I wrote this at work and emailed it to myself because I feel like my posts have been lacking descriptions lately. My mentor teaches me Korean every morning for 30 minutes, and then I read extremely boring powerpoints in bad english about Accounts Payable and POSCO's Financial Standards all day long. I am not even correcting them or writing a report - only reading. Needless to say I drink about 3 cups of instant coffee and 1 cup of "real" coffee every day. The instant coffee, despite being the best I've ever had, does not have much caffiene and contains a lot of sugar. It does not do much to keep you awake.

Every day from 12 to 1 is lunch. Everyone at POSCO takes his or her lunch at this time and the lights to the office go out at exactly 12 every day. Lunch here is never eaten by oneself, but always with collegues. Needless to say, no one brings his lunch to work, but food is relatively cheap in Korea and it is not much of an expense to go out every day. The cafeteria serves breakfast for 2000 Won/$1.58 USD, and lunch and dinner for 3000 Won/$2.37 USD. There are also hundreds of restaurants within walking distance of the POSCO building and many people choose to go out for lunch. If you go out to lunch with your mentor, he will always pay for you. This is an integral part of Korean culture. They always fight over the bill, but the oldest will generally always pay for everything.

The elderly in Korea are very important and must always be treated with respect. This generally means don’t speak before being spoken to, always bow first upon meeting, wait until they start eating before beginning your meal, only speak to them in the formal way, give up your seat on the subway if there is an elderly person without one, and other similar traditions. In Korea, your boss will always be older than you because their promotions are based on years with the company more so than individual performance. This is changing as Korean business becomes more westernized and the salary gap between low-performers and high-performers is increasing, but it is largely still true. This is especially true for women in Korea. In many ways, the interactions between sexes are similar to the US in the 1950’s. In the work place, older Koreans believe that women should not call attention to themselves by wearing bright colors or wearing shirts that expose the shoulder. My mentor told me to “wear whatever I want,” but Jaehee’s mentor, a Korean intern in the department next to mine, is much more strict. She told me she once wore a dress with red on it and her team leader was very upset with her. Some departments are more liberal than others, as some interns are even allowed to wear jeans, but POSCO is notoriously conservative. In the recent past, POSCO has only had a 3% women workforce, but they have begun to hire 20-30% women to create more of a balance. Generally, they do not hold the foreign interns to such rigorous standards because they do not actually intend to hire us. All upper level positions in Mexico, the US, China, Australia, Vietnam, Japan, India, and Poland are still held by Koreans.

Interactions between sexes, even in Universities, are small. Most dormitories in Korea have lock-in rules from 11 – 5:30 and some even have separate elevators for boys and girls. There are also quite a few women-only universities which are generally considered archaic in the US. My university has boys and girls living on the same floor, which I’ve come to learn is liberal for Korea. Of course, there are no Koreans living on my floor so that may be a large factor. I believe the guest house is only for foreigners. On the weekends, the lock-in time is not a problem as nothing closes at 2 as in the US. Clubs and bars are open all night long and are still packed with people until 7 in the morning. They say that New York is the city that never sleeps, but Seoul only sleeps on the subway or during the lunch hour. It’s kind of mind-blowing, really.

Because status is so important in Korea, Koreans will often ask questions that would seem too personal when meeting someone for the first time. The first question usually always being “how old are you” followed by “what is your name,” “where are you from,” and if in the workplace “how much do you make”. Your age is the most important part of determining your Korean status, but if you come from a rich country you will be treated with more respect than if you are from a poor country. To determine your age in Korea, take your age in the US and add one year. Instead of being “zero” when born, Koreans count the gestation period as one year. Therefore every child is one year old when they are born. On the subway there are even seats, 12 per car, designated only for pregnant, injured or elderly people. The subway can be completely packed, but those seats will still be empty. You dare not sit there unless you fit the above description.

Back to the work day, I believe my mentor is hung over almost every day. He often tells me this in the mornings, and usually always asks if I drank the night before. There is a health clinic on the 15th floor where you can go to sleep. I believe this is a relatively common office practice because so many of the employees drink every night. They also offer traditional Korean hand therapy and moxa, both of which I had done last Wednesday. They believe that different parts of your hand represent different parts of your body. Thus, since I was hung over on Wednesday, I followed a Korean intern named “April” to have this done. The woman in the health clinic put small band-aids with aluminum circles in them on the points of my fingers to make my hangover go away. She then wrapped them in medical tape and did moxa for 3 times to improve my circulation. Moxa has these little sticky band-aids with hot coals on them which you light in a candle. You then wait for 10ish minutes while they burn down. This was very relaxing, but by the end of the 3rd time my arms were sore from holding my palms flat on the table for 30 minutes.


Every day at 2 the entire building does stretching exercises. All computers on the network automatically prompt you to do this and a recorded woman's voice comes over the loudspeaker. She counts to 8 twice - hanah, eel, e, sam, sa . . . and tells how to to the next stretch. Not all Korean companies do this, but most of the large ones do. It is an interesting way to break up the day. At 3:30, all of the foreign interns and some of the Korean interns meet for a coffee break. Since we work until 6 on futile tasks for less than minimum wage, we mostly feel the most important thing we can gain from this internship is friendship. If I ever travel to France, Russia, Vietnam, Columbia, Poland, etc. I hope I can get some good advice on what to see. Even though I work a lot, I have really been enjoying my experience here and I am glad I decided to go.