I’ve been here a couple of weeks now and have started to settle into a comfortable rhythm.
I wake up around 8am. This sounds early and normally it is for me, though living with a family whose kids get up at 7:30 and usually go to bed before midnight gets you in the habit of doing the same. So far this hasn’t been too bad at all.
I wash up and have breakfast. No toast, cereal, or oatmeal to be found here… Usually the first meal of the day consists of rice, sometimes soup with fish/tofu/beansprouts, and a bunch of side dishes including kimchi. Yes, their breakfasts are very similar to their lunches and dinners. At times there’s good protein like bulgogi (seasoned stir-fry beef), eggs, or fried fish. I’ve been eating more fish since I got here; I like that. It’s good for you!
After that I get dressed and head out to the office with my uncle. During rush hour the drive takes an hour to an hour and a half, ugh. He’s the one with the impressive packaging factory. I had no idea how big his company was (not in physical size but the amount of business that they do) until I got here. He makes boxes for Wal-mart, Samsung, Hyundai, cigarette companies, and countless food and beauty products across Korea. Although with this current economy, even he’s struggling to stay afloat. It seems very few are immune.
For the first couple of days at work I thought I’d die of boredom. I basically surfed the web for 6-8 hours a day. But now I’m working on getting their catalog online; been working on it since yesterday. I won’t bore you with the minutiae of this task; suffice it to say there’s a whole lot to be done for something that sounds so simple. I’ll probably finish it by today though. (I need to take breaks though; hence this blog post!)
Office workers in Korea generally get lunches (and I’m told breakfasts and dinners if they work those hours) for free. Pretty sweet. My other uncle runs the cafeteria here and his wife is a factory worker. Employing family members since 199x…
I finish up around 5-6pm and head home, but don’t get home till around 7pm. Then it’s leisure time. One thing I must say is that though deli’s here are plentiful (mistakenly called “supers” as in “supermarkets” by the locals) actual supermarkets are not so common, at least in my area. I found myself wanting to buy fresh fruit and healthier stuff other than chips and ice cream at the “super”. Also why tf is a watermelon $18, ughhh. I need to find out where to buy inexpensive produce. I haven’t been eating too well because of it :\
My next adventure will be trying to buy a prepaid cell phone… I totally wanna go to DongDaeMoon this weekend and go shopping. Yay for getting spending money. Eventually I wanna make my way to Lotte World and get on a couple of roller coasters but all my cousins like wussy rides. Mope.
Jenno out.
P.S. — Apologies for the lack of pictures. I took a ton and need to upload them; the next post will be a picture extravaganza!
Related posts:
- Home and Hongdae
- A bit of everything (and soon doobu)
- The box factory & my future possible job
- First post in Korea
Tags: daily life, food, fruit, office life, supers
Jenn, how long are you out there for? Can I visit ya? hahahaha
Sounds like fun; I miss it. I was only there for a week ^.^ Hope you’re well!
I’m here for at least another 2 months. Latest date of departure: august 24th… we’ll see how I feel, haha. Basically I can leave earlier if I want but my uncle’s paying me to “work” for him and it’s a pretty good gig. No rent to pay, he pays for most of my food and expenses, plus I get paid to work in his office. Not a bad deal!
You should totally come visit me! I’d show you around :) Who did you go with before?