Off to HK

Surfing was cool. My back, legs, arms and face weren’t. They were freaking hot, burning. I got such a huge sunburn that I was not able to put on my backpack for the trip to HK which was to proceed on the following day. Actually not only was I sunburnt, I was also quite poor, because the night before Charlotte, Andy and I went out in the evening and played Go-Stop until something like 2 am where I lost all of my money I had saved for the bus and MRT to go to the airport. But the gambling thrill was well worth it.

My biggest worry was passing the entrance gates to HK – actually the quarantine section. I was emitting so much heat because of the sunburn, I was worried I would get stopped at the border with suspected fever :P But as you can guess I survived. Hmmm I still wonder how those thermal cameras work.

The views from the plane were just an appetizer – Hong Kong proved to be a miraculous city.

Medusas!!!!

Shiiii I hate medusas. Everywhere I go there is a medusa in the water. This time it really stung me badly  Aaaaa I hate medusas!!! My whole arm got red because of that!

Surfing Taipei

On the last day, when the hangover was still in the process of going away, Andy and I decided to go to the beach to do some professional surfing. We bought suncream, got the tickets, helped a lost young girl which train she should take, got on the same train as she did … and found out that it was the wrong train.



Fortunately we weren’t that far from our destination, so just a change of trains and we were there. The weather was incredible – warm, a bit windy – perfect  Unfortunately the waves didn’t care about the fact that a lot of surfers came and they just didn’t appear. So we had to amuse ourselves in other ways such as the regular “do on the beach” things.

AAAAAASNAAAKE

I ate a snaaaake in a soup  Actually it was WE who were supposed to eat AAAASNAAAAAKE but Andy chickened out. I must admit, it really does taste like chicken, but the meat is a bit “fishlike”. AND IT HAS BONES!!! Have you ever thought of this – AAAAASNAAAAKE has very tough bones.

Free time in TPE

Thanks to Andyssi and the gang, I was able to see the soul of Taipei – the night markets. I honestly have not expected it to be such a huge thing in a well developed city. Even Seoul doesn’t have such a well developed network of street markets where you can eat, drink, shop, play and basically do anything you feel like doing if it’s a means of entertainment.

Enjoy Taiwan

As you can see on Andy's blog I also did a lot of relaxing in Taipei. That was mainly due to the fact that I had little time to rest after my internship was over. I had a great time sleeping :)

But I have to say - Taipei would have never been like that without Sandy as well. I met up with Sandy one afternoon, we went shopping and got our hair done together with her mom, ate at the hairdresser and went for the party. Not any party.

First off a lounge bar near Taipei 101 with 2 very beautiful girls at my side.





After that, clubbing in one of the biggest clubs in the commercial district area.



Karaoke with some very rich Chinese-Americans/Canadians who got me very drunk - or...I got myself very drunk because I can't play that damn drinking gameeee!



Puking in Andy's bathroom and sleeping with 2 kiwis.

And a marvelous hangover all weekend long.

Taipei 101

My general impression of Taipei 101 - the world's tallest completed buidling (up to date) is that it is tall. Damn tall. You can see it from any part of Taipei (well not from underground but still).

The ride from 5th to 89th floor took as little as 30 seconds. If you think that's long - count how long it takes you to get to your floor using an elevator :)



The view is stunning, unfortunately it was a bit foggy, hence we couldn't see everything, but I admit - it's a must see if you're in Taipei.

Temples temples

Longshan Temple is the most known temple in Taipei. Inside there is a mix of Buddist and Taoist relics. Take 7 insence sticks and bow to the 7 gods present in the temple and your prayers will be heard. I prayed as well - thanks to Charlotte's explanations I found out what to do where in the correct way and order.

The temples themselves are incredible because they survived the Cultural Revolution untouched, hence not only are they in their original state, but also they are incredibly beautiful. Ahh what am I gonna tell you - just take a look yourself.

Taipei

First up was visiting Andyssi in Taipei. I have arrived without any problems only to find out that Taiwan is quite entrepreneurial - even coin exchange machines allow you to invest money. Having invested some money and purchased a phone card, I have proceeded to meet Andy's friend who was to pick me up.

After some time I was in the city (another success). I met Charlotte and went sightseeing.





Later on I met Andy who just came from work (ahh great cheap labor) and made a huge mess in his room. We then took a motorcycle and went up to the top of Maokong gondola station to have dinner and see Taipei from the top.



Riding the motorcycle was whooaaa. Actually first time in my life longer than 10 seconds :)

Andy really surprised me - he took care of me so much, that he literally asked his friends to take care of me when he wasn't around. Thank you everyone - Andyssi, A-Tian, Johnny for babysitting me. And here's the story :)

Trip trip trip

Aaaa 2 weeks ahead of my trip and I have nothing. I was supposed to leave on the 26th of August and still no plan at all. Finally I put myself together with the help of Jun and Jong I got tickets. Flight plan:

Seoul -> Taipei -> Hong Kong -> Shanghai -> Xian (train) -> Beijing (train) -> Seoul

But waaait. It wasn't that simple. A cheaper version was born :)

Seoul -> Taipei -> Hong Kong -> Taipei -> Seoul -> Shanghai -> Xian (train) -> Beijing (train) -> Shanghai -> Seoul

In the end it turned out I wasn't able to get discount tickets from Beijing to Shanghai. As a result I saved 10 Euros and spent 1 extra day in traffic. Dammit. Still the trip was awesome. A big round of applause goes to Jun and Jong who helped out booking the first batch of tickets and Hyunjin for crisis-managing me in times of my Korean language weakness. Having had a rough 2 day to get everything done, I left for Taipei on the 27th. Goodbyes with some people, soju, coffee the night before and here we go!

Work summary

2 months after starting my internship, on the 24th things were over. Did some ppts, presented, got even a little award. It's done... finally or not finally?

Not really sure but I know one thing. Pushing myself into the work reality so quickly is not what I want to do. I appreciate the money, the feeling of independence and responsibility. But on the other hand... i get sick - gotta go to work, have something else to do - gotta go to work, don't want to go to work - gotta go to work.

I don't want to strip myself of all the "i'm a student" benefits. I'll have time to work. 40 years of it :)

I'm really happy I could work at SK. It gave me a new perspective as to what I should focus on (or what I shouldn't focus on for that matter). And it was a great experience alltogether.

SKN - new perspective

Working is one thing, experiencing Korea, meeeting friends and just enjoying is another.

Voluntary work was basically building roofs for some houses. Well maybe not really building them, but... taking a few planks of wood, hammering them together and taking breaks. Breaks took the most time, filled with food and drinks ... ahhh I love that company :) When I heard we were about to build roofs I nearly died laughing, cause Misiu and I did a "build a roof project" for our project management class. I guess we were pretty close in theory. We just didn't put in so many lunches and snacks in between different tasks.



Fiyol called in the midst of the building. Having heard what I was doing, he immediately asked - "Is it in you contract?" :) Ahhhh my Fiori :)


We also went for "Jump" - a comic martial arts performance. It was one of the funniest things I've seen. If anyone ever gets a chance to see it - don't spare the 40.000 KRW - JUST GO SEE IT DAMMIT! Apparently Nanta is also a blast. Unfortunately didn't get to see that one.

And we did some other things. Mainly shopping - working in the biggest shopping district in Seoul (Myeongdong) is not a really good thing after all. Going to work and coming back can be filled with so many different feelings - feeling sad cause you don't have enough money to buy something, feeling lost when you get lost, feeling happy when you purchase an item, feeling poor after you paid. Overall time after work was a lot of fun. I'm really happy I could meet all of you!

SK Networks

Working in a Korean company is a pretty different experience.

First thing which needs to be said that there is quite a signifficant difference between getting things done at work and staying overtime. Koreans at my workplace did not get paid extra hours nevertheless at 8 pm when I was about to leave the office, nearly 70% of the staff were still at their computers. With huge feeling of guilt I was leaving the office every evening. Of course co-workers say "Go home, you're off now" but as you learn ... Koreans say one thing but think differently. True, they stay late ... but that doesn't mean they get more things done.

Another rule is that your boss is always right and you have to obey. Whether it's decisions where to purchase goods or strategic decisions whether we drink soju or beer, the boss is always right. I guess there wouldn't be a problem with this, but I had this feeling Koreans lack this individual input of their own into the daily office life.

Orders are orders ... hehe we did voluntary work. And here is how it was communicated: "Next Wednesday you will go to Yongin and will do voluntary work". Ummm ok, but where is that voluntary part?




Other than that, my general observation was that a Korean company such as SK is like a family. It takes care of you, provides you food, friends and entertainment but demands you to give up your independence. Not sure if it's really a great way.

Changes changes

Po dluuuugiej przerwie trzeba ponownie zaczac pisac, bo jak sie okazuje ktos to czytal i nawet pare ktosiow sie domaga mojego powrotu. W sumie nawet fajnie mi sie czyta moje dziwaczne wywody, wiec nie mam nic przeciw. Poniewaz czesc fanow znajduje sie po drugiej stronie tej wielkiej kupy ziemi zwanej Euro-Azja wiec bede pisal od tego momentu wiekszosc po angielsku.

Yes, that is true. I'm back, and after quite a long time starting to write stuff in English. I guess most of you have a pretty good idea what's been going on since I ceased to update in July. But for those who did not i've been working, traveling and had a big comeback to Poland. Let's start.