David and Goliath

This week has been spent actually down in the yards, touring panel assembly lines (cutting and welding metal into bigger more recognizable shapes in non-engineer speak), as well as the dry docks. For the dry dock tour, we were taken under a ship and then climbed through openings in ballast tanks and into bulkheads. We went through the deckhouse and even got to touch a propeller. If there is something to see on a ship, we saw it. However, the most fascinating event on our schedule was called the 'Goliath Experience.'

Hyundai Heavy Industries has a series of gantry cranes (referenced in my Goldilocks post from June 21st) and apparently they are referred to as Goliath sometimes. We got to go up in one of the cranes capable of lifting up to 900 tons at one time and here is the story:

Conquering the behemoth does not require the rock and slingshot that the biblical allegory proposes (this Goliath is made of steel too, so a conveniently placed rock won't do much). Instead, you enter its mass through a story of stairs into one of its massive legs. An elevator sized appropriately to make Robert Langdon wince (pop culture reference) travels up on an angled track over 100 meters and takes around 90 seconds to complete the journey. After two carloads of students and employees reconnect outside the elevator, we are taken up a few more flights of stairs on top of the crane. At this point we are instructed not to look down, exit the enclosed steel confines of the supporting structure and head up to our destination close to 120 meters above the ground (likely not even including the depth of the dry dock we're standing over. Temptation wins and the sensation induced by the thought of my own mortality makes the experience all the more worthwhile.

Following a tour through the mechanical components that make this machine work, we are taken down yet more flights to the crane operator's booth. We expect to just glance inside as it seems like we're not authorized to enter, but this is the 'Goliath Experience' after all. In traditional Korean fashion, we are asked to remove our boots prior to entering the booth which is more like a glorified video game system on anabolic steroids. As if it is generous enough for them to allow us to enter the operator's booth, we are also given the opportunity to sit in the solitary chair and place our hands on the very joysticks that make this shipyard capable of its most revered feats. If that is what it feels like to have so much power in your hands then I may finally understand why Kim Jong-Il (political reference) works so hard to protect his regime. As I go to stand up after my photo opp (we have to wait until the completion of an internal approval process to get our pictures taken by HHI employees), the crane operator grabs my right hand. At first I think he is trying to pull me out of the seat quickly but then I am being pushed back in the seat and my hand placed on the right joystick. Suddenly the joystick is moving backward guided by my hand... guided by the crane operator's hand and the load, this time just a bunch of steel cables, begins to rise off of the ground. The operator's hand subsides but I'm instructed to keep the crane going making me perhaps the only American person ever to operate an HHI gantry crane, even if it only lasted for half a minute. And as if the gantry crane hospitality were not enough, we were then offered tea and coffee there for a break... over 70 meters above the ground level.

There is an element of courtesy extended to us everywhere we go. As a purely factual statement, we tend stand out due to our race and as a result, unintentionally solicit questions as to where we are from (attention I actually quite like), but I'm under the impression that regardless of our special treatment around the shipyard, that Korea is a friendly place to live or travel. We even enjoyed shooting the breeze with the Vice President in charge of all of Shipyard 1's (the bigger yard with 9 dry docks opposed to the offshore yard) production with the same level of intrigue and courtesy as the unknown line worker, a positive statement for both positions.

Until next time,

-David Rood

Crank that Soju Boi

Saturday night was an experience that could never be emulated back home in the United States. Although soccer has been gaining popularity in the U.S. due to World Cup televised coverage, people are only excited in the way they got into Olympic curling when it was the only thing on NBC for two weeks in a row (not that I'm knocking it because let's face it, curling is one of the only sports I'm physically built for). We took a bus after 10 PM to the HHI yard where people gathered in an arena in their supporting red and cheered in unison for their beloved team. The language barrier was not a problem since we just started cheering along with whatever vocals sounded like those jeered by our Korean neighbors. At one point U of M cheers included the likes of "Hey Amigo" and "Hail Gringo" until one of the University of Ulsan students we are traveling with taught us the correct pronounciation of Korea... in Korean. Despite a crushing late-game loss, we had a fantastic time cheering on our surrogate team.

On Sunday, a few of us took a bus to Ilsan Beach for the annual Ulsan Shipbuilding & Sea Festival (http://www.korea.net/news.do?mode=detail&guid=46934). The four of us entered the blockaded road that runs alongside the beach, passing through temporary booths featuring things like face painting and others displaying photographs of Korean naval vessels. A crowd was migrating in and out of a larger tent which it turns out held a series of model boats of famous ships. I just so happened to also be interviewed by some international television program (so look out for me on all of those international news shows you frequent) and I was asked to give my impression on the exibit. After leaving the tent, we followed the noise down the beach where speakers were blaring in Korean. The commotion was about a fishing competition, but this was no ordinary competition. As we walk closer to the water's edge, there was a woman holding a riggling meter-long live fish just standing and enjoying the crowd. It turns out that if you happen to catch one of the penned fish by hand, you could keep it just as this woman must have.

Following the strange stint on the beach, we found ourselves climbing through scenic trails overlooking the sea. I made two observations during this jaunt:
1) A lot of couples seem to wear matching outfits
2) Korean women must like feeling taller because they even wear high heels to go hiking
I never said that these observations were relevant.

Then came the food. I was very dedicated to trying some street food while on the trip and where better than a place where you have thousands of locals to pretest for food poisoning. We forwent the dried and fried assortment of squid and larvae and settled on skewered pork. I don't know if I'm qualified as a proper judge but I would say with moderate certainty that New York's finest (street vendors of course, not to be confused with rescue workers) should be watching out because these Koreans cook a mean skewered meat. You can think of this street food as pre-dinner since we were shortly on our way back for Korean-style barbeque.

On the way to the dinner destination, a mildly western inspired restaurant with an oddly familiar facade, we took a mild detour through the booths where we ran into two walking bottles of Soju, and I don't mean that figuratively. As an advertisement for Soju, Korea's staple alcoholic beverage, there were two people in bottle-shaped costumes walking around and even posing for pictures. I may have even seen an entire family (kids included) enjoying a picture with the bottles. The watered down vodka flavor seems to be big here, especially mixed with beer in a concoction called: pok-tan-ju (this part, believe it or not, is not yet written from first hand experience).

After a fantastic duck barbeque dinner, we made our way to the final entertainment for the night, a coreographed military display followed by a concert by the Korean Honor Guard, composed of a mixture of musicians from the country's different military branches. This past week was the anniversary of the start of the Korean War so there was a great tribute to the United States with a combined video and music medley which mated cross-genre American songs to video footage from the war. The overall experience was scintillating and instilled a sense of purpose for the 'Forgotten War.' In America, nobody really discusses the Korean War. If they do, it is certainly not with the valor of WWII or the strong opinion of the Vietnam War. In Korea, the opinion is vastly different and it makes me proud of my country to see so many people appreciative of the sacrifice that other people made on their behalf. Vocal performers fronted the Honor Guard and the singing of "You Raise Me Up" perfectly captured the atmosphere of the evening.

By the time the weekend rolls around, it is very easy to just admit defeat from exhaustion and stay in the dorms but while I'm in Korea, I try to live by the motto: 'When in Korea' and I believe that I temporarily fulfilled my quota of Korea-ness this past weekend.

Until next time,

-David Rood

Buddha-licious

Cultural immersion was the tale of today's travels. HHI took us by bus to Gyeongju City to explore some of South Korea's religious delicacies. Gyeongju is known for its Buddhist temples built in the mid 8th century. This was the first opportunity we had to see another part of South Korea since we were first picked up from the Ulsan airport on Monday. Living in a city is a great experience and the chronic light pollution lends itself to the benefit of visually stimulating pictures, but it is nice to finally see what the Korean country side has to offer in beauty. The Korean rainy season finally caught up to us blanketing the mountains in a gentle fog that was mesmerizing at our final destination for the day.

When we got to Gyeongju City, we walked up to the main entrance of the temple, passing street vendors selling touristy items and peculiar food options. A few carts seemed to be selling a relative to the corn dog (we'll say cousin twice removed) but the juxtaposition of those carts to ones selling insect larvae made me less willing to accept these battered meats as a proper substitute so I held off until our lunch.

This was also my first experience haggling in a foreign language. I was in the gift shop purchasing some tea cups and I needed the guidance of my experienced Korean counterparts in the art of negotiation... in a language I don't speak. Before approaching the counter, I retired all of my American and most of my Korean money into the untouchable confines of my pocket. Kim, one of the University of Ulsan students and my personal haggling machine, and I went up to the lady running the shop and he just began talking. We started at 21,000 Won (don't worry, $1 is worth magnitudes more than 1 Won) and although I showed that I physically only had 21k on me, Kim offered to 'spot' me an extra 10k. Just like buying a car or shopping at Kohls, you don't deserve to weild a wallet if you pay sticker price. The humorous part was that Kim admired how believable I was (worst acting job of my life) and even better, upon leaving the shop I said "kam-sa-ham-nida" to the proprietor whereas my Korean translator just said "thank you." Then we walked out of the store and I settled the 10k tab with him.

After a morning spent touring a temple which also included the opportunity to pay my respects in the traditional Buddhist praying fashion of bowing down on the ground three times with arms facing upward in front of me, as well as a Korean rendition of DIY stir fry for lunch, we headed back to the bus. We all figured that we were just heading back to Ulsan for a free afternoon until the bus began its several kilometer ascent up a mountain mesmerizingly engulfed in fog. We were whipping through the moutainous corners as if part of a rally stage which is disconcerting considering the size of the bus we were on. After 7 kilometers or so of driving, we expected to reach a precipice for a photo opportunity. Instead, we found ourselves in a large parking lot in front of yet another temple.

This temple in the clouds led to far more photographs than I have patience to upload and was well worth the mild hike across soaked sandy pathways to see one of the most beautiful displays of Buddhist sculpture in the world. We also understandably weren't allowed to take photographs of some of the most beautiful religious works such as the enormous golden statues but just take my word for it that it was worth every penny that HHI spent for us to get there.

Until next time,

-David Rood

Size Matters

No, this isn't as phallic as the title implies, but maintains the same 'keeping up with the joneses' attitude. Yesterday we went on a ride along Hyundai's towing tank which measures 120 meters long. In all, the tank is almost twice the size of the one at Michigan in every dimension. We also got to see the multi-level circulating water channel so we did see some interesting resources, but most of the day was anticlimactic and spent in lectures about the different Hyundai Maritime Research Institute (HMRI) departments. The hardest part of the lectures is that we don't have the luxury of napping during a lecture (a courtesy we don't always extend to our professors in Ann Arbor) when the temptation of the previous nights' field trip to the bar trumped the logic of an early bed time. We do plow through an impressive amount of instant coffee, but the hardest part of paying attention in class is really that many of the lecturers speak softly and in mildly broken English and require much more focus than a lecture delivered by a native-English speaker.

The more blogworthy (yes, I made that word up) experience was an impromptu galivant around town in an unsatisfied quest for pizza. A few of us decided to go on an exploratory food hunt prompted by the sight of that night's dinner selection. Over an hour of walking yielded no pizza even with the guidance of Kurt Jankowski, a seasoned veteran in the ancient art of Ulsan pizza discovery (he claims to have found two such places). In the end, we happened upon a western restaurant which bears a name I never remember but know has alliteration based on the letter 'b'. The painful fact is that we were only a block and a half away from Pizza Palm's but I'm certain we will find our way there in the near future.

The subject matter taught by the HHI employees has been interesting so far (even if we don't always have the internal caffein content to appreciate it to its fullest extent) but the most memorable events tend to be when we get sidetracked. Half of our discussions begin with the current World Cup gossip as this is a nation that awakes in unison for a 3:30 AM, holding soccer on the same pedestal as perhaps Buddha or God. We have taken more than one break to watch obscure Japanese (the HHI guy was very adament that the show was Japanese and not Korean) television programs that usually end up with a mechanized seat or port-o-pottie straight out of Tranformers with the only intent of publicly exposing you while on the throne. Awkward? Less than you might think. Hilarious? Absolutely. Even if you aren't amused by the adolescent nature of this comedy and you are surprised it's legal in Japan, the HHI teacher's genuine enjoyment of the outlandish entertainment will bring you to laughter. Today, the noise & vibration specialist alluded to the importance of sound insulation on a cruise ship in case you have newlyweds (not the word he used) having a 'hot' night in the room next to yours. I can say that I have appreciated the colorful minds of the various mentors HHI has presented thus far.

The final and equally unrelated thing I want to discuss is the dormatories where HHI has put us. The word 'dormatory' gives people the impression of communal bathrooms (no matter how high tech the toilets are) and bad food. Well, we don't know how the food compares because every meal is new to us, but this isn't the brick wall-facing viewless room that I had on campus freshman year. No, we are on the 14th floor with fantastic views of both the city and the yard that specializes in offshore vessels. How impressive and inspirational are the views? Take a look for yourself and you tell me. Both of these pictures are from our floor. The interesting part is all of the boats in the first picture that just sit outside the yard waiting for refit work. They make for amazing but difficult to photograph visuals when illuminated at night.

Until next time,

-David Rood

Fear of Hite? Not Here

Yesterday was our first full day at HHI. We began by returning to our familiar conference room where the students from the University of Ulsan (UoU) went through the same routine of trying on uniforms and boots. After that brief strip session, we were taken down a few flights of stairs in the Administration building to a theater where we watched a series of videos which I believe can be seen on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-s3OlQLyI). The movie was inspirational because the later portions illustrate that Hyundai is not just a ship manufacturer, but it is a cultural icon. People who live and work for Hyundai in Ulsan are proud of what they do and it is not too uncommon for someone to wear their work jacket out at night. When we left dinner yesterday at the dorms, an HHI employee approached us and shook our hands to demonstrate his enthusiasm that we were as proud as he was.

Following the movie, we were taken to the first floor of the administrative building for a tour of the Asan museum which details the history of the company and the life of Asan, its founder. The most fascinating portion of the tour was the model of the city which gives you an idea of the scale of the shipyard... biblical. We would have stayed longer at the model but we were on a fast paced tour of the museum while being pushed along by groups of Korean children behind us. Then we got on a bus for a guided driving tour of the entire shipyard at which point the model felt insignificant and didn't do justice to the actual size. Hyundai has 210 ships on the books for the next year and it still blows our minds as to how the organized chaos is much more organized than it is chaotic.

After a group picture (taken by the Hyundai official photographer so I don't have it yet to put online), we went to lunch at the Hyunai Hotel to eat with the heads of the various R&D departments. The meal was mostly inspired by Western, Chinese and Japanese cuisine and I would have tried one of everything... if I had enough room in my stomach. It is possible that I ate whale for the first time, a delicacy that is somewhat unique to Ulsan relative to the rest of the Korean peninsula and is quite delicious. I had my first experience with native Korean beer at this meal at the urging of Youn, the R&D head that I was seated next to during lunch. I tried Hite, which I believe is the Budweiser of South Korea and is very drinkable (not that I have any means of comparison because I'm "underage" in America... then again, I'm a college student so make your own conclusions). We were also taught that Hyundai is pronounced like 'Sunday' (like the car commercial says it) because pronouncing it 'Hun-die' literally means "Now die" in Korean, establishing a bad habit that's hard to break.

The afternoon was filled with an introduction to the Hyundai Industrial Research Institute (HIRI). We were driven by bus to the far end of the shipyard and taken into a new and unfamiliar conference room with a construction helmet and berry soda adorning each seat. The temptation was unbearable and suddenly 13 students were sitting around a large wooden conference table with Hyundai-logo weilding work helmets already fitted. The first speaker came in and immediately struck up a conversation about soccer in great English (despite his asertion that it was poor). Part of our dialogue fell on the berry drink which is said to be good for men, a statement I have heard referenced to more than one consumable that I find routinely disconcerting. The rest of the day consisted of powerpoint presentations by most of the research departments about the work they do and enthusiasm for the game of soccer.

After we returned to the dormitories, we ate another traditional Korean dinner, this time with pork meatball-like items and fantastic potatoes. We are starting to get more comfortable with the food here as well as using the heavy metal chopsticks, but spicy food for breakfast really throws you off. After dinner we went out to a Western-style bar (probably so called for the presence of a pool table). We were served mixed nuts and what I like to call N&N's since they weren't exactly like the chocolatey candy which hails from the States. We all got Hite, the Korean beer which goes for 4000 Won on draft, akin to roughly $3.75 and enjoyed a round or two while we sat and ate chicken that we ordered (and was literally delivered to the bar). And because I know that parents want to see that their children are safe, I included one of us at the bar.

Until next time,

-David Rood

Goldilocks and the Three Pairs... of Pants

We left off this unfinished story with a pregnant woman peeling an orange on a Korean soap opera. I wish I could tell you what happened next, but the channel changed to what seemed like an improv break-dancing show.

Since then, we have flown from Seoul to Ulsan where we landed in a drastically different environment. The airport in Ulsan is not so much an airport as it is a place with a building and a long piece of concrete for planes to drop onto every now and then. We gathered the sense that lavish domestic airports are not this country's specialty, but with one of the longest possible flights from one corner to the other lasting under one hour, domestic travel hardly seems to be at the top of the list of priorities.

After we picked up our luggage at the one baggage claim, we met up with our final group member and our two Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) liasons for the day. We were then taken by a private bus to our dormitories which turned out to be a fusion of Ikea fashion and Japanese overengineered bathroom devices. We dropped off our belongings and met back up to head to the shipyards.

At this point, it is important to know that as naval architecture students, we are well aware that HHI is the world's largest shipyard but by the first sight of the orange custom gantry cranes we had already involuntarily emptied the contents of our bowels in enthusiasm to be in the presence of shipbuilding nobility. We pulled into the yard and were taken up in an administration building conference room. After brief introductions, we proceeded to our first traditional Korean meal (with no Western alternative).

This next portion of our day surprisingly consists of 10 adult men dropping their pants in front of their hosts. As we agreed in the conference room: what happens in Hyundai stays in Hyundai... and cyberspace. So I suppose you deserve an explanation after all. Following lunch, we returned to the conference room to a pile of our uniforms and boots. In order to check the sizes, we were actually asked to try on the pants and jackets although I am not convinced that our liason had 10 guys stripping in mind when he asked us to try on the outfits (sorry, no picture corresponding to this part of the story... because cameras are not allowed in HHI, not because I wanted to spare your eyes). Neither the conversion from inches to centimeters, back to inches nor the apathy of college students in accurately reporting shoe size (I thought I wear 9.5 but apparently 270 is more like my size) assisted in the distribution of correctly-sized work gear. However, after a convoluted sequence of haggling and trading as well as bringing in new sizes of uniforms and boots, we were loaded with gear and ready to head back to the dorms until dinner and passing out for the night. Speaking of which, dinner beckons and is putting up a good fight against sleep so blogging comes in a very distant third.

Until next time,

-David Rood

Getting there is half the fun!

Dear nervous parents and other blog followers,

We landed in Seoul Incheon airport around 4:30 AM Korea time safely. The flight was very smooth with just a little intermittent turbulence. Apparently 2:30 AM is "snack" time on the 1:00 AM flight out of Chicago O'Hare which consisted of a choice between Bi-Bim-Bab and Beefsteak served by a very professional (read attractive) staff of flight attendants. Faced with the opportunity to embrace my surrogate culture for the next four weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to try the Korean dish. Bi-Bim-Bab consists of steamed rice that is mixed in with some vegetables and in our case, ground beef. Add in a few spices according to the instruction booklet that comes with the dish (clearly written for people like me), complete with picture instructions and you have a great meal.

The meal also came with kimchi, the national staple of spiced pickled cabbage. We'll say it was 'interesting.' Perhaps my next kimchi endeavor will combine it with something else to mask the strength of the nationally beloved dish.

Shortly after our meal, we had a sort of mandatory nap time. Window shades must be closed, cabin lights are dimmed, and Tylenol PMs are swallowed in the hopes of waking up just in time for breakfast... which deserves its own commentary.

When it was breakfast time, the stewardesses offered us two choices again: Western and Korean. The first choice was "Rajania" which I initially thought would be the Korean meal since I didn't recognize the word. Then I heard the second choice: fried rice. What I have gathered is that fried rice is a somewhat common Korean breakfast. Apparently someone failed to tell Asiana that "Lasagna" isn't the fried rice of the West. Nonetheless, it was good (how could I pass up the opportunity to have lasagna... on a plane... for breakfast?) and fortunately rounded out the breakfast category with yogurt, fruit, and a croissant.

14 hours after boarding in Chicago, we were wheels down in South Korea where we flew through customs, grabbed our bags, and exchanged our money. Then we grabbed a train between Incheon and Gimpo airports which was a whole other event. The ticket machines accepted only 1000 and 5000 Won notes (roughly $1 and $5 respectively) and the exchange counter gave us money back in 10,000 Won notes. You would be surprised at how long it takes 9 engineering students to find and use a change machine, but eventually we made it through and caught the train just in time. This was no Chicago L or New York subway system. Squishy seats and air conditioning were nice, but the television screens at the end of each car were the nice touch for our 25 minute train ride.

Getting through security at Gimpo was another new experience. You could say that Korean security is quite different than TSA. While in the States, everybody is filed into specific queues, here, we were hearded into a large area for screening with do-it-yourself line formations. While we were waiting, there was a large group of Korean children who were either very excited to see us and talk English with us, or were making fun of us... I'm pretty sure they were making fun of us.

Now we're watching a Korean soap opera while we wait to board the flight to Ulsan... I think the woman is pregnant but if I know better, it doesn't belong to the guy who's with her. Now she's cutting an orange.

Until next time,

-David Rood