How It All Began

About the middle of August in 1989, just after I'd returned from a vacation in New England, my boss, J. K. Chung, called me into his office and asked me to sit down.

"How would you like to visit Korea for a couple of weeks?" He asked, out of the blue.

"Of course, how could I not want to?" I answered right off.

I'd worked at Samsung Electronics' Santa Clara office for about 3 years by then, maybe a bit longer. I'd heard of others going for a visit each year, but had always thought it was a rumor. Obviously it wasn't. So, this would most assuredly be THE trip of my lifetime!

I had to get a passport right off. At that time, there was no big time lag, and passports were not as expensive as they are now (2008). Mine came in just over a week. Then I had to drive up to San Francisco and the Korean consulate to get my visa stamp. No big problem, just the drive up and back. At least I could do that during the slow part of the day.

In the meantime, I had endless questions, not just about the trip and the reason for the trip - a way to learn about Samsung and about Korea, and to see parts of Korea and some of the factories along the way. To sample the food was ... well... secondary.

This particular trip would include 6 of us. I was the lone representative from the Electronics group (mostly monitor and peripheral marketing, but later also laptops); two were from upstairs at SISA (Samsung Information Systems America), Harry and Elaine; and 3 from the Semiconductor group. Each of us was asked to keep a journal and to make a report. What follows is my journal, which I kept. I'll have links to photos that I'm scanning and uploading so you can get a much better idea of what I saw and did.

In the meantime, I found some books on Korea that I could read, and learned a few "important phrases" that would come in handy. And, I packed... and repacked, and packed again. The weather would be about the same as on the east coast, so I had a good idea. Middle of September, probably not too, too hot. Most the time. Maybe rainy. Oh, yeah, camera, film. Check. Sweaters. Check. Any prescriptions? Check... (we stayed a week extra, so I ran out, but it wasn't a critical Rx, so I didn't worry). Shoes? Comfortable. Most of what we wore were slacks and shirts. I think we wore a skirt once or twice during the whole trip.

Now, on to the trip!