I feel like we are first-timers here in Korea, and yet we’ve been here several times in the past.  Let me count:
- My first time was with Edmund and my brother Kuya Lito. They were meeting with Goldstar Electric and I tagged along. We had a partnership with Goldstar to assemble electric watt hour meter (or kuntador in Tagalog). That time, our company, Teledyne Marketing,  was supplying electric meters to Meralco, National Electrification Administration (NEA), and to some electric cooperatives around the Philippines.
2. I am so forgetful, I am trying to dig deeper into my decades old memory. Did the business delegation accompany President Fidel V. Ramos here? My God, I can’t remember. Most likely we did.
3. My next was as a member of the business delegation who accompanied Pres. Joseph Estrada on his State Visit to Korea.  I remember the late Ambassador Felimon Cuevas was with his wife who had a hard time walking straight because of knee problems.
I also vividly remember this trip because of a few events. I took a cab to Itaewon and almost missed the chartered flight to Manila because the taxi driver drove me around town. Almost one hour kaming takbo ng takbo. Ang mahal tuloy ng binayaran ko. When I got to the hotel lobby, the delegation was starting to board the shuttle bus.
I also found a stack of business documents on the elevator floor. Someone must have dropped it.
A businessman sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers to my room. Nanliligaw siguro. I happened to sit beside him on the plane. Nag thank you naman ako. Sabi nya yung mga girlfriends daw nya in college, ngayon daw ang tataba na at mukhang matatanda na. Nanay ko po. I am sure if I ever bump into him now, he will not even remember me. Old, fat, and ugly, just like his college girlfriends.
A welcome note intended for Pres. Erap landed in my room.
Ka Imon was inseparable with a black attache case.  He said it contained cash, budget daw yun kung merong kailangang bayaran si Pres. Erap.
4. Next was a winter holiday tour with Edmund, Oyen, and Nyke in December 2014.  Oyen bought me a black light weight winter jacket from Uniqlo,  and a pair of winter boots from the US. We stayed at the Pacific Hotel in Myeongdong. It was a group tour. We were brought to an island full of ice and I couldn’t bear the cold, parang nanigas ang mga daliri ko.
It’s amazing that the Philippines is only three and a half hours away from Korea and yet they get this much ice. Tayo pawis.
We also went to the magical Petit France (Little Prince Town).  I didn’t know what the fuzz was all about, yun pala, it was an iconic K-drama and movie filming locations for Winter Sonata. Kaya pala my sister is excited to visit Korea in the near future. Eto pala ang sikat dito.
Around the hotel in Myeongdong, there was a night market with lots of interesting Korean street food.
Oyen and I each bought a bag at the MCM boutique on the ground floor of Lotte Department Store. I no longer remember where my bag was. Kanino ko kaya iyun ipinamigay? Oyen still has her bag but she rarely used it.
My husband had been here in South Korea more times than me.
He, together with Jun Urmaza, one of Kuya Lito’s executives from his Manila office, and another guy from his office in California, stayed at the Goldstar Electric assembly plant in Chungju, outside of Seoul, for a one month training to assemble watt hour meter. Kuya Lito’s company in the US, Edison Hubbard Industries, won a contract to supply thousands of electric meter to El Salvador.  They needed to establish an assembly plant in California. Edmund and 2 engineers went to Goldstar to learn how to assemble the electric meter parts. Edmund said he didn’t anticipate how cold it would be, na-freeze daw ulo nya, nahilo sya. That was 39 years ago. He came back a few more times to meet with the Goldstar technical people.
Ang tagal na nun kaya he doesn’t remember anymore the details even the year. Most of you haven’t been born yet.
And now we’re back here in Seoul. This time in search for a long term remedy for Edmund’s back pain.
