1. 3 Days
: In 3 days, my friend Lars from Finland is visiting Korea. We go back to the year 2007, to be more specific, Ajou International Summer School. I was an RA at the international dorm and Lars was one of the residents. Grant it, we weren't that close. But, I have about 5 people from the program living in Korea and when an alumni is coming to town, we gather to celebrate. Even weeks before, I created a private event page where the class of AISS 07' people in Korea have been spitballing over Lars' arrival and celebrating it. Accommodation, party venue and whatnot have been discussed and all settled. I hope he arrives safe. Looking forward to it!
2. 10k Marathon
: That's right. This Saturday, I am running a 10K marathon in Seoul with some friends of mine. This is my very first time to participate in a marathon. Due to the audit prepping this and the last month, I've failed to train properly. Thankfully, I trained back in summer, so finishing the race would be no problem. The issue is the record. Last time I practiced, it was around 50mins. But I ran in this park, did 7 laps. But this race is going to be different from running the same route 7 times. My friend Jo advised to enjoy the race. That I will do. I am excited. If this went well, I might try a half marathon, next spring.
3. 13 Days
: Having taken only one day of my personal days this year, I have saved up 16 personal days. And my company has a policy to compensate monetarily for the remaining up to 8 days of personal days. Therefore, I need to used the rest 8 days (including 3 weekends) I am not certain of how I am going to use them, but I am excited :)
4. 18 Days
: As of today, I have only 18 working days left at my current job, then I am going back. Amongst those 18 days, I have a 3 day long training. Then, it will be 15 days. Only 15.. I clearly remember how excruciating it was when I first started. Extremely painful. Waking up in the morning was like I was being put on a death row. This is so not because the people I work with did not treat me bad, but because it was even then hard for me to accept the fact that I needed to spend a whole 11 months here against my will. And yet, I stayed strong. My colleagues here helped me and understood me a lot.. so much so that I will never forget these people and forget what they have shown to me. And, now it is only 18 days. Time flies, literally.
2011-11-29
2011-11-28
Help Your Suwon (Weekly Audit : Nov 27th 2011)
Total balance : 8,140
Previous balance : 7,010
Newly deposited : 1,130 (70,000 - 68,870)
*from the 27th Nov 2011 activity)
For the second week activity, we had a newcomer, Rachel. It is always good to see new people join the cause. Nevertheless, the performance was rather sluggish because there weren't many homeless at the station. Grant it, there were many passengers or people filtering in and out of the station.. which is why the homeless were somewhere else in order to avoid them. Out of 60 bags we prepared, only about the half was given out. In a way, it was warm so the homeless did not need to stay inside, but they could be outside, doing something. Last week was colder, ergo more homeless at the station.
Up in Seoul, the activity consisted of nothing but giving out food. But, here in Suwon, I think we can spice things up by doing something creative. It could be clothes drive, English teaching
.. or something else. I need a bit more of resources to pull it off. Might as well talk to the head of the NGO soon.
Previous balance : 7,010
Newly deposited : 1,130 (70,000 - 68,870)
*from the 27th Nov 2011 activity)
For the second week activity, we had a newcomer, Rachel. It is always good to see new people join the cause. Nevertheless, the performance was rather sluggish because there weren't many homeless at the station. Grant it, there were many passengers or people filtering in and out of the station.. which is why the homeless were somewhere else in order to avoid them. Out of 60 bags we prepared, only about the half was given out. In a way, it was warm so the homeless did not need to stay inside, but they could be outside, doing something. Last week was colder, ergo more homeless at the station.
Up in Seoul, the activity consisted of nothing but giving out food. But, here in Suwon, I think we can spice things up by doing something creative. It could be clothes drive, English teaching
.. or something else. I need a bit more of resources to pull it off. Might as well talk to the head of the NGO soon.
2011-11-22
Demise of Newspaper
In the era where twitter and Facebook has become one of the most dominant methods to convey information and communicate with , it is natural to question whether newspaper is going to be able to survive the tide and continue to prevail as it has been. Personally, I believe that it is undeniable that the role that newspaper has been playing as the spearhead of Journalism will be taken by something else, e.g. and again twitter and Facebook. And it is going to change the dynamics of Journalism to a great degree.
This peace of blog is written after I watched "Page one inside the new york time" where they interviewed and filmed some staffers at New York Times while making an effort to advocate the conventional roles that newspapers have assumed.
When I lived in Manhattan about 3 years ago, I was on my way to downtown to participate in a volunteering activity. The rendezvous point was right next to New York Times building. The building, unlike many old ones in Manhattan was somewhat newly built. But according to the film, it now faces the biggest hardship that will put the company in danger. The paper has laid off people, run a pay per view online site to make ends meet. Nevertheless, the appearance of the technology-embedded mediums e.g. twitter and Facebook continues to emerge.
But, will twitter and Facebook be able to substitute New York Time or other newspapers? I hope not. Unlike newspaper that, before releasing news pieces, does fact-check, there is no monitoring or filtering in twitter and Facebook. It is not rare to see fake news running around on twitter such as deaths of celebrities. Moreover, the news conveyed through and shared by twitter and Facebook has its sources from major newspaper.
Of course, you can deliver certain information through twitter or Facebook, but it is usually the case that the information is only the tip of the iceberg. Don't you agree? Both has merits, but also has drawbacks. They are succinct. condensed. You need to squish your information into 140 characters. What is beyond the facts are likely to be omitted and thus spawn misinformation or misconception. And Facebook is no better.
I would say it is still too early to call Demise of Newspaper because there are particular roles that only newspapers can play. This, however, does not retard the speed at which newspaper becomes less valuable in the society. It needs to find a way to hybridize the conventional characteristics of paper and the new technologies. Paper on ipad,, galaxy tab.. yes, it is convenient. You can flip through pages. But is it just me that we are missing something when dealing with these state of the art gadgets? The crisp feeling... that you have after yanking the paper out of the plastic bag at the porch in the morning and reading it on the kitchen table.. and you thumb through it for fear of crumpling the paper accidentally. Twitter does not have that. Ipad can't provide it. Neither can Facebook.
Nonetheless, what we called "personal touch" is disappearing. People don't care about it anymore. And it is quite dreadful.
This peace of blog is written after I watched "Page one inside the new york time" where they interviewed and filmed some staffers at New York Times while making an effort to advocate the conventional roles that newspapers have assumed.
When I lived in Manhattan about 3 years ago, I was on my way to downtown to participate in a volunteering activity. The rendezvous point was right next to New York Times building. The building, unlike many old ones in Manhattan was somewhat newly built. But according to the film, it now faces the biggest hardship that will put the company in danger. The paper has laid off people, run a pay per view online site to make ends meet. Nevertheless, the appearance of the technology-embedded mediums e.g. twitter and Facebook continues to emerge.
But, will twitter and Facebook be able to substitute New York Time or other newspapers? I hope not. Unlike newspaper that, before releasing news pieces, does fact-check, there is no monitoring or filtering in twitter and Facebook. It is not rare to see fake news running around on twitter such as deaths of celebrities. Moreover, the news conveyed through and shared by twitter and Facebook has its sources from major newspaper.
Of course, you can deliver certain information through twitter or Facebook, but it is usually the case that the information is only the tip of the iceberg. Don't you agree? Both has merits, but also has drawbacks. They are succinct. condensed. You need to squish your information into 140 characters. What is beyond the facts are likely to be omitted and thus spawn misinformation or misconception. And Facebook is no better.
I would say it is still too early to call Demise of Newspaper because there are particular roles that only newspapers can play. This, however, does not retard the speed at which newspaper becomes less valuable in the society. It needs to find a way to hybridize the conventional characteristics of paper and the new technologies. Paper on ipad,, galaxy tab.. yes, it is convenient. You can flip through pages. But is it just me that we are missing something when dealing with these state of the art gadgets? The crisp feeling... that you have after yanking the paper out of the plastic bag at the porch in the morning and reading it on the kitchen table.. and you thumb through it for fear of crumpling the paper accidentally. Twitter does not have that. Ipad can't provide it. Neither can Facebook.
Nonetheless, what we called "personal touch" is disappearing. People don't care about it anymore. And it is quite dreadful.
2011-11-21
Help Your Suwon (Week 1)
I would be lying if I said I was not nervous. Even hours before I headed out to Suwon Station, I was slightly worried that not many people would show up. Including myself, 5 people signed up. I told the NGO that I would bring about 7 people. What was worse was it suddenly got very cold from early morning and has been extremely windy. As much as I hate winter cold spell, it is just the perfect timing. On the day to launch the very first Help Your Suwon gathering, the cold spell dominates the region.
I headed out earlier than I needed to in order to navigate the area and to make sure there is a store where we can buy food. On the way to the station, the traffic jam was rampant because a soccer game just ended. Not helping.
After scouting the adjacent area, I headed to the rendezvous point and it was 5:50pm. No one was there. I knew that my friend Amanda was running late. So I just waited. Thankfully, the people that promised to show up appeared. After a little of chitchatting and breaking the ice session, we went to the store.
Buying food was somewhat difficult. For me, I was never in charge of handling money and thus it was my first time to estimate with a limited amount of money how much food I need to purchase. But I am Asian and thus good at math. Also, we managed to have some change (about 7,000 won). When it comes to money, it is always better to have some change and to have less than we need to or what we have. Years of experience of handling people's tax has taught me well.
Afterward, we went up to the office. It was a lot better than the one in Seoul Station. haha. Everyone lined up and bagged up the food. Toward the end of the process, the guy in charge showed up and I asked him to illustrate what the organization does for homeless. Such good people they are.
Finally, it was time to get down to the business. With our hands full of the bags of food, we headed back to the station, led by one worker from the organization. He was kind enough to talk to the homeless at the station and helped up to whom we should dole out the food. As I anticipated, many homeless people gathered around us and asked for food. We prepared about 50 bags, and it only took about 10 mins to consume them all. It was fast.
As I mentioned, it was a very cold day. But it must be colder to them. At the end of the day, we all go home and have a good night sleep. But they, every night, need to find to crash.. whether it is a subway station or vacated parking lot. At the end of the day, we'd rush to a convenient store and grab bags of chips or something to drink. But sometime they don't have anything to eat. At least back in summer, the homeless up at Seoul Station had many places to crash and did not need to worry about being frozen to death. And now it is winter. As much as the Christmas lightnings were shining the station, the coldness that the homeless feel and the coldness that pedestrians on the street cast on them would be sever than ever.
I headed out earlier than I needed to in order to navigate the area and to make sure there is a store where we can buy food. On the way to the station, the traffic jam was rampant because a soccer game just ended. Not helping.
After scouting the adjacent area, I headed to the rendezvous point and it was 5:50pm. No one was there. I knew that my friend Amanda was running late. So I just waited. Thankfully, the people that promised to show up appeared. After a little of chitchatting and breaking the ice session, we went to the store.
Buying food was somewhat difficult. For me, I was never in charge of handling money and thus it was my first time to estimate with a limited amount of money how much food I need to purchase. But I am Asian and thus good at math. Also, we managed to have some change (about 7,000 won). When it comes to money, it is always better to have some change and to have less than we need to or what we have. Years of experience of handling people's tax has taught me well.
Afterward, we went up to the office. It was a lot better than the one in Seoul Station. haha. Everyone lined up and bagged up the food. Toward the end of the process, the guy in charge showed up and I asked him to illustrate what the organization does for homeless. Such good people they are.
Finally, it was time to get down to the business. With our hands full of the bags of food, we headed back to the station, led by one worker from the organization. He was kind enough to talk to the homeless at the station and helped up to whom we should dole out the food. As I anticipated, many homeless people gathered around us and asked for food. We prepared about 50 bags, and it only took about 10 mins to consume them all. It was fast.
As I mentioned, it was a very cold day. But it must be colder to them. At the end of the day, we all go home and have a good night sleep. But they, every night, need to find to crash.. whether it is a subway station or vacated parking lot. At the end of the day, we'd rush to a convenient store and grab bags of chips or something to drink. But sometime they don't have anything to eat. At least back in summer, the homeless up at Seoul Station had many places to crash and did not need to worry about being frozen to death. And now it is winter. As much as the Christmas lightnings were shining the station, the coldness that the homeless feel and the coldness that pedestrians on the street cast on them would be sever than ever.
Help Your Suwon (Weekly Audit : Nov 20th 2011)
The donation aggregated : 60,000 won
The amount of purchase : 52,990 won
The balance : 7,010 won
The amount of purchase : 52,990 won
The balance : 7,010 won
2011-11-18
Days like this
I don't exactly know where you are. I live in Suwon, South Korea currently. It is almost 5 pm and Friday.
Upon waking up, I realized that it was murkier than usual outside. Then, I recalled that it was supposed to rain this weekend. And yes, it was drizzling and I very much like the sound of the raindrops hitting upon the ac fan and trickle down the ground at 8 in the morning. I just hoped to keep myself under the blanket the whole day, but I had to come to work, of course.
It is a gloomy Friday and I can't like it anymore than I do right now. At this moment, there are no important concerns of mine and thus my mind is quite peaceful. My work is fine, my personal life is fine.. On a day like this, that is, serene, peaceful, gloomy, I would like to stay home and watch movies with my lights off. Being under the blanket and relishing my favorite chips would be so ideal and perfect.
When I was in college, I used to love rainy Saturday mornings. This is so because on Saturday mornings there are not usually many students running around on campus. In particular, if it rained, it is nearly impossible to see people on campus at even 9 in the morning. Being a diligent and studious student, I'd still wake up at 8am on any Saturday morning and head down to the library. And on the whole way over, you don't come across anyone, but just wind, sun, sometime rain and snow. It was so peaceful. What's more, once you get to the library, it is almost like you are in a deserted cave. No student would come to the library that early on a Saturday morning. And walking up to the fourth floor and approaching my favorite spot, still you don't come across anyone. Sitting down on a chair, looking out the window, you feel like you own the world.. not in a very possessive way.. but in a hmm very lonely and yet heart-full way.
I hope it rains tomorrow when I wake up. I would love to feel the feelings that I did when I was in college... Days like this, a little bit of solitude soothes and comforts you.
Upon waking up, I realized that it was murkier than usual outside. Then, I recalled that it was supposed to rain this weekend. And yes, it was drizzling and I very much like the sound of the raindrops hitting upon the ac fan and trickle down the ground at 8 in the morning. I just hoped to keep myself under the blanket the whole day, but I had to come to work, of course.
It is a gloomy Friday and I can't like it anymore than I do right now. At this moment, there are no important concerns of mine and thus my mind is quite peaceful. My work is fine, my personal life is fine.. On a day like this, that is, serene, peaceful, gloomy, I would like to stay home and watch movies with my lights off. Being under the blanket and relishing my favorite chips would be so ideal and perfect.
When I was in college, I used to love rainy Saturday mornings. This is so because on Saturday mornings there are not usually many students running around on campus. In particular, if it rained, it is nearly impossible to see people on campus at even 9 in the morning. Being a diligent and studious student, I'd still wake up at 8am on any Saturday morning and head down to the library. And on the whole way over, you don't come across anyone, but just wind, sun, sometime rain and snow. It was so peaceful. What's more, once you get to the library, it is almost like you are in a deserted cave. No student would come to the library that early on a Saturday morning. And walking up to the fourth floor and approaching my favorite spot, still you don't come across anyone. Sitting down on a chair, looking out the window, you feel like you own the world.. not in a very possessive way.. but in a hmm very lonely and yet heart-full way.
I hope it rains tomorrow when I wake up. I would love to feel the feelings that I did when I was in college... Days like this, a little bit of solitude soothes and comforts you.
2011-11-14
Things to do
Finally, the audit is over. It went very well. The congressmen were cooperative and did not really grill the ceo or other heads of the museums or the gallery that this organization operates. Now I feel like I just managed to swallow a huge live snail with salt water.
So, now it is time for me to look around me and gather my thought to open the next chapter of this winter. There are things I need to do and I would like to henceforth list them up.
1) Launching Help Your Suwon.
: This project has been long overdue. The only thing I need to do is call this NGO and ask for help for this Sunday. Once they give me the green light, I will get a hold of those who have appeared to be interested in my idea to help homeless at Suwon Station every Sunday night. Frankly, I am tad worried in that there might not be as many people as I hope there would be. But, I believe in good cause. Hopefully, they will spread the word and thus generate more volunteers to the event. Believe it or not, this it going to be a big commitment both physically and monetarily.
2) Training for a 10k run
: With my friends, I registered for a 10k run in Seoul next month. The race is only 3 months ahead of us and I am not trained at all. And yet, it is just a 10k, 6 mile run, so there should not be no issues. Back in summer, I trained myself for a run, but it somehow fell through. Now, in the middle of dread winter, I will run. This event is also for good cause : supporting the kids in hunger. Now that the audit is over, I will run extra miles at the gym to prep myself for the race. No big deal-
3) Decide where to go this winter
: According to my plan, I will get a 2 week long vacation at the end of this year. I have been saving up my vacation days and want to use them all toward the end of the year. I have been thinking of going to Japan for a few days mainly because I have never been there. And yet, due to the nuke accidents, I am afraid. Surely, they would say it is safe and blah.. but it is still the nuke. If the plan fell through, I might go down to Gyeonggju just for sightseeing. Why? Well, it is full of culture and heritage. Yes, I have been there before but as a kid. But, now I think it'd be a bit different. With whom I am going? I don't know. With my family? alone? or a partner in crime?
4) Have a talk with my bosses
: With the current boss, I need to tell him that the second week of December will be my last working week. He will allow it since I have been nothing but excelling at work. Ballpark, I think I have about 21 working days left at this organization. I don't want my coworkers to have negative impression on me. Well, maybe it is too late, but I have been docile and cooperative. Grant it, I did not really show my true colors, but did my share fully and responsibly. No doubt about it.
: With my real boss, I need to ask him where he is going to assign me to upon my return to my job. The CEO proclaimed last week that he will reshuffle the organization. In this situation, I honestly don't know where they are going to put me. I hope I go back to my old job and work with my colleagues again. I surmise I can tell the people high up as to what I would like to do. Yes, I will do this sometime in December. I would like to believe that I am a great asset since I speak great English and they need me in many positions. But, will they be considerate enough to account for my talent? Earlier this year, when they decided to send me to this organization for a year, they did not ask for my opinions. It was a unilateral decision. And yet, I have learned a great deal and have become more objective as to what I need to do and to which direction my company heads upon my arrival. And yet, there is always a thin line between the ideas and the reality and how to narrow it is your ability and responsibility if you would like to be called a professional.
5) Others
I need to meet my friends here and there. In particular, some of my life long friends have been disconnected with me and I need to rekindle the friendship.
About 50 days left this year. It has been very hard and yet very meaningful. I would like to make the best out of it and it is not too late.
So, now it is time for me to look around me and gather my thought to open the next chapter of this winter. There are things I need to do and I would like to henceforth list them up.
1) Launching Help Your Suwon.
: This project has been long overdue. The only thing I need to do is call this NGO and ask for help for this Sunday. Once they give me the green light, I will get a hold of those who have appeared to be interested in my idea to help homeless at Suwon Station every Sunday night. Frankly, I am tad worried in that there might not be as many people as I hope there would be. But, I believe in good cause. Hopefully, they will spread the word and thus generate more volunteers to the event. Believe it or not, this it going to be a big commitment both physically and monetarily.
2) Training for a 10k run
: With my friends, I registered for a 10k run in Seoul next month. The race is only 3 months ahead of us and I am not trained at all. And yet, it is just a 10k, 6 mile run, so there should not be no issues. Back in summer, I trained myself for a run, but it somehow fell through. Now, in the middle of dread winter, I will run. This event is also for good cause : supporting the kids in hunger. Now that the audit is over, I will run extra miles at the gym to prep myself for the race. No big deal-
3) Decide where to go this winter
: According to my plan, I will get a 2 week long vacation at the end of this year. I have been saving up my vacation days and want to use them all toward the end of the year. I have been thinking of going to Japan for a few days mainly because I have never been there. And yet, due to the nuke accidents, I am afraid. Surely, they would say it is safe and blah.. but it is still the nuke. If the plan fell through, I might go down to Gyeonggju just for sightseeing. Why? Well, it is full of culture and heritage. Yes, I have been there before but as a kid. But, now I think it'd be a bit different. With whom I am going? I don't know. With my family? alone? or a partner in crime?
4) Have a talk with my bosses
: With the current boss, I need to tell him that the second week of December will be my last working week. He will allow it since I have been nothing but excelling at work. Ballpark, I think I have about 21 working days left at this organization. I don't want my coworkers to have negative impression on me. Well, maybe it is too late, but I have been docile and cooperative. Grant it, I did not really show my true colors, but did my share fully and responsibly. No doubt about it.
: With my real boss, I need to ask him where he is going to assign me to upon my return to my job. The CEO proclaimed last week that he will reshuffle the organization. In this situation, I honestly don't know where they are going to put me. I hope I go back to my old job and work with my colleagues again. I surmise I can tell the people high up as to what I would like to do. Yes, I will do this sometime in December. I would like to believe that I am a great asset since I speak great English and they need me in many positions. But, will they be considerate enough to account for my talent? Earlier this year, when they decided to send me to this organization for a year, they did not ask for my opinions. It was a unilateral decision. And yet, I have learned a great deal and have become more objective as to what I need to do and to which direction my company heads upon my arrival. And yet, there is always a thin line between the ideas and the reality and how to narrow it is your ability and responsibility if you would like to be called a professional.
5) Others
I need to meet my friends here and there. In particular, some of my life long friends have been disconnected with me and I need to rekindle the friendship.
About 50 days left this year. It has been very hard and yet very meaningful. I would like to make the best out of it and it is not too late.
2011-11-07
Painful week-
Last week was hellish. And its aftermath is still lingering now since I am sick. Given that the auditing aka the annual inspection by the local congressmen is around the corner (Nov 10), my team had to prepare a lot of paper to turn into to them. A lot.. about 1,000 pages. So, about seven of us has been meticulously and painstakingly working on the prepping the paper work. And it has gotten worse since we were approaching the doomsday.
Thursday-
I remember starting the day pretty fine. Nothing unusual or out of ordinary. However, the person in charge of the auditing went home early yesterday (Wednesday) In the meantime, some congressmen asked for some additional paperwork, which turned out needing a lot of labor. So, with the person gone, the team squandered Wednesday. She came back to work Thursday and finally realized how immense the paperwork requested by the lawmakers was and doled it out to the rest of us. And, this eventually kept everyone as late as 11pm at work. Ergo, I could not go to the gym.
Friday-
Tired as hell, I punched in. The paperwork prep continued without doubt. However, there was a twist to today.
Earlier, some idiotic lawmaker released an article on a local newspaper how inefficient the budget-usage has been in the organization. With a lawmaker in the congress, it won't be conducive to secure the amount of budget for next year, the people high up decided to draw up some stats and analysis and visit the lawmaker to talk him into some sense and persuade him to revise his views. So around 3pm, which was about 3 hours before the punch out, my boss asked me to drive up to the most Northern part of the region so that we can meet up the lawmaker. Being a docile worker, I said yes. I could have said no, but I always thought that his audit prep is the last thing I will commit myself to at this organization.. so I did not turn down his suggestion.
By the time we arrived, it was about 5:30. And my boss and his boss (2nd in Command) met up with the congressman and decided to eat. So, I ate alone, crashed at the car while listening to some radio show.. which was quite nice.. But the waiting got longer than I thought it would. I waited about 4 hours in the car. By the time, they were done eating, it was around 9pm. So much for workout tonight as well.
Of course, my boss was drunk as hell. According to him, the talk was fine and he had to consume a series of soju + beer bomb shots all along. Poor guy.
While coming back to Suwon, he talked A LOT about me. He may be trunk, but he was not senseless or anything. The whole time, he's been talking up to. He told me how capable I am and he would like me to stay at the organization longer.. and he'd put in a good word to the ceo of my company that I am going back to at the end of this year. The whole time, I just agreed.. and nodded at whatever he was saying in order not to go against him or piss him off. I felt somewhat bad for him.. He actually had a family gather that night so some of his relatives actually already gathered in Suwon and were having a great time without him. He told me NOT to come to work on the weekend. I dropped him off at where his relatives were and came back to the office where I saw the rest of the team still working. Geez... After like 15 mins, I punched out.. came home and passed out.
Saturday, knowing that I did not have to go to work, I still did. However, before that I went to the gym and made up for what I have been missing. Pacs,, back, shoulder, legs....for about a full 2 hand a half hours. It was exhausting and yet felt really good to be back at the gym after two day long absence.
After short lunch, I came to work. Two people (including the one in charge of the auditing prep) were there. I made it clear that I needed to punch out around 4. She gave me an easy assignment. I took care of it and without any hesitation I went home.
Maybe it was because I felt so much relieved after 3 day long toiling. I somewhat felt not good. I cooked some pork.. rice. I knew I was going to feel sick next morning. After watching some tv shows, I have saved, I went to bed.
Sunday
And of course, I felt ill. It was somewhat a combination of a sore throat, body aching, general fatigue and what not. Just lay in bed all day...had some hot soup, veggies, oranges, chewable vitamin tablets.. chips.. Sometime in the afternoon, I felt somewhat better, so barely got up and cleaned the apartment, did laundry. Phew.
Then, it backfired and I felt worse. So just laid in bed helplessly.
Monday
I hope I would get better, but not quite. I am still sick and fatigued. I think I need to skip the gym. On my way to lunch, I picked up 육개장 (beef broth). While eating it at home, I perspired like a pig. My body must be doing really bad.. considering I rarely sweat no matter how spicy the food I have.
And now it is almost 2pm. I hope I go home at 6pm. I will probablly not go to the gym, but pick up the same dish that I did at lunch and just sleep in. I so badly want to feel better.
3 more days until the end the auditing. Thursday night, it will be all over.
Thursday-
I remember starting the day pretty fine. Nothing unusual or out of ordinary. However, the person in charge of the auditing went home early yesterday (Wednesday) In the meantime, some congressmen asked for some additional paperwork, which turned out needing a lot of labor. So, with the person gone, the team squandered Wednesday. She came back to work Thursday and finally realized how immense the paperwork requested by the lawmakers was and doled it out to the rest of us. And, this eventually kept everyone as late as 11pm at work. Ergo, I could not go to the gym.
Friday-
Tired as hell, I punched in. The paperwork prep continued without doubt. However, there was a twist to today.
Earlier, some idiotic lawmaker released an article on a local newspaper how inefficient the budget-usage has been in the organization. With a lawmaker in the congress, it won't be conducive to secure the amount of budget for next year, the people high up decided to draw up some stats and analysis and visit the lawmaker to talk him into some sense and persuade him to revise his views. So around 3pm, which was about 3 hours before the punch out, my boss asked me to drive up to the most Northern part of the region so that we can meet up the lawmaker. Being a docile worker, I said yes. I could have said no, but I always thought that his audit prep is the last thing I will commit myself to at this organization.. so I did not turn down his suggestion.
By the time we arrived, it was about 5:30. And my boss and his boss (2nd in Command) met up with the congressman and decided to eat. So, I ate alone, crashed at the car while listening to some radio show.. which was quite nice.. But the waiting got longer than I thought it would. I waited about 4 hours in the car. By the time, they were done eating, it was around 9pm. So much for workout tonight as well.
Of course, my boss was drunk as hell. According to him, the talk was fine and he had to consume a series of soju + beer bomb shots all along. Poor guy.
While coming back to Suwon, he talked A LOT about me. He may be trunk, but he was not senseless or anything. The whole time, he's been talking up to. He told me how capable I am and he would like me to stay at the organization longer.. and he'd put in a good word to the ceo of my company that I am going back to at the end of this year. The whole time, I just agreed.. and nodded at whatever he was saying in order not to go against him or piss him off. I felt somewhat bad for him.. He actually had a family gather that night so some of his relatives actually already gathered in Suwon and were having a great time without him. He told me NOT to come to work on the weekend. I dropped him off at where his relatives were and came back to the office where I saw the rest of the team still working. Geez... After like 15 mins, I punched out.. came home and passed out.
Saturday, knowing that I did not have to go to work, I still did. However, before that I went to the gym and made up for what I have been missing. Pacs,, back, shoulder, legs....for about a full 2 hand a half hours. It was exhausting and yet felt really good to be back at the gym after two day long absence.
After short lunch, I came to work. Two people (including the one in charge of the auditing prep) were there. I made it clear that I needed to punch out around 4. She gave me an easy assignment. I took care of it and without any hesitation I went home.
Maybe it was because I felt so much relieved after 3 day long toiling. I somewhat felt not good. I cooked some pork.. rice. I knew I was going to feel sick next morning. After watching some tv shows, I have saved, I went to bed.
Sunday
And of course, I felt ill. It was somewhat a combination of a sore throat, body aching, general fatigue and what not. Just lay in bed all day...had some hot soup, veggies, oranges, chewable vitamin tablets.. chips.. Sometime in the afternoon, I felt somewhat better, so barely got up and cleaned the apartment, did laundry. Phew.
Then, it backfired and I felt worse. So just laid in bed helplessly.
Monday
I hope I would get better, but not quite. I am still sick and fatigued. I think I need to skip the gym. On my way to lunch, I picked up 육개장 (beef broth). While eating it at home, I perspired like a pig. My body must be doing really bad.. considering I rarely sweat no matter how spicy the food I have.
And now it is almost 2pm. I hope I go home at 6pm. I will probablly not go to the gym, but pick up the same dish that I did at lunch and just sleep in. I so badly want to feel better.
3 more days until the end the auditing. Thursday night, it will be all over.
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