First Free Train Friday of the new year at Hulk's and it was a pretty busy one, filled with me juggling having to greet visitors, tour them around the club, and run the club by myself. T-Boy doesn't work on Fridays, he leaves Thursday night and returns Sunday morning, so I was minus Snickers and him. Of course I had Pyen Chi, she's always great to be with, but sometimes she's just added work for me when visitors who are afraid of her visit Hulk's.
I can't help but giggle my friends back in Canada when I hear about the everyday issues they have. I'm always tempted to tell them, "You think that's bad, try having to do that in another language." Sometimes I really envy their situation, them being able to live daily life in 100% English. Today I ordered a new printer for our office -- a rental. The company advertises printer rentals for fairly cheap and it comes with 24hr help service and unlimited ink, both colour and blank ink. It was working great until it wasn't. And despite the ink cartridges being full of ink, a message popped up on the computer screen, telling me I had to change the ink. Hello 24hr help line. The 24hr help is great, if it didn't mean I'd have to call them on the phone, speak in Korean to them and then have to struggle with the technical answer they offered. I've never learnt the technical parts of a printer in Korean so it may as well been some aged-old, foreign lost language.
"Do you understand?" the technician on the phone asked me.
"It's all Greek to me", I responded.
What should have been a simple two minute discussion ended up being dragged out into an hour long problem. I called them, they called me back, they tried to text me pictures of the printer to explain the parts they were talking about... and then a miracle happened.
One of my high school girls whose English totally rocks showed up for training. I was so excited when I saw her and even more happy when she agreed to phone the company to get an answer to my problem. Turns out all I had to do was pop the ink cartridges out and jiggle them a bit.
Sometimes it's so extremely frustrating running a business here in Korea. I can deal with living a life where learning the language of the land helps me out but learning Korean is no longer an added bonus, it's surely a requirement. My business life is so completely dependent on my language skills so the pressure to continually study it is definitely there. I've got people walking into Hulk's firing questions at me, members I train and whom I try to throw precautions to so they don't get hurt, members' parents calling me up to ask me about their child's progress, pesky parkers I have to hunt down, delivery guys approaching me, sponsors asking for monthly reports on how business is going, city officials wanting to discuss the property details with me, and random suppliers asking me to sign for things or pay them. And let's not forget all the legal forms like our business license, tax forms and business contracts that I am not only asked to sign but expected to accept, understand and follow.
I'm convinced that if I can run a successful business in Korea in Korean than I can do anything.
Starting Hulk's has been the most mentally draining, physically exhausting and emotionally challenging life choice I have ever made in my whole damn life and keeping it going means I am continually challenged on a daily bases. Perhaps that's why I love my Free Train Fridays. Sure it means I run the entire club myself but there's less traffic coming in and it means I run it my way -- NO Korean music, NO Korean shows blaring on our TV, everyone trains by themselves, and I get to work on what I want and at the pace that I want. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like the Korean music and shows, nor does it mean I don't like training members, because I do. It's just that sometimes I really need a break. Sometimes it's just so nice to even hear English, even if it's ghetto music like Tupac playing on the club speakers. Free Train Fridays are my break. They pose as a physical break for my body -- me having to train members -- but they are also a much needed mental break from the continual exhaustion I feel my language skills go through. Free Train Fridays are very relaxed days at Hulk's and I love them. Many members come on Fridays to just hang out with me and I love that too. Sometimes we sit by the coal thingy-a-ma-jiggy sipping on barley tea while other times they sit there and watch the front of the club while I work away in the office. Today's Free Train Friday included me watching a movie with four of our youngest members and a three and a half hour long hang-out time with my Poster Girl Child. There's no way I'd be able to spend so much time like this with members during the week because it's definitely go-go-go but Fridays are surely chill time with members. Love my Fridays at Hulk's!!!
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