Jonathan Jamieson

Last week (on Thursday and Friday) I went to a conference organised by KIER. I did a short presentation on Scottish wind energy and what I will be researching. The conference was held at Gyeongju Hilton Hotel. It’s the first time I’ve stayed at a Hilton hotel and I can’t say I was very impressed — very overpriced and it didn’t even include breakfast! Give me a basic hotel with a continental breakfast any day!

The meal on Thursday evening was something special. The food just kept coming… I think we had about 3 big starters. The older people at the other table didn’t even have a main course!

It was at a sit-on-the-floor Korean Restaurant which I like because the atmosphere is more informal. Despite the fact Korean’s eat very quickly (I’ve been told the military service men a required to do trains them to eat as if they’re always in a rush) meals can take a long time. This is because more and more dishes are brought out. You could be forgiven for thinking you had eater your main course when really you’ve only finished the 2nd starter!

One of the courses was a BBQ. You are given uncooked meat and cook it yourself.

Hui and I skipped the £14 breakfast and caught the Gyeongju City Tour bus at 9:30 outside the hotel. Our host, Dr Kim, recommended this tour as good way to see Gyeongju. He was absolutely right and it was a good day. The  prices were very reasonable; £9 for the a whole day on the bus and £6.50 for entrance into all the places we stopped at. Lunch wasn’t included in the price but we stopped at a well priced restaurant we good portions so no complaints there either!

When we got on the bus it was almost full and we were at the penultimate pick-up point.There was young girl with her parents on the seats in front of us. I think she was quite shy but her English was pretty good. She explained Gyeongju Cakes to us and she seemed to enjoy my juggling.

The places the bus stopped at were:

Bulguksa Temple → Folk Craft Village (Silla Arts and Science Museum) → Bunhwangsa Temple → Tomb of General Kim Yusin → Daereungwon (Cheonmachong) → Gyeongju National Museum → Cheomseongdae

I decided to get a photo of me juggling at every stop. I usually chose the more discreet locations but sometimes it’s unavoidable to not attract attention!

I did take some non-juggling photos too! I did not focus on trying to take amazing photos. While I love my compact Casio it is no SLR camera so the quality is sometimes not-so-good. However, the main reason is because I wanted to relax and enjoy the journey. When all you are thinking about is what would make a good shot then you don’t experience the place you are trying to capture.

I’ve been in Korea for over 3 weeks now. The last couple of weeks have been good. I’ve moved to new accommodation, Daedeok Innopolis Guest House, which is very nice. Unfortunately it is not as convenient as the on-campus dormitories at KIER.

The view at night from my room

The cycle ride to and from work takes about 20 minutes. Because the monsoon season started at the beginning of this week it can be quite wet! Korean’s seem to prefer umbrellas over jackets but it’s not very easy to ride and hold one at the same time.

Yesterday I went with some graduates from America who are staying in Daejeon doing research at different institutes. Mr Kim from KIER took us to a Korean restaurant, bowling, food shopping, culture room, Santa Claus Bar and a Korean bar.

Unfortunately I didn’t take many pictures but I’ll try and get some from someone else.

The Korean restaurant was very “quaint”. We had a little room to ourselves and the food was good. The most amusing incident was the discovery of how Korean’s deal with overcrowded car parks. The etiquette is to leave the hand brake off when you leave your car. If your car is blocking someone then they simply get out of their car and push your car out of the way. The system seems to work surprisingly well!

I had an unusually good bowling game with a score of 159. Fortunately we only played one game so I didn’t need to push my luck and be exposed as a fraud. Korean’s take bowling a little more seriously than anyone I’ve met in the UK. Some of them wore “spinning gloves”…

Shops in the city

I’ve been in Korea for just over a week now. I have settled into my work and I am slightly less sensitive to the ridiculously hot food that is served every meal.  On Friday, my supervisor, Dr Kim, took me and a few others for a meal at a restaurant that crosses Korean and Italian food. There were lots of starters with the more unusual things (at least to me!) were octopus ink bread and fried squid. My main meal was a combination I wouldn’t have thought would go well together, steak and noodles but it did. In fact it was very good!

Hi-tech toilet seats

For me to experience Korean culture is just as important as the work I do. I have been researching places I want to visit and things I want to see. This weekend I kept it fairly local. I went to Daejeon centre again on Saturday to get some food and other essentials. I went into “Home Plus” which is partly run by Tesco. There were a few similarities but not many! I also went to what I think was Guseongdong Sanseong (mountain fortress) but it was a bit of an let down because all I could find was a bench. I’ll go again sometime and see if just missed it. It’s nice to know I still have lots of time to visit places. It’s also good to go back to places for a second time because I often miss something the first time.

Me and the bike

Today (Sunday) I borrowed a bike and cycled to Yuseong (foot) Spa. It was a very pleasant ride along the river and the cycle path was just about deserted. I think I expected Daejeon to busier than it actually is. Glasgow on Saturday afternoon seems to be more crowded! I had read about the foot spa in a travel guide so I knew the etiquette in advance. You need to wash your feet before you put them in! The water was very hot. I think it would be more pleasant in winter but it was still relaxing even when the temperature outside was about 30°C. I met a friendly man there but unfortunately I cannot remember his name and the name on his business is in Korean. I really need to get myself some business cards! He also sent of one of his kids to get everyone a cold drink. The generosity and kindness of Korean’s has been wonderful.  His children were very cute and despite all of them being less than 10 they spoke English better than I speak Korean!

My new friends

I am going to try and learn some Korean while I am here. However it seems really difficult because I don’t think I pronounce anything correctly. I had the bright idea of loading a map onto my phone which a dot in Scotland so people know where I come from. I’ve been suspected as English, Irish, French  and American so far!

Long time, no update? It has been a little busy.

The week at Loch Eil Outward Bound Centre was good fun. Not a relaxing holiday — but fun nonetheless!

The parts for our third year group project became available the day before the Easter holidays. After we came back there was a frantic rush to get the solar still built and tested. A website was also prepared for it. I will probably cover this project another time in a different post because there is plenty to say about it!

Early May my summer placement at KIER was confirmed. There was quite a lot to get organised and I won’t go into all the details but I travelled to London with Kim the day before I was due to fly to pick up my VISA from the Korean Embassy. Time schedules like that leave me a little stressed!

But here I am in Korea. I’ve had a few days to settle in having arrived Friday evening. I had extra sleep time on Saturday and Sunday afternoon to make up for my 24+ hour stay awake marathon when I travelled from Glasgow to Daejeon. I walked to Daejeon city on Saturday to buy food and bedding. Unfortunately the cheapest bedding I could find is flowery and pink.

I think the cook in the cafeteria is trying to kill me because every meal involves me having my head blown off by the spicy hotness. Everyone else eats their food and then has a drink but I just can’t do that. I go through a bottle of water per meal. Maybe at the end of three months I might be able to manage?!

Someone asked me what Korea was like — my answer was/is that it’s “very Korean”. South Korea is very homogeneous and I haven’t seen any white people since I left the airport. This is no bad thing though! The people I’ve met have been helpful and tried there best to sort out any difficulties. The language barrier means it can be quite difficult at times for both sides. It’s fortunate I don’t a Glaswegian accent!

However, everyone’s English is far superior to my Korean so I would like to learn a little of the language. Currently I can say “hello, thank you, yes and no”. It’s a little bit limited!

I had a bit of a water fight with a toilet today. Needless to say it came off better. To be honest I see it as a little bit of karma. I was so distracted by the control panel I didn’t even notice the handle to flush it was just in the normal place. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what “that” button does though. The cartoon diagrams did act as clues and acted as fair warning at the risks I faced using that toilet.

But I could never stay mad at it — the thing has a heated seat!!

Last week came the good news that I have been nominated for a IAESTE placement in South Korea! If accepted, I will be working on wind turbine technology at the Korea Institute of Energy Research. It is not 100% certain but I am very hopeful because a summer placement there will be nothing short of awesome!

I will keep a blog/journal while I am there. Obviously, I am expecting a fairly massive culture shock, having never even left Europe. However, I am confident it I will enjoy it and make good use of my three months there. I’ve started looking at places I want to visit and things I want to see. Along with a good guidebook I am hunting Amazon for books on wind turbines. The plan is to go there as prepared as possible.

It’s going to be a busy summer. I am also trying to fit in a road trip to Ireland with friends before I go. Frustratingly I have an exam very late on in the exam period. The current plan is for me to fly from Glasgow to Belfast to meet them straight after the exam. Not much time for this holiday and obviously my priorities are with my summer placement but I am hopeful that I’ll manage to go.

I am also going on an Outward Bound course during the Easter break as part of the university. It’s a Management thing for third years. The feedback has been very positive in the past so I think it’ll be worth it.

Finally, Masterchief. A friend’s 21st was a couple of weeks ago. Being the amazingly organised person that he is, a Facebook event was created the night before the party. At such short notice it was good fortune I had dilute hydrofluoric acid lying around in the form of Armour Etch. After a solid two hours spent cutting out the stencil, with the assistance of my flatmate the etching was done. I was pleased with the result (unfortunately it doesn’t show up well in photos).

I’ve decided to create a section called “Presents” in the project part of my website. I’ve made a couple of things over the years that have come out well and hopefully they can inspire others.

Snakeboarding? Robots? Robot Snakeboard! I’ve been thinking about this for a few months now. I am not the first person to. In fact, there are numerous academic papers on the subject. I printed them all off and read them over the Christmas break. Eventually I will compile a list of them and where to download them.

The image below is a concept sketch of what I think it will look like. I’ll make a CAD drawing in ProE next and hopefully over the summer I will have enough time to make. Click on the image for more detail.

I don’t usually post anything about what I am working on or planning to do. I guess in that sense I am pretty secretive! But I am very excited about this. I am still searching out ones done by other people but as of yet I haven’t found anything outside the academic world. Let me know if you have tried something similar because I’d love to hear from you!

Exams have been and gone! First two went very well… the last one not so but I’ll just have to wait for the results. For better or worse my exams were early in the exam period this year. Bad because there was less time time for revision because there was less time to revise and good because I’ve had this week off!

Instead of doing a small project I’ve done a a couple of walks with a friend from university. The first was the Kelvin Walkway (from Glasgow to Milngavie). The forecast was a little bleak for Monday but fortunately the sun shone on us.

The second walk was a little bit more intense! Angus and I climbed Beinn Ime & Beinn Narnain.

I will add more about the walks to my hillwalking section soon which is looking a little bit bare just now!

It’s Monday of the penultimate week of first semester, already! I’m nearly half-way through my third year and my degree. Time flies. It’s been a busy few weeks. I meant to add a post before the end of November but clearly that didn’t happen.

I’ve had one test so far this semester (100%, boo ya!) and another two to go. The first of which was supposed to be tomorrow but was cancelled because of the snow.

Speaking of snow… there has been a lot of it in Glasgow! You might think Scotland could handle bad weather but we clearly can not. Fortunately for me the subway is underground so it’s unaffected by the weather. Snow is therefore generally a good thing for me because it means sledging and snowmen building.

I was accosted by a young Glaswegian on my way to Kelvingrove Park. I hesitate to call him a ned because if he was then he wasn’t a very good one because he asked me if he could throw a snowball at me. His aim was atrocious and I capitalised on his inaccuracy.

Good news on the sporting front. It began with a new personal best of 13.7 on the 20m bleep test a few weeks ago and last week I won the gym mini triathlon! I was fastest individual time on the treadmill and bike but missed the rowing machine time by 1 second! My combined time was about a minute faster than everyone else . The 5k treadmill race is running this week but unfortunately for me people who are very fit actually do this event so I don’t think I shall be winning it.

What with reports and other university work I’m not getting much time for personal projects. I am doing a small thing for Kim’s Christmas present but I can’t talk about that yet just in case she reads this!

Normally I attach a single photo to a post but this time I have enough to do a mini gallery. Enjoy.

This post is about a month late but better late than never, aye? I finished my marathon inside my target time of 4 hours (3:50:34).

I’ve written a rather long piece about it if you wish to know more. Be warned – it’s a ridiculously long document.

I have another Bleep Test coming up soon along with a mini-challenge at the university gym.

Unfortunately the combination of a busy timetable and the very cold weather I’ve not manged to continue running as regularly as I would like.

Hopefully during the Christmas holidays I’ll get out more.

Since I am trying to  convey a smart and professional image on this website I decided to attach a photo from the Halloween Party at the juggling club… Looking mighty fine as always! I haven’t had so much time for juggling in the past few weeks as the university work picks up but I’ve managed a few decent sessions per week. Not much progress has been made with 5 balls, it’s tricky. But I started 3 balls in one hand a few weeks ago and I’m slowly improving at that.

I’ve nearly finished my CV and the next step is getting it out so I have some kind of Summer Placement. I really want some practical engineering experience so I am desperate for somewhere worthwhile.

I got a free audio book of Flatland which is superb. It’s possibly the most bizarre novel I’ve known. I enjoy listening to it before bed.

I’ve also started longboarding at the university which is fun but unfortunately the daylight hours are getting less and less and the weather is getting worse and worse so I can’t see myself getting out many more times before Christmas.

And speaking of Christmas, November has not even started and the shops are beginning to get Christmas-sy. I wish they’d keep it for December!