Hi are you American? Can I have your phone number?

In the grocery store a girl walked right up to me and said “hi! Are you American?” Yes…. “hi nice to meet you. Can I have your phone number so we can keep in touch?” This lady was definitely NOT Korean. She was Phillipino and asked me to come to a Phillipino/Korean cultural event she was holding tomorrow. So very random.

I got to my dinner meeting late. I hadn’t yet had to deal with traffic and I had a whole lot of it going back to the hotel. I showed up 15 minutes late to a meeting with Mr. Neal Kim. We drank coffee while discussing the market and then we shared some dinner – Korean BBQ over a grill in the middle of our table. It was excellent and the Korean side dishes were plentiful. Then we had a beer at a Westernized bar and discussed politics and life. I tried to tell him about some of the bad experiences I’ve had here (though most have been nice) and he said that in general the Korean culture is quite friendly. I would agree with that, only if you can exclude the hotels. Also, I feel like some people look down on me a bit because I do not dress up all the time. He also didn’t know what my friend Surin/(Heather?) told me about the fact that girls wear whitening skin lotion. It was very interesting to hear about him saying his mom (and her family); when she was very young could barely afford to eat rice. Now she drives a Bentley. The Korean economy boomed over the past 30 years or so.

Ulsan is the largest manufacturing facility for Hyundai in the world. Everything here is Hyundai – the cars, the trucks, the equipment, the departments stores, my hotel, etc. etc. I have seen a ginormous boat lined with cars which I’m sure will be shipped to some undisclosed location soon. This is also a ship-building port. You don’t want to breath too much around this area, so I have been told. And there are “love motels” EVERYWHERE. For decent hotels, there are really only 2 in the city. But “love motels” are widely abundant. You can only guess what the name signified. Within such a shy culture, it’s very shocking to see such a thing as these very “loudly” advertised motels. OK I must head to bed. Goodnight!!