Things Left Behind

The other day I was walking home with a coworker and came across a leather couch on the sidewalk. Having heard that it's common for Koreans to leave unwanted furniture on the side of the road I gave the couch a quick look over and carried it home with a little help from my friend.

the new addition

This got me thinking a little bit about the circumstances behind the couch being left on the sidewalk. The most probable reason being that the owner was replacing the older couch for something new and removed the old couch to make room.

Not too long ago I was sitting in a cubicle, working at a job that gave me no sense of satisfaction and very little sense of self worth. It was a decent paying job and offered great benefits, but everyday I questioned the sacrifice I was making by being employed at such a place. I wasn't made to work at a boring cubicle job 40 hours a week like some sort of machine. I needed a new vision, a new adventure. It was time for something new.

And so, saying goodbye to family, friends, and a mind-numbing job, I left for Korea. A place where I am challenged and stretched each day. A place where adventures are experienced around every corner. A place where I feel alive again.

• Life Lesson #3: Making room for something new often means leaving something behind.

Monster Within Redux

After a couple weeks without doing any laundry, I was in desperate need of some clean business casual cloths. I went downstairs to the minimart and bought a bottle of non-assuming pink laundry soap and went back upstairs to my 11th story abode. I put my dirty laundry in the machine along with the pink soap, closed the door, pushed a couple buttons and stepped back. Within a few seconds, I was staring in amazement as my first load of laundry began to spin in a soapy froth.

A little lcd screen on the front of the washer showed 125 minutes so I decided to step out for a quick bit. I found a small ramen restaurant, slurped up my simple meal and went on my merry way back home.

Arriving back home, I stuck my magnetic key in its slot, opened my door and was greeted by a rush of water from my flooded apartment. It wasn't the type of rush of water that hits you chest high and pushes you against the wall behind you, but it was the type of flooded where a good inch or two covered the entire floor. Now, this may not sound like a lot of water, but trust me, its a lot of water!

I called my landlord and began cleaning up. A few hours later a repair guy came by and took a look at the monster. He took out a grey seal that went around the door and put in a new one. He showed my the cracks in the old seal, then pointed to the new seal and gave me the thumbs up.

I was happy the repair was made so quickly, but come on! It took the guy 3 seconds to finish. I timed him. 3 seconds.

• Life Lesson #2: 3 seconds of maintenance can save you 2 hours of mopping.

Arrival

After 19 hours of travel I have finally arrived in Korea! I flew from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco to Incheon, South Korea. After going through immigration I found a nice seat at the airport and waited for my ride.

It's a weird feeling being in a new country waiting for someone you've never met to find you. I'm a bit of anxious person and being in a crowded airport with everything you own and not much info on who's meeting you or who to contact if something were to go wrong was a bit overwhelming. I took a deep breath and began to process my surroundings. The airport was modern and clean. Korean writing with an English translation below was the norm on most signage. People rushed past carrying their belongings, speaking in languages I didn't understand. This was the moment I had been waiting months for, I was finally back in Asia.

I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder and a Korean man asked in hesitant, slightly broken English, "Are you Justin?". He lead me to his car, helped me load my luggage in his trunk and off we went. My driver immediately switched on a large GPS navigation unit in the center of his dash and pressed a few buttons. A map came up on the giant LCD screen showing our projected path with arrows pointing the way. He pointed to the screen and said, "We go here."

We were headed to Bundang, a lovely satellite city Southeast of Seoul. I would spend a week there for training and then be moved to the C2 branch in Bucheon where I will teach for the remainder of my contract. I noticed as we made the hour and a half journey from the airport that a majority of the vehicles we passed also had large GPS units installed in their dash or affixed to their windshield.

A few days later I was sitting with my trainer in Bundang going over the curriculum used by C2. I asked him about the abundance of vehicles with navigation systems and if Seoul was a difficult city to drive in. His response was, "If you don't use GPS in Seoul, you will die." I don't plan on doing much driving while I'm here but I'll be sure to pick one up before I do.

• Life Lesson #1: Use GPS when driving in Seoul.