12.25

I am done with the Samsung indoctrination and I did meet a lot of nice, interesting people that seem willing to hang out with me and show me the ropes around Seoul (although the first restaurant they recommended no longer exists, which makes me a bit skeptical about how current these people in the mid 30's are). I may have more on these people if/when I meet up with them again for food and drinks... more importantly, Merry Christmas to everyone!

I spent most of the day in Songdo with my relatives, which is a fairly new city next to Incheon... they said they had made reservations for lunch at a nice hotel so imagine my surprise when we pulled into a Best Western. Yup, Best Western. Granted, it was a Best Western Premiere and 20 stories high and had an oceanfront view from the 19th floor restaurant... but I was still amused by the fact that I was having a Christmas buffet lunch at a Best Western. I of course left my phone at home, so I've had to resort to taking a random picture off the internet.

The best part of the day? Having a white Christmas! I don't remember much before the move to LA, and there is the possibility that I had a white Christmas when my family went to visit my aunt in Munich one winter break in Elementary school, but this is the first white Christmas I had in my adult life... and I must say, it does paint a pretty picture, especially since it's not heavy enough to stick on the ground and make everything wet and miserable.

Happy holidays everyone!

And the race begins...

I can't imagine anybody from work would ever read what I post on my blog/facebook; just to be safe, I've always operated under the assumption that one day, some one could stumble across it and be offended by what they see. With that in mind, it appears a significant portion of my life will be spent doing work, so here's some preliminary thoughts after three whole days of work and before I get shipped out for Samsung training designed to "acquire loyalty towards Samsung".

I work in the Foreign Legal Department of Samsung Electronics, which means I will get to see a large number of business contracts for the various Samsung Electronics affiliates throughout the world. There are a lot of affiliates (they told me what they are at one of the earlier training sessions...I think there's 14 or 15?) and a lot of Samsung offices, which means a lot of contracts to review and revise. There are about 13 (or so) new attorneys, almost all of them Korean-American and all of them more or less fluent in English with varying degrees of Korean ability. Nobody has their own office except the President that heads our department as well as the IP and Telecommunications legal groups.

The more interesting part of work has to be the building; I'm in the tallest of 3 Samsung buildings, perched on the 38th floor out of 42. There are two others that are not quite as high, but I've been told there are nearly 10,000 Samsung employees in those three buildings. The building basement has a handful of restaurants, a Coffee Bean, Coldstone, Family Mart (think 7-11), health clinic, a bank, a Samsung investment branch, a pharmacy and a cafeteria that offers up 6-8 lunch choices everyday for 2-3 bucks. I don't really know what's in the other two buildings, but I've been told there is a gym and a childcare center. It is definitely an impressive set up, all designed with the idea that nobody should ever really have to leave the building.

What will it all mean as far as work goes? I have no idea. Everybody seems to be nice, but anytime you gather a group of lawyers, you can't expect everyone to sing kumbayah and play nice ALL the time. In any case, I should go pack for my 10 day training trip; I've been promised early morning calisthenics and repeated renditions of the Samsung song.

Some background...

I feel as if the only people that will even look at this blog will be my friends who already know my background and why I am calling myself a FOB again; but, just in case this blog one day blows up and an anonymous person decides to start from the beginning, a little background never hurt anybody...

I moved to America from Korea in 1987 at the precious age of 6, which means every school I have attended, from elementary to law school was in America. I was a FOB (fresh off the boat) then, sitting through English as Second Language classes in elementary school. Now, 22 years later, I find myself in Seoul, FOB all over again.

I came to Korea as a result of the craptacular economy in the US as my ivy league law degree couldn't keep my off the unemployment lists. When the opportunity to work as in-house counsel for Samsung Electronics in Seoul arose, I half-heartedly and haphazardly reached for it... only to find myself in Seoul 6 months after I submitted my resume for consideration.

After 3 weeks here, there are many fascinating things about this country that I will share as time permits. Hopefully it will be accompanied by visual and audio aids to curtail my tendency to write long rambling posts. I am hopeful that even if nobody reads this thing, it will serve as a journal of my time here.