This is a recollection of an experience I had while working in South Korea. I had been asked by my company to relocate to Korea for a few months to oversee part of a manufacturing process. Our company had a small office of about 60 people on site that had been working for a few years on other projects, but because of my role in the early development of new components I was asked to head over and make sure we hit the mark.
It was the first time I’d been to Korea for any real period of time. I’d done a two day drop in for meetings, and a few trips through the airport, but this time I was going to get to stay for a few months and learn a little about the country and culture. I arrived in the summer. The days were long and warm. My company gave me a car and put me up in an apartment building only a few minutes from the office. I didn’t really use the car too much, but it was nice to have for trips on the weekends to go hiking or go to the beach, or just adventure.
Our office was small but had a good mix of people. About 40 of the people were Korean, and the rest a mix of people from around the globe. There were some Aussies, some Indians, a few French, some Americans, a hand full from South Africa, and a crazy Dutch guy to round it all out.
There was a lot of work to do and things were quite hectic when I arrived. Before I knew it I had been there for two months and barely picked my head up. I’d been out with colleagues, and was enjoying the food, but it was all very much in the bubble of the office. I was shaken out of my work frenzy one afternoon at the office when one of the girls that worked at the office was unsure how the new printer worked.
We had gotten a new printer for drawings that could print up to A0. This is great for technical drawings that can be cumbersome to read in small sizes or on computer screen. I had used the printer earlier in the day and Angela had seen me use it. Now Angela was not her real name, but that was her English name which she had picked when she was taking English in school. She and Julia sat together a few banks of desks over and worked on the same team putting together documentation.
I wasn’t 100% on how this printer worked, I wasn’t the IT person. William the IT guy was Korean and he could have had that thing up and running for them in a minute, but he wasn’t around. But I guess if I got it to work once from my computer they figured I was their best shot.