00:00
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
Hello.
What's up guys?
How's it going?
So, we just got back from a business trip inKorea.
Yes.
And how was your Korean experience?
Yeah.
Let's start off with your phone.
My phone, yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
During the first day, we had two days, right?
Yes.
Right in the middle of the taxi, you...
Yes.
I think it was taxi, right?
Yes.
It's probably taxi.
In the taxi, you dropped your phone.
Yes.
You didn't notice it.
Afterwards, we're like, shit, I think I left myphone in the cab.
We, you know, got off from the taxi and went tothe station.
Station lock-up.
Yeah.
And we're doing those things.
And we needed smartphones to open those lockers,right?
Right.
To scan the QR code and everything.
And I tried to do that and I was, oh, I don't havemy phone.
Yeah.
It's not in the pocket where I usually put it.
Yeah.
So, thanks to the locker, I found that I lost mysmartphone.
I see.
Oh, shit, I lost it.
And so, it was pretty obvious that I left in thetaxi because I remember I had my smartphone
before riding on the taxi.
Gotcha.
So, yeah, it was through Uber.
So, the manager contacted through Uber applicationto the driver.
But, you know, couldn't work.
Right.
It was a Saturday, Sunday.
Yeah.
So, the headquarters weren't open.
Right, right, right.
And somehow, we couldn't contact the driverhimself.
Yeah.
Don't know why.
And the taxi driver tried to do those things, but,you know, it was Saturday, Sunday.
So, nobody could reply and we were like, oh, okay.
Yeah.
And then the only thing we could do was send amessage through the application.
Yes.
And just wait the driver's own reply.
Right.
That was the only thing we could do.
Yeah.
So, okay, we just wait.
We just wait.
We'll just continue the job.
Yeah, yeah.
Let's just see how it goes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we did the Saturdays.
Yeah.
As planned.
Yeah.
And then we were in kind of like a studio to doour Saturdays and we had Wi-Fi.
Yeah.
So, he proposed to search where's my smartphonething.
Right.
Like the GPS service thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I tried that and through the Google service,it said my phone is at the police station.
Yeah.
Right.
Like a dot appeared on a map in Korea.
I was like, what is this place?
And like, we searched it and it was like, right,it's a police station.
It's a police station.
Like a lost and found kind of.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
03:00
It was, it said, um,
And I couldn't, like, we didn't understand whatwas that.
Yeah.
Like, okay, what is it?
Like, maybe the translation was like, it wentwrong and, um, what?
But actually that was the town name.
Oh, right.
The district name.
Okay.
That was Umyeong.
And Hatsujyo was literally Hatsujyo, the policestation.
Right.
And yeah, we were like, oh, what?
And it was like pretty near from our studio.
It was just like 10 minutes from.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
Luckily.
Yeah.
It was a pretty close station.
So I guess somebody, maybe the taxi driver son.
Right.
That's a mystery.
Yeah.
Don't know who did it, but somebody maybe justwrote it to the police station.
Right.
And it was only like four or five hours after younoticed that you lost your phone.
Right.
True.
So pretty quick action there.
Yeah.
Honestly, yeah.
Right.
Right.
So thanks to the kind people in Korea, my phonedelivered to the police station.
Right.
And we went there.
Yeah.
To the police station.
Now it's time to get inside the Korean policestation.
Right.
Right.
Right.
I remember I took a photo.
I remember I took that camera right there.
But like before going to the police station, I wastaking a photo.
It wasn't one afterwards.
Right.
Right.
And we beforehand, we studied some phrases inKorean.
I lost my phone.
Do you still remember?
Yeah.
스마트폰 잃어버렸어요.
So that's I lost my smartphone.
Yes.
Okay.
Right.
You remember.
Yeah.
Nice.
And like black.
That was I guess 흑색.
흑색.
Black.
Black.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Those like some phrases.
To describe.
Yeah.
Right.
Okay.
We got it.
Let's go in.
Because we knew there are not many people whospeaks English.
Right.
Like they speak Korean basically in towns.
And so yeah, we had to prepare beforehand and justwent inside.
And I was like 스마트폰 잃어버렸어요.
And they're like.
They were three very kind.
Yes.
오지상.
Yes.
And yeah, at first they thought I just lost myphone and don't know where is my smartphone is.
Yeah.
So they were like.
Right.
And they start conversation in fluent Korean.
So obviously.
We got lost.
Sorry.
일본사람.
Right.
And then he speaks Korean too like continuously.
Right.
And then.
You're like.
06:01
And the thing is the whole time I was like.
All right.
The Papago is the app that everybody uses in Koreafor translation.
So let me have the Papago out.
And like the I put it in 타이와모드.
So if someone speaks Japanese automaticallytranslated Korean, then vice versa.
Right.
I had that on.
Must be very useful.
It must be.
Right.
So I had that on the whole time.
But like, no, it was it was not useful at all.
It didn't recognize the voices of the policemen.
They were too far.
I see.
For it to be recognized.
So it didn't it didn't even enter in any Korean.
Right.
It was completely useless.
OK.
You had to speak like this.
Right.
Be in front of the microphone to get it to berecognized.
Wow.
Right.
Yeah.
So we tried our best to communicate with them invery few Korean words.
Right.
Freestyle.
Yeah.
Freestyle.
Yeah.
And yeah, I showed the screenshot of the GPS.
Yeah.
That was a very good idea.
Oh, right.
You showed the screenshot.
Yeah.
Right.
I showed it to the policeman and I don't know whatI said to the policeman, but we made it.
Right.
The police understood.
Yeah.
Oh, wait, your phone's here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, Sony.
OK.
OK.
And then they brought my phone.
And yeah.
And you signed a document.
I showed the passport and everything.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they were very kind gentlemen.
Very kind.
Very kind.
Very, very kind.
They were very chatty, too.
Yeah.
Almost even happy to have, like, a customer, like,a company.
Right.
It's like, oh!
Seokkyo!
Oh, Akasaka!
Right.
Oh, Ueno!
Ueno!
Oh, yeah.
I don't know why he knew Akasaka, though.
Yeah.
Why is Akasaka?
Is Akasaka a friend in Korea?
He said there are so many Koreans in Akasaka.
Really?
But I don't think so.
I don't think so.
Yeah.
For Shinjuku, I kind of understand.
Right.
Shinjuku, Shin-Okubo, right?
I understand.
Right.
He was like, Akasaka, Ueno.
Yeah.
Was Ueno a place for Koreans, too?
He said we had, like, a shrine, just likeGyeongbokgung in Korea.
Oh, that's what he was saying.
Yeah.
I didn't know what he meant by that.
Yeah.
In Ueno, we have, like, a same kind of shrine.
Oh.
But I...
Really?
Well, let me...
Yeah.
Let's check.
We have some of those.
Gyeongbokgung.
09:03
But he was very, very happy.
He really wanted to have a conversation withsomebody.
Right.
Right.
It was obvious.
Yeah.
Right.
But it's not Korean based though.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He said in Korea they have Gyeongbokgun.
And in Japan you have Ueno Shrine.
And he said that's like in Korea, we haveGyeongbokgung.
In Japan, you have Ueno Shrine, and it's like, dowe have that in Japan?
Is he talking about Asakusa?
No?
I don't know.
But Ueno, though, no?
Yeah, he said...
Do we have a, in general, like a big temple inUeno?
So, I don't, I'm not, so my knowledge is verylight about Gyombokun, but I think it's very,
like a governmental thing in, years ago, right?
Yeah, it's where the king, I don't know if it's aking, but like the king and the family,
they lived there, they governed there.
So, if you say like that, maybe it should be likea Kōkyō, or maybe Kyōtoku-shō, those places.
Right, right, right.
In Ueno, you have Ueno Onshi Kōen, that's relatedto imperial family, but maybe he was
talking about that, maybe?
Right.
Mystery.
But, yeah.
Okay, but he was, we know he was happy.
He was happy, yes.
To have a conversation with a guest or something.
Yeah.
He didn't do anything, but he was just standing infront of us and just had conversation with us.
Right.
True.
Yeah.
The other guy was making a document, right?
Right, right, right.
Just the waiting time.
Yeah.
He just kept on going.
That was fun, that was fun.
Yeah, it was very fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was a good experience.
Very kind people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, they were very kind.
Get inside a...
Think about Japanese police, if I lost my phoneand get inside a police station, and
they won't be like that.
Yeah, I don't think they'll be as welcoming.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's true, yeah.
Yeah.
Like, Korean police is, like, they looked to us,like, to me at least, like, they even
maybe, oh, let's hang out together.
Right.
Like, yeah, let's go eat something.
Yeah, I mean, I get that vibe.
Yeah, yeah.
Kind of like, I don't know, maybe shinseki kind ofthing.
12:00
Oh, sit down, sit down.
Right.
Oh, o-cha demo nande.
Yeah, o-cha.
What do you want?
Yeah.
Right.
It was fun.
Right.
That was, um, end of the first day of our job.
That was, right, first day.
Big event.
Yeah, big event.
Well, yeah, thanks so much for your help.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Great journey.
Yeah, it was, yeah.
How was your, how was your second day?
Second, so first day after that, I went to eatkangyu.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Nice.
Remember that?
Kake-chan told me, like, introduced us.
Yes.
Kangyu was very nice, so I searched on, hopefully,the best place around the hotel area and went
to the place.
Okay.
And had kangyu, like, a course, kind of.
All right.
Yeah, it was pretty, I think, expensive, yakinikuyasan, I think.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the amount was big, but the taste, it wasn'tbad.
Okay.
It wasn't bad, but not as delicious as I expected.
Oh, really?
Hearing from Kake-chan's story, like, he said,like, that's the top, right?
Okay.
But, I mean, it was good, but not, like, superspecial.
I see.
Yeah.
I had, on my last trip to Korea, I ate kangyu,too.
Oh, good, good, good.
But that was pretty good.
Pretty good.
Oh, okay.
That was pretty good.
But I kind of get that, too.
It wasn't anything that I've never eaten before.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it was within, like, my things that I alreadyknow, but, like, within that, it was pretty,
like, high.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think we share some same feelings, I guess.
Yeah.
It was good.
It was good yakiniku.
But, like, not something, like, I had neverexperienced this before.
Right.
It's different from Japanese yakiniku and thingslike that.
Sure.
So, yeah, but it was good.
Okay.
It was good, but I enjoyed the conversation withthe staff-san.
Oh, okay.
So, she made it to me.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mine, too.
Oh, you, too.
Like, she goes around tables.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And do that stuff, right?
It wasn't, like, a counter thing, right?
No, it was a table.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, at the moment, it was, I think I was a verylate customer.
I was close to the ending time.
So, she was always there and tried, and dideverything to me.
And that was nice.
That was...
You loved the conversation, as well, right?
Oh, yes, yes.
I really enjoyed that.
Right.
And, as an experience, it was very nice.
But, yeah, but it was good.
Okay.
I mean, it was good, though.
It was good, but not as good as what you'dexpected.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Maybe the restaurant choice, maybe.
Okay, okay.
Maybe, but...
All right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
So, that was...
And then, after that, I went to 7-Eleven.
15:02
Uh-huh.
And I strolled around the Korean 7-Eleven.
Nice.
And...
What did you think?
Um...
So, base...
Like, basic is the same.
Uh-huh.
But, like, the variation of the sozais, thevariations is like, you know, onigiris, like,
sandwiches and everything.
It was Korean-style.
It was Korean-style.
Yeah.
So, it was fun to stroll around, like, see around.
Uh-huh.
And I bought two teas.
Okay.
Two bottles of tea.
And one was...
On the package, it said,
Otoko.
That was the only character I could understand.
After that, I was all in Hangul.
Okay, okay, okay.
Otoko.
And it looked like a tea.
Like a straight tea?
Milk tea?
Looked like a green tea.
Green tea.
Okay.
Yeah.
Some kind of green tea or like a mugicha thing.
I see.
Kind of like that.
Okay.
So, I picked that one.
And I brought it to the register.
Oh, register.
Yeah.
And so, he said, like, it's like a one-plus-one.
You can get another one.
Right.
And so, oh, okay.
And I went to the place again, and I pickedKorncha.
Okay.
There were like corn on the surface, so it wasobviously, it was, oh, this is Korncha.
And I brought it.
Yeah.
And I had two teas.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's nice.
Yeah, nice, nice, nice, nice.
Right.
That one-plus-one culture.
There's a lot of those, right?
There's so many one-plus-ones.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Didn't know about that one.
Right, right, right.
So, that was the end of my first day.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yes, yes, yes.
What was your second day like?
Second day, can I?
Oh, yeah.
Let's separate.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right.
Great first day.
Yeah.
Great, adventurous first day.
I mean, yeah, thanks to everybody.
Yeah.
Many people helped me.
Right, right, right.
I was so lucky.
I felt the warmness of the world.
True.
Great to society, too, right?
Honestly, yes, yes.
Right.
Being able to, you know, during your internationalstays, losing your phone, that's a pretty
devastating thing for it to happen to you.
Right.
Yeah.
All right.
Thanks for listening, guys.
Bye-bye.
