I thought it would be so hard to get up at 7 on a Saturday morning. It turned out it wasn't. For some reason, I was up as early as 6am.. failing to go back to sleep. Donning my gray suit, I went to the rendezvous point to meet up with a coworker of mine to head to Busan in order to participate a coworker of ours' wedding in Busan. And this it takes place in Busan, he rented a bus so that those living up North could take it and attend the meeting. How nice.
I met some of my old co workers of mine on the bus. It was very nice. I sat down with Mr. Kwon and talked about this and that. Mostly about how 'our' company could become a better, more solid and stronger corporation. Whenever I talked to him, I am grateful that he has been my mentor since day 1. He and I share a lot of things.. sense of humor, visions.. and what not. So the trip down to South was quite pleasant.
Busan was nice. And yes, it was quite warm. The wedding occured near the Haewondae beach.. there were so many buildings at the shore.. it almost felt like I was in Hong Kong. At the wedding, I met more coworkers of mine at my old job that I am going back to at the end of this year.
Amazingly, there were so many people at the wedding. They literally had to queue up to shake hands with the groom. The guy looked happy. About a month ago, I told him I wasn't going to come, but I did. I needed this to clear my head.. to get out of the city and get some fresh air and reunite with my colleagues.
Unlike the any other wedding that I have ever attended, this one was very special.
First, when I chipped in my little offering, they handed me an envelop with a 10,000 won in it. Apparently, down South, they hand out meal tickets to those coming from far and give some money to those from the local area. I guess it'd be cheaper that way. But I got both the meal ticket at the buffet and the 10,000 won. So, yay.
Secondly, the attendants did not leave. They stuck around until the wedding was over. It was so nice. Usually, people filter in and out the wedding and that's it. But, I barely saw anyone leaving in the middle of the wedding.
Next, the couple cried when exchanging vows. It was touching. They were holding hands so could not really wipe the tears, but just let it trickle down their faces. I bet they were both moved and happy.
Finally, the groom sang. It was a bit off-key. But he manned up and finished the serenade. Big ups for him.
The bus was supposed to leave at 10pm.. after the Busan World Firework Festival along the shore. But, one of the coworkers drove down and was about to head up.. so I asked him to give me a ride. And around 3pm, I hit the road again.
In the car, four of us talked a lot about our company. It was a great feeling. Being apart from my old job, this year, I had literally zero opportunity to discuss the present and the future of the company. There, we worried about it, drew a rosy picture about it and hoped that it will flourish and get stronger and bigger than ever. I was so glad to be a part of the entourage and to share the vision and the dreams that will enable the company to have more solid foundation and the willpower.
Nevertheless, it was a 5 hour long drive. And we got in a car accident. Well, it was more of a fender-bender. This trucker did not see us at the parking lot and clipped us tad. No one, but the car was damaged a little. Thank god.
By the time I was home, it was around 8:30pm. It took more than 12 hours to come back to where I started this morning. I was tired, but not enough to jump in a shower, cook up a bowl of ramen and watch soccer games. It was a very good day... except for I needed to go to work tomorrow.
