a meeting to kick off their day. At this point let me briefly explain to you the generic floor plan of their office (see figure below).

There are no cubicles or cabins. The only person on the floor who sits in a room is the senior vice president (he actually sits in a meeting room). Everyone sits on open desks. The arrangement of these desks is in the same fashion as that of a classroom. Departments are arranged in columns with the lead engineers (class teachers) seated at the front facing the rest of the engineers (students). Each department has around 4 to 5 columns (executing multiple projects). We are currently seated in the last row. Behind us is the meeting table. Around 10am there is a coffee/cigarette break. 12 to 1pm is the lunch break. At around 3 pm there is another coffee/cigarette break. Around 4:30pm some Korean snacks are delivered for our nourishment. And on the last working day of the week (which was Thursday this week) everyone has to clean their own working area. Brooms and mops are given to all engineers to clean their working area. I kind of liked the philosophy behind this routine – “You made the mess, so you have to clean it.” In the evening I played squash again. In the evening we watched the movie Se7en in Sashi’s room (connected laptop to the TV and sound system).

Friday (17^th) was a holiday. The Liberation Day (15^th) holiday from earlier in the week had been shifted to Friday by HHI. After a week of waking up at 6am, it was a welcome relief to laze in bed till noon. In the afternoon we decided to go to E-mart for shopping. This mall was around 10km from our place and we decided to take a taxi. Calling a cab is pretty simple at our apartment. We just go to the guard and tell him that we need a cab. He helps us call the cab company and it takes no more than 5 minutes for our ride to arrive. There were 5 of us, so we took two taxis. As expected the taxi driver didn’t know any English. Luckily we were ready for this scenario. We had the address of the shopping mall in Korean – we showed him the sheet and we were off. On the way to the mall I opened my Lonely Planet Korean phrasebook and tried learning a few new words. Toilet in Korean is “Hwajangshil”. We shopped for around 3 hours and then made our way back home with carton boxes full of stuff (in a taxi; we had our apartment’s address in Korean too). For dinner we revisited the Turkish restaurant we had been to a couple of days ago.

This morning we came to office at 9am. We have to do only 7 hours for the day. This evening Umang is cooking up a feast. There is chicken curry and Tandoori chicken on the menu. Right now, I am just waiting for evening to come.

Countdown: 90 days to go

1530 hrs
18^th August 2012, Saturday
HHI Office, Ulsan.

Settling In

1730 hrs
15^th August 2012, Wednesday
HHI Office, Ulsan.

Last evening, after finishing work, we decided to go grocery shopping at Homeplus (the nearest supermarket, 5 minute drive). A colleague who also lives in the same apartment block as ours, kindly volunteered to take us there in his car. We already had a shopping list ready (made earlier in the day as an activity to kill time in the office) too. We made a quick stop at the apartment (to get changed into shorts and slippers) and then headed to the supermarket.

The supermarket was spread over 5 stories and had almost all sorts of sections – apparel, shoes, grocery, toiletries, books etc. The shopping carts (rented at a refundable 100 Won) were high tech – they gave you mileage – indicating how much you had walked while doing your shopping. Our main objective was to shop for fruits and vegetables. The choice of vegetables and fruits was limited and they were even more expensive than Singapore. We still bought some essentials – onions, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, apples and so on. We actually managed to fill two large carts full. An interesting aspect of Korean shops is the reluctance to provide you with plastic bags for you to carry your purchase in (or you may chose to buy plastic bags at a heavy price). This obviously is a great achievement of this society in moving towards a “greener” lifestyle. So we had to take our products in the carts up to the car park. One particular corner of the car park had a packing section where you could make cardboard cartons (available in varying sizes). Once you had made them (taped them up to be precise), you put your stuff in them and took it to your car. So we also followed this practice; and while doing it wondered if this would ever work in Singapore?

From Homeplus we drove to a Turkish restaurant (called White House) to have our dinner. It was 9 pm then, most of the streets were deserted, it was drizzling and we were the only patrons at the restaurant. Our waiter (who was probably the owner too) was pretty friendly and courteous. We ordered the usual Turkish fare – hummus, pides, donor kebabs, Turkish tea etc. After having a stomach filling meal and making friends with the restaurant owner we headed home. Conveniently a shopping cart was provided at the apartment car park to transfer goods to our respective houses. I live on the 3^rd storey, Sashi and Umang on the 5^th storey, Srini and Sajeev on the 2^nd.

At the office, today was pretty much like yesterday. We walked to the office building (a 15 min uphill hike) and reached our desks at 7:50am. There is a coffee machine in the common area of each level of the 5-storey building. We took a coffee break at 10 am and 3 pm like everyone else in the office. We went back home to have our lunch. And even as the day draws to end there are no signs of us getting internet connectivity on our laptops. Patience is key.

The only work related activity for the day was a 5 minute meeting with Ikhwan where he told us what we would be doing over the next three months. Nothing new, everything we already knew. I need to end here as it’s already 6 and Umang’s pestering me to leave for home!

Countdown: 93 days to go.

1800hrs
15^th August 2012, Wednesday
HHI Office, Ulsan