I can't believe I've been a week here in Seoul. It seemed I've been here for a long time, and lots of events happening both in Seoul and also in my personal life. It's a surreal time for me...Da list: Working hard, FRA v. KOR, Lakers win!, church, my state of mind...
I thought the schedule would get lighter here in Seoul but instead it's been the opposite. We've all been working 7 days a week, averaging 10-12 hours a day. And my hours are on the lighter side of the team. Some of us here probably work 14 hrs a day? A funny thing happens when you work 7 days...you start to not know what day it is. Everyday it's the same thing...get up early, spend some quiet time to myself, meeting, work till 9ish, go home tired, and go to sleep. I'm sure by the 2nd week of June, though, that it'll get much easier. I still think it's a privledge to be able to work on the tourney. It's really like a dream job. I don't know if "work-wise", and i emphasize that if I only measure the portion of my life called work, if it gets any better than this...It's hard to top this. But I'm sure there must be something in the future that will be rewarding...but "work-wise", this is the best so far...
Take the friendly between France and Korea for example. Although we were working away at the IMC, the atmosphere was great. There were around 40 people in our room, covering all the details of the game in realtime. We had 6 tv's set up to watch the live action while sitting across from me, editors write commentaries as it happen. Over on our side, we're making sure that our applications and website is updated and taking notes of what needs to be tweaked before Friday, the first game of the World Cup. But needless to say, I'm in a room of football fans, and when a goal is scored, everyone cheered, clap their hands, and you can see smiles on people's faces seeing that our application works. It's a good feeling. Outside the IMC, scores of people gather together to watch their team Korea play a passionate game against the top team France. I'm glad to be able to go thru this experience. There's really nothing like it.
At the same time, I'd like to give props to globalization. And although it has some ugly side to it and I sure don't condone big corporations making huge profits off of poor countries and cheap labor, the ideology of globalization is good. Bringing the world closer, having one common language. Anyway, right now I'm really living the expat life. Not unfamiliar to the expat life in Thailand, Taiwan, Zurich, and HK. I'm able to watch my Lakers dodge a huge bullet by beating the kings who choked in game 4, all live in my hotel room. Then I was able to get online and trash talk with my friends about the game. How cool is that? I love to try new things, and so when I go to a new place, my senses just light up with all the new sensory input from my surroundings. I'm sure in the future, the logical evolution from all our tape recorders, digi cameras, video camcorders, will be a device which will record ALL our senses...but until then, I can only store it in my human memory. So yeah, I love to try new things, but it's always good to know then when I get homesick, that there's a kfc there waiting for me. That's great. With globalization, we get the best of both worlds, local, and at home. So just like I enjoy good chinese food in America, I'm calmed by the American chains there in the mall.
Hmm...I got to go to a meeting, brb to write the rest of this blog...
I thought the schedule would get lighter here in Seoul but instead it's been the opposite. We've all been working 7 days a week, averaging 10-12 hours a day. And my hours are on the lighter side of the team. Some of us here probably work 14 hrs a day? A funny thing happens when you work 7 days...you start to not know what day it is. Everyday it's the same thing...get up early, spend some quiet time to myself, meeting, work till 9ish, go home tired, and go to sleep. I'm sure by the 2nd week of June, though, that it'll get much easier. I still think it's a privledge to be able to work on the tourney. It's really like a dream job. I don't know if "work-wise", and i emphasize that if I only measure the portion of my life called work, if it gets any better than this...It's hard to top this. But I'm sure there must be something in the future that will be rewarding...but "work-wise", this is the best so far...
Take the friendly between France and Korea for example. Although we were working away at the IMC, the atmosphere was great. There were around 40 people in our room, covering all the details of the game in realtime. We had 6 tv's set up to watch the live action while sitting across from me, editors write commentaries as it happen. Over on our side, we're making sure that our applications and website is updated and taking notes of what needs to be tweaked before Friday, the first game of the World Cup. But needless to say, I'm in a room of football fans, and when a goal is scored, everyone cheered, clap their hands, and you can see smiles on people's faces seeing that our application works. It's a good feeling. Outside the IMC, scores of people gather together to watch their team Korea play a passionate game against the top team France. I'm glad to be able to go thru this experience. There's really nothing like it.
At the same time, I'd like to give props to globalization. And although it has some ugly side to it and I sure don't condone big corporations making huge profits off of poor countries and cheap labor, the ideology of globalization is good. Bringing the world closer, having one common language. Anyway, right now I'm really living the expat life. Not unfamiliar to the expat life in Thailand, Taiwan, Zurich, and HK. I'm able to watch my Lakers dodge a huge bullet by beating the kings who choked in game 4, all live in my hotel room. Then I was able to get online and trash talk with my friends about the game. How cool is that? I love to try new things, and so when I go to a new place, my senses just light up with all the new sensory input from my surroundings. I'm sure in the future, the logical evolution from all our tape recorders, digi cameras, video camcorders, will be a device which will record ALL our senses...but until then, I can only store it in my human memory. So yeah, I love to try new things, but it's always good to know then when I get homesick, that there's a kfc there waiting for me. That's great. With globalization, we get the best of both worlds, local, and at home. So just like I enjoy good chinese food in America, I'm calmed by the American chains there in the mall.
Hmm...I got to go to a meeting, brb to write the rest of this blog...
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