Saturday, May 19, 2007

What's in a Yeouido office building?

I work in this office building in Yeouido every morning and so last week I took some pictures of the place for those curious about such things. I usually get there a little early and go up to the top floor, where there is a cafeteria, a health club, a pavilion and a green house of sorts. I found i was not the only person needing that morning inspiration. Note the KT&G (Korea Tobacco and Ginseng) garbage can/ashtray and the round benches made of plexiglas a ndfull of fake flowers.

And here's the view of Korea's Assembly building (green dome on the left) with Yeouido Park (a real dump with an ocean of red concrete as the centerpiece) towards the bottom.

But Yeouido Park is not all concrete, as you can see in the picture below. Just the parts I've been forced to trudge across on my way to work.

Here's the view of Korea's world-famous 63 building. That's right, sixty stories up, three stories down.

Here's a shockingly underused rest area on the roof, with greenhouse for houseplants. A great place to relax and I am sure it is packed with smokers after lunch, but I, going there early in the morning, have never seen another soul there besides the cleaning staff.

A little stone walkway leads through the trees to a breathtaking view.

Of Yeouido and Gangnam. Gasp!

What lives in a birdhouse at the top of an office building?

A soda can and a snack wrapper have made their interracial relationship work and are hard at work raising their cig-babies.

This is what yellow dust looks like when the rain drags it down to earth and you wipe it off the edge of a puddle.

These are pictures from inside one of my students' offices.

Books absolutely everywhere. I've been in a lot of these offices and I've never seen one with adequite bookshelf space.

Altoids, antacids, scotch tape, change, snack cakes, etc.



decorative/dessicative charcoal sculpture, photo with the president, award, healthy flowers. I know the guy who keeps all the plants in this building alive, he's definitely the hardest working farmer in Seoul

felt-covered conference table, inadequite bookshelves, high-tech partition with mirror.

Organizational chart of the company, standard issue for every office in the building.

Only in the top ranking offices: a chart showing all the various members of the press that are milling about the building at any given time. My top students know this chart by heart and know to keep quiet in the presence of these people.

One more shot for the road.


1 comment:

Jon Allen said...

I think I know which building that is.

You can just about make out the top of our officetel in the second photo, between the National Assembly and the Hotel Lexington, if you know what to look for!