2010.09.19 - Wedding and Beach

Wedding, Wine and Wlovers!

We suffered a small computer fall-out a few weeks ago, so we were not able to upload any photos until we got a new power supply. So no web updates ... Very convenient seeing that I have been really busy lately and if I had shared my thoughts with you, I would probably have scarred you for life !!

I am slightly more chilled now after a full weekend without (much) work, so I will take the chance and tell you what we have been up to lately. Three Saturdays ago I met up with Andreas for a bike ride close to our apartment. I had a new bike computer to check out and I was really looking forward to logging the ride to my web site afterward. Huge was my disappointment when 5 minutes into the sweltering hot ride find my new gadget missing! Why do these things have to be black and have a really poor mount ? We searched for a little while but it didn't want to be found. World's worst investment! I have now ordered another GPS ... I will make sure to tie it onto the bike threefold!

After the bike ride Paula and I went to the flower market. It is located 10 minutes walk from our apartment and has really cheap flowers, so we have taken to filling our house with new bouquets of flowers every week or so. On our way back we stopped at E-mark - just to buy yogurt - and left with 13 bottles of Chilean wine !! We even found one of our all-time favorites: Missiones de Rengo Reserva 2004. We emptied the shelf!

On the Sunday we were invited for a wedding. One of the QA's from the Yard was getting married and very kindly thought that we should be there for the event. Weddings take place in one of the many wedding halls scattered around town. It is a bit like a civil wedding at home - just longer, with different music and with the bride in white wedding dress. After the wedding ceremony the photos are taken. First in western clothes and then the bride and groom change into the traditional Korean dress and the photo session continues. After the photo session the invitees are treated for lunch and that's it. Well, close relatives continue the party I think, and the bride and groom leave for a weeks honeymoon the next day. We left after the ceremony as it was much too warm to hang around. But it was very interesting to see how Koreans are wed. This was our second wedding this year - the first one was on Greenland!

In the afternoon we met up with Ulrik and Karine at Haeundae Beach - same place as last time. All the waiters remembered the kids and as soon as Juliette saw her favorite waiter, she lit up in a huuuge smile and ran over for a hug !!

The next Monday we had our second steel cutting in Hyundai (the first one was the week before). This basically means the beginning of the second ship there, so we are now officially building 4 vessels in two locations. The 2 vessels here in Busan are delayed and the two in Ulsan are early! We were only told this on the first steel cutting ceremony on August 30th, so I am still trying to figure out how to manage the building supervision of 4 294m long vessels with only 6 inspectors. While I was at the steel cutting ceremony, lunch and meetings, Paula was making the most of her trip to Ulsan, spending the day with Jade (1st ceremony) and Agnieszka and Ms Sun (2nd ceremony). This past Wednesday we opened the office officially, so now we will have to drive up there more often. I expect to make the trip two times a week in the beginning .... it will for sure tire me out!

During the weekdays we have been surprisingly frequent visitors at the gym. Last week we were there on 6 out of 7 days. My colleague Serhiy meets us there at 7pm, which is good because then we HAVE to go! Paula is on the treadmill and I try my best to drag Serhiy out to the ping-pong table, but he is also quite keen on doing other fitness exercises also, so I have made up a tough training scheme for the bicycle. It's easier to follow when you are two winding each other up!

Last Saturday we were invited for the summer party with the Dalmaji crowd. These are the (mainly Norwegian) expats living on the far side of Haeundae Beach. They had arranged for a big room at the Alexander restaurant, a big buffet, games and karaoke. We had a good night in the company of many strangers and a few old faces.

Now we have reached last Monday. Here we were invited out for lunch by the Yard. Then there was the opening of our office in HHI (Hyundai) on the Wednesday and on Thursday we went out with the site team. Every time we go out it is a different person who selects the venue. This time it was Pushpita's turn to decide and she went for stuffed duck at a small folk village near Sasang. It was really nice (much better than Peking Duck!) and one to keep in mind for the visitors we expect. Speaking about visitors ... we had expected to see Paula's two brothers here around now, but unfortunately they had to delay their trip ! Buuuuhhhh!

Yesterday we slept in until 8, hung around the apartment a bit (getting rid of the two bottles of red wine from the night before - with Serhiy) before slipping out to the flower market. In the afternoon, when the temperature had dropped a little, we went out to Gwangalli beach. The Busan Bienale is on now, so there were a few interesting sculptures on show on the beach. And then there is always Cold Stone ! Our favorite ice cream joint.

Today I got up for a wicked bike ride. I am thrilled to see that the riding in the mountain right here in our backyard (almost) is quite good. There is a bit of walking to be done, but the scenery and the views are spectacular. Next time I will bring a camera! For lunch we walked up to Hyundai Dept. Store where you can find many small restaurants in the basement. We had been eating in a Japanese place yesterday and today we picked the Sushi bandwagon next door. It was really nice with huge chunks of fish and small bunches of rice (just as we like it), but the price was a little high for here. Cheap for Scandinavia though!

In the afternoon we drove out to Songjeong Beach for our very first swim in the ocean in Korea (well - I have dived here). The beach is really nice. Loads of surfers but no waves ... that kinda freaked me out! Also windsurfers without wind. But we had a nice swim and enjoyed being outside without melting away or burning in the sun. We finished off the day with a hot (!?) lemonade .... well, I had it changed for a cold lemonade, as I really couldn't make myself drink the hot one.