Seoul Survivors

On Some 007 Stuff

Hey guys, Seoul was great! Hong Kong was even cooler! We're in Guangzhou now aka main land China. Facebook and Google blogger aren't exactly, how can I say this, legal. We're doing the best we can to keep this thing interesting. We have plenty of stories to tell. Keep checking back and hopefully we'll have some good stuff for you all!

Hoping all is well,

Matt

I'm a Seoul Man! (Buh duh duh buh, buh duh duh)

(Emory)

Hey everyone! I decided to embrace technology and science and do a video post today. Sorry if it's a little bit random/extemporaneous... I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Also for your viewing pleasure, I posted a couple of pics below. Anyways, have a good day and remember: Nothing is impossible, except dinosaurs!
               
                -EG

    At the Erom factory checking out the production process of natural health foods.

Tommy being chill as a cucumber.

                        A small snapshot of the HUGE city of Seoul. So far we've only
                        been on top of 8 or 9 buildings, but the trip is young.

(You can click to make these bigger)

Annyong Haseyo!

Matt

Annyong haseyo everybody! That's Korean for hello. That and kamsamnida (Korean for "thank you") is about as Korean as I get. For those of you who aren't yet as captivated by this blog as you should be here's a brief summary that will hopefully leave you wanting more!

• 13 hours is a looooooooooooooooonnngg time to be on a plane (and that was only part 1 of the trip to Seoul).
• We left Wheaton at 9 am on Monday and got to Seoul on midnight on Tuesday.
• You may think that a flight that long warrants a little more leg room, but think again.
• And jet lag? Pshhh, urban legend!
• Seoul is AWESOME and Big! (22 million people living in the Seoul-metro area).

• Everything is so new and high tech.
• It's surrounded by mountains and the Han River runs right through the middle of it.
• This city comes Alive at night! But the guys keep going to bed at 9....L-A-M-E!

• Everything here is such an adventure. From navigating the streets & subway, to the whole language barrier, to eating the food.
• Believe it or not I'm trying all kinds of foods. I ate cow heart the other night!

Yes, that girl is laughing at me.

• Day 1: We went to the Emperor's Palace & Secret Garden, did some adventuring through the streets & markets of Seoul, and managed to briefly make (sneak) our way up to the top floor in the Samsung building.

Posing with a guard at the 

Emperor's Palace. He's our boy.

Outside the Emperor's 
Palace (Courtesy of GQ Magazine).

• Day 2: We went on business visits to two companies called Erom and Samsung (maybe you've heard of it). We even got to meet some of the CEOs of both - Official!
• Day 3: We went to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and met with an ambassador. He had a really big nose and talked a lot, but he knew his stuff. I kind of felt a little like Jason Bourne at the end of the visit. Tonight we're going to explore some other parts of town that we haven't seen yet!

• We only have 2 days left in Seoul! We're going to the DMZ on Saturday, and Sunday some of the biggest churches in the world.
• This trip has already been incredible and I can't wait to see more. By this time Monday I'll be well on my way to Hong Kong!

Still working on how to say "good bye" in Korean so adios until then.

The guys chilling with the Seoul mascot.

South Korea or Bust

We just completed our second full day in Seoul, South Korea and man am I tired... So much to see and do! Ill try to summarize our past few days for you.

Day 0 - We started everything with a planned 8:45, 9:15 actual (due to Yaphet's personal sleep schedule) departure from Wheaton College. After a 13 hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo, we boarded our connecting flight to Seoul where we were met by our lovely guide, Park, at around 10pm on Tuesday night. All in all, we basically lost an entire day (no worries, we will get it back when we fly back!)

Day 1 - To start our day, we had the best breakfast buffet ever... Korean beef, soft boiled eggs, bacon, eggs, cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, and a little duck! After that, our first official day was full of touristy stops via public transportation. Really cool to see how people in the world's second most dense city in the world operate. Everything is very efficient and clean here! The subways are extremely quite, clean, and convenient, which was incredibly surprising considering the city is larger than New York City. Our guide, Park, took us to a couple different palaces that have been around for a ridiculous amount of time! The second palace was really cool. It looked like your traditional ancient Asian palace, you know, like from Mulan! The amount of history here is amazing. After our day of walking all over Seoul, we went out to eat as a group to a Korean BBQ place down the road. Our hotel is right next to a local university, so there are tons of college students running around. After dinner, which was on the floor, we decided to wonder around a little! Not the smartest idea necessarily... Haha. Got lost for a little while, but found our way back after a little unplanned site seeing! So that wrapped up that day.

Day 2 - Early morning wake up at 6 for our trip to a company called Erom. Erom makes nutritional meal supplements made of all natural materials and is a BAM organization as well. It was interesting to see how they mixed their way of business with their mission of spreading the word of God. After we met with their CEO, we drove an hour and a half our of Seoul, through the mountains, to their factory. They were very health conscious the entire time, and we had to get all scrubbed down before we could look around. This tour went a little long, so the CEO took our group out to a great Korean BBQ place. Very fancy... The meat just kept coming! After this, we went back to Seoul, where the Erom CEO had set up a meeting with the CEO of Samsung Sports for us. Samsung is HUGE!!! Really cool to see how they operate. Giant companies are divided up into a bunch of different sectors, well, at least Samsung is. Another night of Korean BBQ and here I am. Pretty packed trip so far! Loving every minute of it... Off to see what the night life is like with the boys!



Tommy

Video Update: May 2, 2012.

Call Me High Maintenance...But it's a Tiny Room!

Are We There Yet?

So what's up with this "quasi" stuff? (Pronounced by Dr. Noell as KWAH-zay) It keeps showing up in all our reading, trying to confuse us and succeeding. It's been a grind for the past few weeks, but we are almost there... A couple tests tomorrow, a relaxing weekend, and then we are out of here! Good thing we were informed about all our packing and traveling needs 5 days before we leave like: what to wear, the money situation, and where we are going. Don't worry! We got most of it figured out, I hope. Matt is the proud owner of a couple suits too many, but you already know he is going to be looking fly all over Asia, so I suppose it doesn't matter! Motivation is running low and our attention has drifted to more important things than Globalization in an Asian Context such as: Rocky IV, Miracle (particularly Herb Brooks speech by a 4 year old), 30 Rock, and Oreos! Soon, very soon, we will be flying 13 hours non-stop to Tokyo, followed by another flight to Seoul. Movies on movies on movies... 14 hour time change isn't bad is it? Let's hope it is manageable... Well, in the words of Dr. Norton, I'm going to imply the Forrest Gump rule. "Thats all I have to say about that!" Until next time!

Tommy

"I Bleed Cat Yellow"


Matt


If there's one thing I learned at our group's visit to the Caterpillar plant last Tuesday it's that those guys go all out for their Cat equipment and company. Our tour guide might have actually convinced me that he indeed bleeds Caterpillar yellow and I think he might have been legitimately insulted that we didn't know who Cat's founders were. Whoops...


Besides a pretty extensive safety meeting, that included instructions on how to put on shoes and a warning on the tripping hazards of table legs, the tour was pretty awesome! We learned a lot about an impressive company that boasts the biggest global operations in the industry. Turns out Cat has the 2nd most recognized brand name in the world. We also saw how a super high tech assembly line works. The plant itself was absolutely massive. Lasers, tattooed guys with big beards, and robots that drive themselves and use a giant flame to melt metal together? Does it get any better than that? But it does. We actually got to climb onto one of Cat's big rigs! I'm pretty sure that at that moment, 1/4th of my childhood dreams were fulfilled!


I think I speak for everyone when I say that we all can't wait to get to Asia and see how things are done over in China and South Korea. It's going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Be sure to tune in to see what adventures we are all getting into. Hopefully these pictures are the first of many!


God Bless

Hey everyone! First blog post!

This post: Emory Griffith

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and girls. Fans, parents, friends… beloved pets. I, along with Matt Lorier, Tyler Cuculi, and Tommy Cardle would like to thank you for checking out our blog.  If you didn’t know, we are preparing to embark on an Asian quest that will put our grit, determination, and possibly stomachs to the test. We are going on the “Iron Sharpens Iron: Asia” program offered through Wheaton College. 

Just a little background on our trip: We are part of a group of a group of 10 students that will be visiting Seoul, South Korea, Hong Kong, and several cities in China including Shanghai, Beijing, and Chongqing. It’s a business/international relations trip, so our group will be visiting factories, businesses, embassies, and churches all over the place.  Needless to say, we’re stoked.

Now you might be asking yourself. “Myself, is this blog worth reading?  Is this a great way to keep up with Emory, Matt, Tyler, and Tommy over the summer?  Should I share this with my friends and coworkers and postmen? Will this be thought provoking and entertaining? Is this introspective interrogation a useful practice?” The answer to all of your questions is YES! We would love for you to follow us as we post updates from around the world. The gameplan is for us to take turns writing about our experiences and posting pictures, humorous anecdotes, and observations. We’ll try to keep the posts short and sweet (and sour) because I know y’all are busy people. (And you only have 30 seconds to browse while your ad on YouTube or Hulu is loading anyways...) 

Anyways, that should do it for my first post. You should be hearing from Matt (aka The Goose) pretty soon. Until next time, have a great summer and live every week like it’s Shark Week.

            -EG