On Frozen Won

On Frozen Won – My time in Korea

So the Korean money is the Won. A Dollar will get you 1200 won so you feel really rich when you handle their money. The down side is that when you hear that lunch is 12,000 Won, you feel faint for a second. Now the second part of the title is that it is REALLY cold here. I am talking about North Pole cold and as a native of Texas I simply was not prepared for this weather.

The first thing I notice is that these people CAN’T drive. I got into a cab for the 40 minute ride to the hotel from the airport and let me tell you that I thought the time of my departure from this world had arrived. My cab driver, who I refer to as Mario Andretti, started off by swerving at another cab driver standing close to the curb because he didn’t like him. Then Mario sped through traffic running two red lights getting onto the expressway. From my observation it seems that the traffic signs and lights are more like guidelines…. “For reference only”. As we turned onto the expressway there were people (walking) crossing the road with the light that said “OK to walk”. Well whoever put that light up has never met Mario! It was NOT OK to walk as he wove through them and honked as he gestured with a minimum of fingers, if you understand. I informed him that I was not in a real hurry …thinking that might prolong my life. “Yes Sir, No Problem Sir” he said as he accelerated even faster onto the freeway. I literally didn’t have the nerve to look at the dash to see how fast we were going, but it was the equivalent of 85 -90 MPH at least. He passed cars across all lanes, and even used the shoulder of the road to go around one car ( a real thrill ) I must mention however that most of the cars were not only driving the same way, but some were passing us ! It was like the INDY 500 on acid. I decided right there to practice praying….don’t know if that’s how I made it but I think so. All I could think about was that at some point I would have to take a taxi back to the airport. Yikes !

Who taught these people how to drive?

I came here because the company in Japan uses an aircraft company in Korea to produce detail parts for the frames being built in Japan. I came here because the frames must hit a certain date and that means that the Korean details could not be late. So off I go again , deeper into this than ever…so while I won’t mention company names, here is what we have. A big company in Seattle orders airplane parts from my company in Dallas who orders frames from a company in Japan who orders details for those frames from a company in Korea. Confused yet? It did get worse as I had to go to a small shop that the Korean company uses to paint the details. I just love this business! Ever wonder why airplanes cost so much? Overall Korea was a nice place, kind of like New Mexico with cities tucked around mountains…..except the cities all have millions of people. This current assignment is so much fun for a 30 year aircraft guy like me. Getting to travel all around and visit with other people from other countries that have been in the same industry, just in another country, well it’s just awesome. Truly the aircraft business is the same across all cultures.