We’ve all had those business trips. You’re traveling alone. Maybe you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language. I’ve had my fair share of them so I’m pretty well prepared however my current trip has thrown me for a loop.

Maybe it’s just that I’m out of practice but Daegu, South Korea. Well not even Daegu per se. It’s more like an event park on the outskirts. Apple Weather calls it Buk-gu (66 degrees and pouring rain all day by the way).

I like to believe I have the very very basics of Japanese and Chinese culture down but Korean…and Korea outside of Seoul…whoah. Out of my league. No one at the hotel speaks English. No familiar room service items to order (actually no room service at all).

The answer (on this trip) is embroidery. I took a class in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and then, armed with the basics, threw myself into a fairly advanced pattern. This pattern made three hours blow by on the flight over (yes, I was THAT guy in United business class doing embroidery). It also helped me pass most of the day today while it poured with rain outside.

Yes, I did pop out of the hotel to “adventure” but after getting soaked through, I was only able to find a sort of electronics department store meets market – everything from selfie sticks to high-tech toilet seats and cutting edge flat screens. Quick change and then over to the neuroscience conference to meet someone from Sweden to learn about her organization and then…back to the hotel to essentially change into my jim-jams to get back at the stitching.

Soon…say, after 5pm…maybe I’ll pour myself a little gin and (insert something that might be like tonic but with a Korean label I can’t read) and binge-watch some Hand Maid’s Tale. Dinner you ask? I had Korean food (some might just call it food seeing as I’m Korea) for lunch. I managed to find some hard boiled eggs for sale downstairs.

So while I’m not comparing Korea to prison, I think I have found my “coping mechanism.” And don’t worry… my two days of structured meetings start tomorrow. I will be absurdly productive. But yes, I am already counting the days to my flight back on Wednesday.