- page update – korea – travel
my second week of work is almost finished and there is more stuff to talk about and more secrets to reveal. first thing is my observations on the staff.
working in big private companies is always connected with a strong hierarchical structure. no matter what country it refers to, it is kind of a rule. in korea (and i am sure also in japan) this structure is even stronger due to the fact that the whole society is already strongly structured in a hierarchical system. also, not such a long time ago people were used to work a lifetime for one and the same company, their salary as well as their position was kind of connected with their age. so what factors do we have:
1. age
2. position
3. salary
4. status
5. gender
this things still play a huge role. we have not even one woman in a manager position. in every department of the hotel each persons place is defined – either by position or by experience and age. since i am a foreigner, i have kind of a bonus and do not fall so strong in this system BUT everytime i hear my boss or my colleagues talking i notice the different tone and since also the korean language is actually even more hierarchical then japanese, i also notice on the words and grammar that are used.
my boss is very interesting. the front office manager is speaking perfect japanese and quite good english. he is always smiling and has small eyes that seem never to stop moving and notices almost every change in the front hall, every thing a customer mentions, every incoming fax and all other possible movements or actions within the area he is responsible for. at the same time to his staff, he is really very demanding and expects 110%.
second thing is that now i notice my language-limits. it is really strange. i can talk with my friends for hours in korean no matter whether in real or on the phone, but when i have to take phone calls from customers, it is still really hard for me to understand. the first week was really hard, now i get slowly accustomed but its tough. good thing is that my colleagues fully support me. so i pick up the phone and give my best, if i cant solve the problem i just pass to my colleague. this way the customer gets what he needs and i get practice – and i need it a lot.
the structure of our clients has changed and even though right now the whole samsung lions baseball team is residing at our place, most customers now are foreigners. very nice for me since foreign clients are definitely more friendly and give more tips. my first impression of korean customers seems to be right. even my co-workers tend to say “우리나라 사람들 좀…” which can be translated as “well our people they’re little bit…”. the change is also positive for my salary. i get tips for about 12.000-30.000 won per day which is really nice since i do not spend any money neither for food nor for my stay at the hotel. the only money i spend every day is about 3000 won for 6 rounds batting cage. every day.
6 rounds batting cage means 90 balls. i developed a new technique and now hit almost every one. the batting cage nearby my hotel is really good since i got speed balls and also they are always shot in a different way: up, down, strong to the left, strong to the right…really fun. really just tooo bad we do not have this thing in berlin, but i guess i mentioned this already a few times 
oh, one more thing to mention: 2 weeks ago i bought the new language textbook from the yonsei university – level 4. since i finished level 3 the last time i have been here, i guess during the next semester i should do level 4 by myself and then come to korea next year again and finish level 5 at the language institute. if i finish level 5 at yonsei, i will have no more language-test-restrictions on any position in korea, so it is worth it. anyway, it is little bit tough now and as always, i am tooooooooooo busy:
1. working 9 hours per day
2. after work spend about 1-2 hours on reports for university and my BA-paper
3. practicing japanese for 1 hour daily
4. daily fitness for 1 hour
5. practicing 3-4 hours korean on my days-off
6. going out with colleagues and friends – randomly at least 3-4 times a week…
i know, i wanted to change my living style little bit, but somehow there is always so much to do…
and by the way: thanks for your support! moreh then 1050 clicks on this page and only about 3 weeks online. i really can not complain! hope you can grap some usefull information here! my top day had 98 clicks from different ip-adresses. i guess the change to wordpress and to english was the right step.
