First off, my twin brother Dustin and his wife Emily decided to tie the knot last November in Tucson. Emily’s from there and Dustin and I were born there, it was fitting. Besides, the weather was spectacular and so was the Westward Look Resort where the wedding weekend was stationed. I’ve never seen a happier collection of people in my life. Between the herd of friends and gaggle of family in attendance, we had a seriously memorable time. The wedding was the best I’ve been to, and I wasn’t the only person to say that. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all of the important people in my life together in one place. My favorite moment was on the dance floor with Heather, dancing like no one was watching, and being surrounded by everyone that I love. That moment will forever be etched in my mind.

Here are some of the more memorable shots from the wedding weekend.

The happy couple

It was that perfect time of dusk where photos come out perfect

The line of Lacey Brothers

Bachelor party part deux

We took over this barber shop

My Uncle Joe and I... one of my favorite people

Heather and I at the rehearsal dinner

Labradors were also a part of the wedding trip home. Heather and I stopped by my Grandparent’s Kelley’s place in Nevada. It was five of the most relaxing days you could ever imagine, it was exactly what the doctor ordered after a demanding few months of work. Oh, and there were puppies involved… my Grandma breeds labradors (and she’s in her 80′s). Heather was in love.

Chocolate labs... Ohai

Me and Grandma with some of the dogs

Grandpa's birthday on the first night there

Heather and Kaitlyn enjoying a moment before the feast

After four hours these earrings appeared

Want one!

Christmas was low-key and spent in Seoul. We decided to stay in town because we had already decided our big trip was going to be Cambodia in February. We had a nice little tree and lots of presents. It was exactly the type of holiday experience that Heather and I wanted.

Presents from Victor, Heather's dad

Christmas dinner at our usual spot in Itaewon

Okay, I’m going to make the Cambodia post a separate post… this is getting ridiculously long. So long for now.

First, the reasons. I came two Seoul to work for Samsung for three main reasons.

1. Asia. I had been fortunate enough to live and work all over the world, except Asia. This is the age of Asia, particularly when it comes to business, and I had a desire to experience living and working here. Taking the Samsung gig gave me the opportunity to scratch that itch.
2. Exposure. Before business school I spent seven years consulting and while I hated the travel, I loved the variability of the work. After business school I was looking for something that gave me that consulting-like exposure to different industries, geographies, cultures, and products. Samsung, and its multitude of business units, looked to provide me the variety of experiences that I was looking for. Furthermore, the centrality of Seoul within Asia looked to provide me with the regional exposure I was looking for. So that box looked like it could be checked.
3. Impact. I had the expectation that I would leave fresh from my MBA and make an immediate impact, wherever it was that I was going to work. I saw lots of opportunities post-MBA that were clearly not jobs where one would be making an impact of any scale right out the gate. While I didn’t have the means (or a supportive wife) to start my own venture out of school like my friend and classmate Roy Simkhay, I did place a high importance on doing something that would be impactful and Samsung’s Global Strategy Group promised to be a place where one could come move the needle on big issues.

Second, here are my assessments of these three items now:

1. Asia. Lived up to the hype. What can I say, it’s great to be in a place where people are excited about the future. It’s as simple as that. In Samsung, in Korea, people have a hunger to succeed, a willingness to learn, and a desire to lead and that feeling permeates everything here. That feeling is infectious. There isn’t a month that goes by that I don’t hear the phrase, “we want to be number one” around the hallowed halls of Samsung. I spent time working in China the past quarter and it’s the same thing feeling there as well. Folks on this side of the world have finally started to taste the fruits of their labor, they like what they’re tasting, and they want more. I sort of feel like I’m on the ground floor of something big out here, it’s motivating and exhilarating.
2. Exposure. This box gets checked as well. My colleague and fellow CBS classmate, Andy Umans, calls this whole Samsung Global Strategy Group experience a “double international experience” and I think that sums it up perfectly. We get to experience working and living in Korea but much of our work is outside of the peninsula so we get to travel to other interesting countries quite often. In the past year I’ve worked in the states, Germany, Switzerland, England and China. So my desire to expose myself to new geographies and cultures has definitely been satiated. Furthermore, in all of these travels I have been working with people from all walks of life and with numerous different industries. In the past year I’ve worked in the following industries, Solar (PV), Television, OLED, Medical Devices, Smart Grid, Energy Management Systems and Semi-conductor. All of these experiences are helping me to better determine where it is that I eventually want to work in my career, both industry and geography.
3. Impact. This final box gets a check as well. Why? Because I believe that much of the work my teams have done the past year has been necessary, and well received by our business units. I have presented recommendations to executives in multiple industries and business units within Samsung, including the CEO of all of Samsung. And what’s particularly satisfying is seeing my team’s recommendations being implemented by our clients after we’re done.

In short, a year in and I feel good about my decision to come out here to Seoul. I have enjoyed my time both personally and professionally. And most important, I met my lovely girlfriend Heather while here. So far, this experience has far surpassed my expectations. For all of you that have come and visited, thanks for enriching this experience for me. And for all of you that haven’t come and visited, what are you waiting for?

Jean Baptiste's trip to Seoul (He's on his toes)

Eating some Hot Pot in Beijing with Tony, Chelon and our Chinese teamates

Duffy meeting my buddies here in Seoul

Duffy and I in Itaewon

Finally, some statues that make my dome look small(ish)

Wakeboarding outside of Seoul... yes, wakeboarding can be done here

At Darden doing some recruiting

In NYC with Ethan and Kevin

Playing ball, Korea style, with the Dillingers

She's always making me look good

Nik's trip to Seoul... of course we're at Between in Itaewon

Hello again. It’s been about three or four SIX months since my last post and a lot has happened in this time. Unfortunately, I’ve been so busy with work and other aspects of my life that I haven’t gotten a chance to make an update. And rather than spill the full details of the past four months of happenings, I’m going to post some photos with small details. I’m doing this for the both of us… we both know you’re about as interested in the chapter and verse as I am in writing it. I also have a “10 Interesting Seoul Facts” piece coming together in my head, I’ll post it later this month (I’ve got some good material).

Christmas & New Years in LA:

We had everybody come together for the holidays in LA and we spent most of the time breaking in Dustin’s new house. It’s a smallish 2 bedroom place that somehow managed to house up to 15 people comfortably, I’m not exactly sure how it did.

I also drove down the coast with Heather (from SF to LA) and then introduced her to the family for the first time. It was nice having everyone that I care about in one place. Everyone came in from their respective cities and celebrated  Dustin and I’s birthday (we bowled, i didn’t break 100, awesome) and New Years Eve at the new W Hotel in Hollywood.

The sophisticated Lacey men

That's what we call "bro-in" out

Big Sur (and don't hate on the turtle neck)

Who's the lucky guy?

Bali Trip:

Now that I’m in this part of the world my goal is to see as much of Asia as possible. So when Heather told me she would be in Bali helping her friend Jongky with some dance stuff and that I should come visit, I jumped at the opportunity. The place is gorgeous and surprisingly farther from Seoul than I thought (7hrs). It was a spectacular vacation and it ended with a funny little hiccup of me trying to catch my 3 o’clock flight which happened to be at 3am, not pm… so I was “forced” to stay another night in Bali, which worked out well.

One of the most memorable lunches ever...

In front of one of the best big wave surf spots in the world (no, I did not go swimming)

Hong Kong and Macao:

In March Heather got a chance to see her old dance company, Stuttgart Ballet, perform in Macao (the island off the coast of China). Because two of her close friends were getting to perform in lead roles for the first time in their careers she wanted to go and share in the moment with them.

Who am I turn down a darn good reason to visit Hong Kong? Off we went… and it was awesome. Hong Kong is an amazing city, with great energy, and tons of ex-pats. It was also a gorgeous place, that surprised me. The show was a lot of fun but I wouldn’t recommend visiting Macao any time soon, I was not that impressed. It’s no Vegas. Although, it was pretty cool to see Portuguese as a spoken language in an Asian locale.

Hong Kong Skyline (from the ferry across the bay)

After the show... she did well in her first lead role.

Met up with Ramada, Linda and Sonal for lunch (my old classmates at Columbia, was great to see them)

My Business Trip to New York City:

So I had to make a quick business trip to NYC in May and although I was especially busy (I was there meeting with advertising agencies) with work, I was fortunate to be able to see some of my classmates from Columbia. I’m a lucky fellow that has wonderful friends, many of which came from my experience at Columbia. The problem is, however, that I now see them next to never, for obvious reasons. So, when Aaron and Laurent put together a “Manvan” dinner at one of my favorite BBQ joints in NYC, I made sure to clear the work calendar of anything to do that evening. We had a great night reminiscing about “old days” at CBS (because our 10 months of working in the real world again clearly make us old-timers). It’s amazing how fast time is flying, it’s already been a year since I graduated… weird.

RDP, me and Shiney at dinner

Wedgend, Gandhi, and LV... all are working some extreme hours, so was grateful they came

The "Manvan" at Hill Country BBQ (those beers didn't stand a chance)

Visitors to Seoul:

So I’ve been fortunate enough to have had some friends and family come visit me in Seoul the past six months. Let’s see that in bulleted form:

• Aaron came out in February
• Jorge came out in March
• Dyanne came out in March
• Brian and Christian came out in April
• Ryan came out in May
• Matt came out in May
• Pops came out in May

Aaron’s Trip:

Dinner in Garosu Gil with Jay and Aaron

Obligatory DMZ pose

Best statue in Korea...

Jorge’s trip:

Lunch in Itaewon

Dinner in Itaewon at Beyond, our favorite restaurant in Seoul

Have you seen happier fellas?

Dyanne’s Trip:

South Africa meet Seoul...

Brian and Christian’s Trip:

Brian, me, Michelle and Christian at the casa (was great to let them experience the Seoul that I know)

Another night of great conversation on this couch...

Ryan’s Trip:

Ryan's first Korean BBQ (he was very much not unpleased)

Just like old times when we were roomies in Georgetown

Hiking in Seorac San... this was the vantage point from the temple cave

'Cuz it's not a proper blog post if there isn't a guy in a giant bear costume picture

Matt and My Dad’s trip:

Dad and I at the Fish Market (good times were had by all at the Fish Market)

Dinner in Itaewon (Dad's first night in the big city)

Hey that's us! (Dad and I in the "Samsung Experience Store")

Matt, Heather and I in our apartment

That’s it… one half of a great year already done!

I hope you’re all having great success in both your personal and professional lives this year… and I hope to see more of you in Seoul, so come visit! Take care.

B

first things first, the past month in korea has been tense. i’m talking about both koreas. in case you’ve spent the past month disconnected from the world (or somehow able to avoid cnn), you probably already know about the north koreans shelling a south korean military base near the border. if you don’t, go look it up, i’m not going to bore anyone with the details. what i will do is give you the perspective of a foreigner living in seoul throughout the whole dramatic period. before i do, thanks to those that were checking up on me, i sincerely appreciated the concern.

so, the past month has been pretty bizarre here in korea because i really don’t know how to react to this type of situation. it’s not everyday one gets to be partake in such an experience. when the shelling first happened i didn’t know whether i should be scared and planning an escape or if i should write it all off as typical north korean bellicosity. i live in seoul and most experts agree that if a war were to actually break out on the peninsula, there would be a minimum of two million casualties in seoul. furthermore, i happen to be working in the towering headquarters of the most iconic south korean company, it’s not too far-fetched to think that it might be a symbolic target. that all said, i have chosen the latter, because truthfully, i can’t see how anything has actually changed here in my day-to-day life. yes, we’ve done a war drill and hustled down to the basement of our office building. yes, there were korean troops doing attack response drills at one of other offices i work. but, all in all, my daily life hasn’t changed a bit. if the happy people of seoul can go on living without fear, i can too. these are a tough, resilient people who have been dealing with this type of outburst for years, i’m going to follow their lead.

my buddy dan keating asked me for an update when the shelling first happened and i sent him the following, which i think best sums up my feelings:

“…i gotta admit, this whole thing is a bit surreal. i turned on cnn this morning and thought to myself, “what country are they talking about?” because it didn’t represent the seoul that i’m experiencing right now. i took the bus to work this morning, had my usual korean language class, and now i’m sitting down at my desk to start my day… nothing’s changed. sure, there are some folks in my group that are little worried and are talking about packing an “oh shit” suitcase in case things do get crazy, but by and large it’s business as usual here.

i guess these folks are used to this type of outburst from their loose cannon sibling, so they don’t let it bother them. i think you’ll probably see the sk government use some fairly sharp rhetoric in the coming days, but only to satiate their hard line base here in korea. but it will stop there. they won’t dare retaliate, because a war is only a lose/lose proposition for the south. they lose, and they’ve lost… they win, well now they’ve got the problem of integrating a destitute country into their own. they’re quite happy with how things are going here now, i don’t think they want to mess that up…”

so, to close down this topic, things are fine over here in korea. it’s business as usual for this guy, and thanks for all of your concern. can someone pass the memo to cnn?

alright, now that serious stuff is out of the way, on to things of a warmer and fuzzier nature. my latest observations of seoul.  here we go…

1. the “high heel sprint.” this is one of those phenomena that is entirely unique to korea as far as i can tell and it’s something that has to be witnessed in person. simply put, people in korea are not afraid to take off sprinting spontaneously. young, old, man or woman, it doesn’t matter. women, however, are the most active sprinters. you see women running all the time, outdoors, indoors, food in hand, through traffic, through the office, in packs and always while wearing heels. this last bit is what makes the phenomena fascinating to me. in most of the world women complain about the discomfort of heels but here the ladies of korea have some type of secret zen mind control that allows them to not only wear heels all day every day, but to also periodically break into dead sprints while wearing them. you may ask, “why all the sprinting?” honestly, i don’t know. however, i believe one major reason is that there are strict rules here as to when you’re to be in the office each morning. here at samsung it’s 8am. so, as you can imagine, there is A LOT of high heel sprinting being done near 8am. any given weekday morning, in subways seoul-wide, but particularly in front of my building, from 7:57 onward, there are women running the anchor leg of a 4×100 meter race. it’s quite a sight to behold. for the record, i’ve never seen a single wipeout.
2. seoul is probably the safest place i’ve ever lived and that’s saying a lot considering i grew up in a small town of about 5,000 people. i don’t have any empirical evidence to support this claim other than my own personal observations and experiences. one single experience stands out. about a month ago i wore a brand new sweater to the office in suwon and somehow ended up leaving it in the cafeteria after lunch on a wednesday. i didn’t realize it until i was on my way home for the night, which by then was too to turn around and look for it. i wasn’t back at this location until the following monday, 5 days later. in all honesty i’d written the sweater off. it was nice, surely someone found it and made it part of their wardrobe. so, as i’m walking out of the cafeteria that monday i notice a sweater, neatly folded, near the exit doors. sure enough, there was my sweater. it sat their multiple days, with thousands of people walking by it daily, and not a single person took it. told ya it was a feel good story.
3. trash is not easy to manage here. unlike in the united states and most places where you can just accumulate trash and throw it away on trash day. here, you’ve got to separate the trash into three different groups, recyclables, food waste, and everything else. in order to this you’ve got to basically have three different trash cans. you also have to buy special garbage bags at the store to put your rubbish in. at first this was an extreme annoyance for me because i like the lazy man approach, but now that i’ve gotten used to it, it’s dawned on me that it’s really an enlightened way of handling trash. it’s a bit more of a burden on the every man, but it’s a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective way of managing waste. furthermore, it causes you to use less trash because you are more aware of what you’re throwing away. i don’t think it would ever fly in the states, but i like it.
4. there’s no tipping here. this is something that as a former tipped employee used to bother me. but here, it’s almost offensive to try to hand somebody some money for good service. interestingly, there isn’t a decline in service levels here. in fact, the best service i’ve ever received, whether it be a hotel or otherwise, is here in seoul. people do things with a smile here and they do it untipped. it’s quite refreshing… i’ve heard that americans who stay here for a significant amount of time upon returning to live in the states experience a bit of “reverse culture shock” because of the tipping expectation in the states. i have an older gentleman that delivers my groceries from the local store, and he comes exactly when he tells me he will, delivers with a smile, engages me in some broken english and is just an all around pleasant guy. if i didn’t know better, i’d say he was passionate about his job. each time he comes, i have to force him to take 3-4k won from me and he only relents because i tell him that as an american i will be offended. perhaps it’s disrespectful to him but for me it’s my way of showing just much i appreciate the great job that he does.
5. “umm, is that a mop that just ran over my foot while i was standing, using the toilet? why yes, it was.” in many public bathrooms in korea, particularly in nicer buildings, there are bathroom attendants present. interestingly, they’re usually women. also interesting, they clean nonstop and don’t let a little thing like you doing your business stop them from cleaning. i wasn’t joking about the above example, i recently had a mop run over, around, and through my feet while using the facilities. it was as if the lady was tracing my feet with a mop like a kid would his hand with a pencil. it made me chuckle because this is standard protocol here in the men’s restroom and i don’t even flinch now when it happens. a byproduct of this is that public bathrooms here are definitely the cleanest you’ll find anywhere.
6. finally, there are no shoes in the house. at first i hated this little tradition and would wear my shoes in my apartment. but, over time i started to realize the value of keeping my shoes in the entrance and walking around shoeless in my house. the first huge, and obvious, benefit is that your house stays much cleaner. the second is that it psychologically makes you view your house in a warmer, more inviting way. somehow it makes the house seem more welcoming, i can’t really explain why, but it does. the final thing is, you never lose your shoes anymore because all of your shoes are in the shoe closet by the front door. this is definitely a tradition i’m going to carry with me for the rest of life, no matter where i live.

alright, i have a longer list of observations but i have to cut this bad boy short as i’m about to head to airport. i’m leaving in a matter of hours to fly back to los angeles for the holidays. i’m staying with dustin and emily in their new place and the whole family is flying in. ethan is arriving on the 23rd and the rest of us are flying in at the same time on the 24th. it’s a trip i’ve been looking forward to in a big way. i’ve been here for almost four months now and i’m ready for some americana. i’m really enjoying my experience out here but an americana recharge is in order. oh, and it’s my 34th birthday on the 30th so a bunch of my good friends are flying in to celebrate the big day (along with new years the following night). there’s some other cool stuff going on during the trip, a visit to san francisco, a drive down the coast of california… but i’ll save those details for later. it’s going to be a good trip.

take care everyone… have a wonderful holiday with your friends and family.

B

here are some random photos… the first is my lovely grandmother “sally” on her recent 80th birthday, sitting on my grandpa’s lap.

Grandma Sally on her 80th birthday (on Grandpa's lap)

Ed and I touring the peninsula

Me and the 36 other members of the 2010 Global Strategy Group class

The New Years Crew... can't wait to see you guys

well, it’s the middle of november and you haven’t heard from me in over a month. it’s a wonder i have any readership at all as i am constantly breaking the first rules of good blogging, post regularly, post frequently. i do neither.

so, i have to keep this short as i only have a few minutes to post. i’m up early this morning because i’m STILL jetlagged from my business trip to germany and england. it’s been four days since i got home, but i’m really not adjusted yet. this morning i woke up at 4am and the past two nights i’ve not gone to bed until 6am. my sleep patterns are in serious disarray, it take s a stretch of days like this for me to truly appreciate my fortunate ability to fall asleep and sleep well. i can’t wait to get back on my schedule.

speaking of sleep, you likely are sleeping by now, so i’ll move on to the updating. so, as mentioned above, i was in germany for a week and england for about five days over the past two weeks. i really can’t disclose publicly what i was doing there for samsung(for obvious reasons), but i can say that i met a bunch of really interesting people that are doing big things in a certain industry. i came away quite enthused about said industry. the same goes for england.

i had a fantastic time in germany, both professionally and personally. on a professional level i worked very hard and my team was able to accomplish what we set out to accomplish. on a personal level, well, it was also great. i had been to germany a few times before this trip but never staying very long. this trip however, i was there a week but i was able to rent cars and drive the country(rather than flying or taking the train). i spent most of my time in stuttgart, berlin, frankfurt and munich with some stopovers in smaller cities along the way. the neat thing about the trip was that i got to rent on two different occasions and drive the autobahn. my first car was a bmw and my second a c-class mercedes. both were a real treat to drive, particularly on the autobahn. it’s worth noting however, i must look like i have kids in tow because avis gave me the hatchback model of each. in my free time i enjoyed seeing some of my friends while there. thanks to heather and rafa for introducing me to stuttgart and to veronika and julia for showing me a little of munich. i’m already looking forward to oktoberfest next year.

after my trip to germany i was in london where was i was lucky enough to run into two of my best mates from my accenture years, andy and chris. both were friends from my teaching days at st. charles where the three of us were on faculty for the incoming analyst school. we had a quiet night out, it was fun. i also met up with my bschool buddy stephen ham from london business school, good times. i’m amazed at how little i know of london even after having spent so much time there. i think it’s because i was always traveling via the tube rather than above ground because cabs are so expensive.

anyway, that was my trip to europe, leaving out all of the particulars. if you want to know more, you gotta ask. one last thing before i start getting ready for work this morning. i just recently found an apartment. i move in on wednesday. it’s unfurnished so i spent the better part of the weekend buying furniture for it. it’s a 3br place, so i have lots of furniture to buy. it’s brand new, it’s high tech (i can call the elevator from a touchscreen in my living room) and i’m way up high so i’ve got a nice view of the han river. (that’s not my view btw, an apt with that view would not be in my housing budget). i can’t wait to get out of my serviced apartment, it will be nice to feel settled in my own place. in case you missed it, there are three bedrooms in my new place, one of which will be an extra room for visitors. now you all have no excuse for not coming. i may even throw in a bottle of soju for the first guest. aaron, dustin, ryan, sebastian, nate… you’ve all been talking about coming, who’s gonna be first?

alright, time to hit the shower. have a great week everyone…

B

Ed and I at my favorite restaurant "Vapiano"

Heather, Rafa and I at breakfast

London, aren't you a little early with the Christmas stuff?

London and my two mates Chris and Andy

and heather… thanks to you, my trip was amazing. how did you do that?

well, the disruption felt by a jarring landing in an unknown place finally hit me and it’s taken me a few days to fully wrap my brain around my new reality. but don’t worry, i’m not about to wax philosophical about my “personal journey” or delve beneath the the lacey veneer because that would be, well, boring. i’ll keep this bad boy topical and abuse as many commas as possible, like i always try to do.

i’ve made a bunch of observations these past two weeks while interacting with my new friend seoul and here are some i think you might find interesting:

1. surprises abound at dinner time. most menus in korea are written in hangul, naturally, which can lead to a gastronomic adventure when the food arrives. i mentioned before the wonderfulness that is korean bbq, but there are some foods that i don’t yet have the stomach for, perhaps in time i will. that said, the majority of my korean food adventures have been positive. i’m really taking a liking to the noodle dishes, much to the chagrin of my diet.
2. reading and writing in korean isn’t that difficult (it’s understanding what you’re reading that’s the hard part). after a week long crash course in korean i can actually read the first couple of syllables of the hangul closed captioning on a movie before it changes. before you send congratulatory gifts, keep in mind there are about 20 syllables per sentence… i’m far from a career in korean language translation.
3. this one is fun. couples here sometimes dress in identical clothes. i’m not sure why, other than to announce to the world that they’re together. i find this to be quite charming actually, although you won’t catch me dressed up like anyone else. keep in mind, i, as an identical twin, have worn my fair share of matching outfits growing up (thanks mom) and i have the scars to prove it. i’m kidding… not really. dustin, remember the red overalls?
4. this one is for my arizonan readers (all two of you). monsoons in august aren’t just an arizonan phenomenon. it’s rained at least seven of the past 14 days here and i means sheets of rain. i got caught in a rainstorm two days ago that had me standing under an awning for 30 minutes, even though i was only blocks from my apartment. no, i’m not afraid of getting wet, but my blackberry is.
5. technology is implemented here in very simplistic, fun and useful ways. i mentioned this in my last post but i have to reiterate it because i’m reminded every day here of just how easy technology can be to use. the best example of this is the periodic touchscreen kiosks you’ll find along main roads that have google maps for those that are lost, cameras and emailing functionality for those in matching outfits that want to take an impromptu picture and mail it to friends, and internet access. some of that functionality may be superfluous but it’s a good example of how the koreans blend usefulness with fun in their technology. see the picture below.
6. soju sneaks up on you. what is soju you ask? it’s the alcoholic beverage of choice here in korea. it’s a rice based alcohol that i can best describe as a sweeter version of vodka, that’s usually consumed neat(a shot, at room temperature). you drink soju with friends, allowing others to fill your cup for you, which often times leads to you having one too many. so friend, when you come to visit me, we’ll be drinking soju and i’ll be sure to keep your glass full so you can experience the “soju sneak attack” for yourself.
7. starcraft is a religion here. i’m not a big video game player but there is one game that i have consistently installed and played the past ten years and that is starcraft. i won’t even bother trying to explain the game beyond that it involves a lot of strategy and practice to be good at it. koreans love starcraft as exhibited by the two cable channels dedicated to replaying the games from the professional leagues here (yes, there are professional video game leagues). starcraft 2 just arrived a couple of months ago, after a 12 year wait, and you can’t visit a mall without seeing the game being demo’d, promo’d or played. see the picture below.
8. baseball is big here. there is a professional league in korea that plays at or close to the level of the major leagues in the states. i haven’t been to a game yet, but rumor has it that it’s quite an experience as there are soccer style chants, singing, football style cheerleaders and all around craziness.  i’m really looking forward to attending my first game.
9. girls love heels here. this summer in ukraine i was astounded by the fact that EVERY girl wore heels while out. it didn’t matter if they were going a block to the grocery store, heels were a required piece of the ensemble. well, to my surprise, many of the girls here do the same. it’s not quite as prevalent as ukraine but it’s close. korean girls love them some heels. for the record, i’m not complaining.
10. the time zone difference takes some time to get used to. my biggest challenge the past two weeks has been trying to communicate with people back home in the states. we’re 11 hours ahead of new york city and 14 hours ahead of arizona/california, the two places i call the most. it’s hard to match someone’s excitement at 10am when they’re heading for a night out. i guess if this has been my biggest challenge, then i’m making out pretty well eh?
11. i look like an english teacher(yeah right, if you’ve made it this far in the post you’re probably wondering if i’m even a native speaker). most people i’ve spoken to here, korean or expat, assume right off the bat that i’m here teaching english because most native english speakers here ARE english teachers. from what i’ve been told, teaching english in korea pays well, so many folks come here to teach it.

so, those are just a small collection of the many observations made these past two weeks, but i’ll stop there because tomorrow is my first day of work at samsung. i’m both excited and a bit relieved that this day has finally come, i’m ready to start the next chapter. goodnight.

Brannon

Sidewalk kiosks as mentioned above

Couple playing Starcraft 2 at the mall, notice she's hitting keys (guys and girls love the game)

The subway. It's clean and phones work

My future work colleagues and their significant others

i landed yesterday at 3pm after 17hrs of flying and although a bit loopy, i feel like blogging some of my initial impressions of seoul thus far…

1. this culture is enlightened. after spending my summer in the wild west that is known as ukraine (and i loved every bit of its lawlessness), it was mind boggling for me to step into a city as clean, well organized and efficient as the one i did in seoul. from the perfectly starched uniforms of the busy workers, to the orderly queuing of the travelers waiting for buses, everything is seemingly structured here. not surprising, everyone from the ticket agents to my english speaking cabbie (who’s been to “nyc 60 times”) is polite and restrained, what a pleasant place.

2. seoul is probably the most humid place i’ve ever been, and i’ve been to houston. there is condensation on retail shop windows. ed bogart and i were melting at dinner last night, we were cutting weight like prize fighters. there goes my penchant for crisply starched shirts.

3. seoul is way techno-savvy, i’ve got a touchscreen pad next to my bed that controls the lights and various other wizardry, the cabbies are watching satellite tv on lcd screens while driving, soda machines take about 25 forms of electronic payment (i kid, sort of), and cellphones are a couple gens ahead of those in the states. this is nerd heaven.

4. you better love beef son. we went to a popular korean bbq restaurant last night and tried to order chicken… no sirree bob, it’s carne solamente. i guess i’ll have to start looking into a body detox plan asap. it’s worth noting, last night’s bbq was delicious.

5. there’s lots of bowing here. at the risk of looking like a bobble head doll (with a dome my size the risk is great) i have been bowing to just about every korean i’ve come in contact with. my brilliantly clever cabbie, ernest (the 60x’s to nyc guy), gave me one piece of advice on the ride home from the airport yesterday and that was to be respectful at all times. “koreans look at attitude first and foremost, always have a good, respectful attitude.” noted, ernest, i see a lot of bowing in my future.

6. koreans LOVE coffee. in the neighborhood i’m staying in there are probably, on average, two coffee shops per block. i even found a coffee bean a couple blocks from my apartment. when i was in colombia and brazil last year, there wasn’t a tenth as many coffee shops in rio or bogota, who would have thought?

7. koreans, like me, love costco. to my surprise, seoul has four different costco locations. after two failed attempts to communicate to a cabbie where i wanted to go, i finally went to the front desk and had them print out a map of the nearest costco location. my first foray into a korean costco was as i would have expected on a sunday afternoon. the place was busy but everyone was polite and courteous as we all tried to navigate the traffic with our oversized shopping carts. i’m happy to report, the pizza tastes just as good as in the states.

that’s all for now…

B

Seoul after dark

so here i am sitting in a cafe near ethan and i’s apartment in downtown nikolaev. we are going on our six consecutive day without internet access at the casa, welcome to the world of living in an emerging market. it was worse, we were without electricity after a particularly aggressive rainstorm on sunday, so i’m not complaining. at the moment i’m sipping a beer, smoking hookah and enjoying the remaining minutes of sunshine, life is good.

i’ve been out here in ukraine for over a month now, it’s about time for an update. so where do i begin? i don’t know, i guess i’ll just do one of my usual wildly embellished, stream of consciousness things that i always do.

so, the past month i have made nikolaev my home base and tripped around ukraine on weekends. i spent a week on the crimean coast in yalta. yalta is essentially the summer spot for rich ukrainians and russians looking for warm weather, nice sea and lots of nightlife options. i was there about a month before its season so it was relatively quiet while i was there but i thoroughly enjoyed spending a week with my russian buddy anton and ukrainian buddy oleg. we stayed at oleg’s dad’s hotel gratis, which was nice. i’ve also made a couple of trips to odessa, a much larger city than yalta or nikoalev, right on the coast. odessa is about a two hour drive from nikoalev and only about $15 one-way by bus. odessa was really nice as it has great beaches, a thriving city center and rich history as a port of call for the old ussr and now ukraine. interestingly, there is a divide in ukraine between allegiance to the west (western europe/usa) and the east (big brother russia). odessa’s close proximity to russia and it’s deep reliance on russia for economic stability make it a city that is largely pro-russia. in ukraine everyone speaks both ukrainian and russian, but the closer to russia you get, russian is the only language you hear. if you go west and try to speak russian, as a ukrainian, you risk a strong rebuke by locals. fortunately, i don’t speak either so i’m good. and i digress, both of our trips to odessa we have stayed for a weekend and rented an apartment in the city center. we spent our days either at the beach or touring around odessa with local friends there (thanks again marina for your unbridle enthusiasm in showing us odessa). the nightlife is what surprised me. i’ve lived in london, nyc, rio, blah blah blah, and i would put the nightlife in odessa up against anything i’ve seen in other cities. one club in particular, ibiza, is fantastic. it’s a sprawling outdoor club, set on the black sea, that on friday and saturday nights has upwards of 1000 people partying till the sun rises. the scenery, in oh so many ways, is phenomenal. i’m looking forward to one final trip before i head back to the states.

there are many places i want to go but haven’t had the time to see yet. there’s a cool little beach city about an hour from nikolaev called khoblova, that ethan has been talking about since i arrived, that i will check out. i also want to try and hit moscow for a weekend, but the visa issue will likely sabotage that trip. my final trip will be kiev for a few days before i fly out of borispol back to the states. so, in short, i’ve got a ledger full of ukrainian travel plans for my final three weeks here.

so what is nikolaev and why am i here? well, nikolaev is this small city of about 260k people and it’s situated on the bluh river about 40 miles from the black sea. it is most famous for being a ship building hub for the old ussr. ethan and i live right in the city center, next to the park, on sovietskaya street. we’ve got a nice apartment (although i’ve been told it’s decor is undeniably ussr era with ornate wallpaper) and we have a weekly cleaner and a cook that makes us traditional ukrainian vittles. we’re living quite comfortably and on the cheap, i spend about a third of what i did in nyc to live.  the city has three clubs and a variety of decent restaurants, but the main social activity is strolling along sovietskaya street until sunset. it’s become a daily ritual of ethan and i’s to toss the football on sovietskaya or walk with friends down to the river. life is much simpler here than in nyc, and surprisingly, i kind of like the simplicity of it all. we routinely run into friends while walking around and we’re in close proximity to our gym, ethan’s office and pretty much everything we need to sustain ourselves. fortunately, ethan speaks a good amount of russian after four years here, so we don’t really have many of the problems that foreigners often deal with in a foreign country. sidenote: i’ve been attempting to study russian while i’ve been here, but this language is insanely difficult to speak and i’ve not made much progress beyond being able to order food.  fortunately, most of the folks in our friend circle speak a modicum of english. this has been the perfect spot for me to unwind after an extremely busy last two years in new york. i also had my buddy bryan law come out and visit for about a week, it was nice having another person from the states out here to experience all of this with.

so what comes next? well, i’ve got three weeks left before i head back to nyc to gather my belongs and make the move to seoul. i’ve already got my temporary housing sorted out in seoul and i’ll be arriving on august 14th. august 15th i start my intensive korean language courses and september 1st i start work. that gives me about two weeks to find a permanent apartment which shouldn’t be too difficult as i’ll be given real estate agent assistance and a healthy housing allowance by samsung to help expedite the process. i’m getting really excited for my impending move to asia and i look forward to a nice experience with samsung. fortunately, i have one of my good friends, ed bogart, from columbia heading out there with me and we’ll be working in the same group at samsung. a familiar face should make my transition a little easier.

alright, time to wrap this little nugget of worthless information up. if you made it this far in your reading, you deserve a medal, i think i put myself to sleep writing this. it’s a wonder i have any readership at all with my infrequent postings and tantalizing writings. thanks for humoring me.

take care and please, keep in touch.

B

For the High Definition version, click here.

first, i want to replay some of the more meaningful events that have taken place this past semester, my last semester, at columbia business school. my final semester was most certainly my most trying, but also my most fulfilling semester. the semester was filled with tough classes (i took six, i wouldn’t recommend this), lots of work closing out gba initiatives and lots of fun. my classes the last semester were fantastic. my favorite was “developing strategies for high tech firms.” obviously i have a bias towards anything technical (being that i’m nerd) but this class was especially good. it was taught by an ex-executive of booz & company and one of the foremost authorities on the wireless industry. we studied case after case where the professor had actually consulted with the companies in the case. the apple case was particularly interesting as the professor had worked with steve jobs on deciding which carrier to partner with on the rollout of the iphone.

it was a busy final semester on the gba front as well. the challenge was to wrap up the remainder of our initiatives while fighting to keep the team motivated. fortunately for me the executive board, as was the case all along, stayed focused and closed out the bulk of what we had left to do. there were disagreements and arguments along the way, but we managed to band together and get things done for the good of the team and the school. i’m really proud of what were able to accomplish. when i look back on the year spent as president of the gba, three words come to mind – balance, work, and growth. i really learned a great deal in my role and i’m confident the rest of the team did as well. it’s a thankless job, but one we’ll all look back on with pride, knowing that we gave a piece of ourselves to the school. i’m proud of what we accomplished.

socially we got after it. i can’t even begin to list all of the social escapades from this final semester, but trust me when i say, they were numerous, ridiculous, and memorable. the highlight would have to be our class trip to puerto rico where we had almost 400 classmates in one hotel, partying for four days straight. it was a legendary trip.

looking back on the experience in its entirety, i have a sense of accomplishment. i was talking with my good friend ryan peterson last night and he reminded me of the trip he and i took to riga, latvia five years ago. it had slipped my mind but he reminded me of the fact that i was taking time out of the trip to sit and study my gmat book. one often forgets the work put into achieving a goal, once it’s achieved. it was nice to be reminded of that work, it makes the accomplishment of the goal that much sweeter. anyway, summarizing my experiences from the two years would an exercise in futility but i think a top ten list is appropriate. here’s my top 10 takeaways from my two years at columbia:

1. new york city is the best city in the world. i’ve come to love this city over the past two years and i’m going to miss it when i leave.
2. the education is secondary, the network of friends and experiences is primary. i come out of here with the best friends a guy could have, for that i am forever indebted to columbia business school.
3. this whole experience is humbling. when you’re surrounded by a sea of people smarter than you, it has a humbling effect on you. this place taught me that humility is paramount.
4. the financial system is complex. i thought i understood finance before i came to school, now i realize just how much there is to know and how little i in fact do know.
5. i have a responsibility to pay back. others deserve this opportunity and it’s my responsibility to help them get it.
6. balance in life is important. you’ve got to always leave a little time for you.
7. you have to know what you stand for. being around so many smart individuals, that know their platform in life, made me further development mine. we all must know what we stand for and where we’re headed.
8. leadership is much more challenging when you’re leading your peers. ’nuff said.
9. the opportunities in front of me are more exciting than at any time in history. the world of business has been dropped on its head and the new rules have yet to be written. what a great time to be leaving business school.
10. opportunities come from the last place you would expect. why do i say this? because i’m leaving new york to work in seoul, south korea the next two years at samsung. never in a million years would i have predicted that i would work in asia.

finally, graduation was bittersweet. i gave my last speech as president at graduation and spoke on the topic of change, i thought it was apropos being that a certain columbia grad used it as his platform for presidency a while back. i’ll upload the video of the speech and link to it here, if you’re interested in watching it.

alright, i’ve got to cut this short. more to come later…

Brannon

Graduation Day with the dad, Dustin and Aaron

Ethan and I in Kiev for Spring Break

Out and about in Kiev