25 Dec 2011: Merry Christmas from China!

 We bring you Christmas Greetings to all on this cold, sunny, polluted day here in Shenyang, China!

Rod & Sarah, dressed for a walk outside on Christmas Eve, here in Shenyang, China

This week has been cold...we've entered into the "3-9" period on the lunar calendar...3 sets of 9 days, each getting progressively colder..can't wait for that...it's -2F outside today...and this is just day 2 of the 1st set of 9 days!  Brrr!  You know it's cold when the city park just down the road has their ice fortress up...and it will be up until Spring!

The ice wall at the city park just down the street from our hotel here in Shenyang

We stayed here in China this year after last year's travel woes getting home and knowing that here in China the expat representation would be quite low, so it is working out OK.  We miss our family in the US and our friends all over the world, as always, but probably more this time of year.  Just know we are with you in spirit.
Yesterday, we had a nice day which started with a lunch with our driver and his family.  I'm assuming they are buddhist (as there is a buddah on the dash of our car), but they know that Christmas is a special day for us, so they wanted to invite us for a meal...and big it was (as usual...you think I'd learn this by now!).  I knew that they had bought a Santa suit for Rod, but didn't know what they wanted him to do with it...well, when we arrived, we found out...it was presented to him and it was obvious that they wanted him to wear it and get pictures taken with the little kids...so of course he obliged.  The suit was a classic Chinese size (that is to say XS..even if the package said XL!)...but Rod managed to get it on and sit down without the seat splitting and get some fun photo's with the little kids and even me! (neices and nephews of our driver).

SantaRod with a couple of the drivers neices on Christmas eve here in Shenyang, China

Santa Rod got me to sit on his lap...now how did that happen?!...always has been a sweet-talker!

Mr Sun, Sarah and Rod for Christmas eve lunch in Shenyang, China (that silk blouse and wool pants really creates alot of static cling!)

Rod with Mr Sun's grandson (he's about 3...very similar age to our grand daughter Olivia in KY)

 After this lunch, we had a very enjoyable afternoon at some friends of ours from work...some of the "Christmas orphans" had a nice afternoon together!

Hope you and your family have a great Christmas together and let us give thanks for all we have...for we have much for which to be grateful!

Rod & Sarah

5 Dec 2011: 2 weeks + 3 continents = jetlag

Greetings all from Shenyang,
It's cold (+10F at 9:30am) and sunny outside as I type this and I just got back from a 2 week business trip first to France, then Brazil and back last night here to China...not sure what timezone my body is in!  Exhausting, but very worthwhile for work.
While In France, I was able to see the big Christmas tree getting put up at Place de Jaude...wasn't there to see it decorated, but thought this was a fun sight!
Note, the images are not great quality as I just snapped them with my phone...but I'm sure you can still make it out! (how spoiled I've become with high quality point-and-shoot cameras today!)

A big Christmas tree on the back of a semi-trailer, getting ready to be put up in Clermont-Ferrand, France 

After a week at work in Clermont and another city in France, I spent the weekend in Paris (OK, yes, there are worse places to spend a weekend!).  While there, I wanted to keep doing my daily exercise, so I went to the Champs Elyses and did my walking (now that was a nice walk!).  Between the Arch de Triomphe and Place de Concorde they had a street-side Christmas market.  Then I went to Galleries Lafayette, one of my favorite department stores in Paris..always pretty and especially so at Christmas!  There are 2 big stores beside each other and they still do alot of window displays.  Very festive to come up out of the Metro and see lots of people, shopping, window shopping etc.   Below are a few pictures of my brief weekend in Paris..so nice!

Christmas market in Paris, along the Champs Elyses

Christmas tree in the Gallaries Lafayette department store in Paris

Christmas windows and walkway at Galleries LaFayette and Les Printemps department stores in Paris

After Paris, I went to Brazil for a series of meetings.  Michelin is building a new factory there that will startup about 18 months before the one I'm building so it was good to see some of their problems and how they are finding solutions.  The temperatures were warm (mid 80'sF) and it rained some days, but otherwise, it was nice.  (it's late spring there!)  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do any sight seeing...(aside from stopping at a roadside fruit stand and buying bananas!)  That close to Rio des Janiero and didn't see it at all this time...maybe next time when I go back (probably June 2012)! I did manage to grab a few pictures on the taxi ride from Rio airport to Resende and of the hotel where I stayed. 

Roadside fruit market somewhere between Rio and Resende, Brazil

Sarah getting ready to eat a banana sideways!

The hotel grounds view from my front window in Penedo, Brazil

The little village of Penedo was started (?) by a bunch of people from Finland. ( I guess they got tired of a cold winter in Finland and went south...and stayed!)  They built up a lot of architecture in the Finish style and this time of year, they dress up the little village in Christmas decor and several of the shops specialize in chocolate and lots of sweets...

The entry way to the Penedo, Brazil villages at Christmas

Downtown at Christmas in Penedo, Brazil

So, that's it for now...I'm readjusting to the Beijing time and trying to get my body clock reset with the clock on the wall! 
Thanks for your continued prayers and thoughts...we really do appreciate them!

Sarah & Rod

13 Nov 2011: Leeks, construction and music, what a combo!

Greetings all,
It's been a little while since I wrote..no business trips, no big events...just work (most of the time it's just that...work...not all the fun things I post here!) For whatever reason,  I really didn't feel the motivation to write!  So, here I am on a Sunday afternoon, cool outside (somewhere in the 40's today in the Sunshine), bright sunny days (at least until about 4:30 in the afternoon, when it starts getting dark).  China is on 1 time zone all across the country...and they never change their clock.  So all winter, we'll be 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time in the US rather than 12 hours ahead we were all summer.
As one of my Michelin collegues said, when you see the cabbages and leeks laying out to try and cool, here in Shenyang, it's time to get the winter jackets out...she's right!  There are onions, leeks, cabbages everywhere!

Leeks hanging to dry in Shenyang, China

As many of you know, we've been here for about 1.5 years now, and my job is with Michelin, building a plant to serve the China growing automobile market (selling all those cars, they need tires!)
We're making progress on the construction site for my plant...here are a couple of photos.

Sarah Miller in front of the Michelin tire construction site in Nov 2011

The Michelin construction site in Shenyang, Nov 2011

While I'm out at work, Rod has had the opportunity to enjoy a Chinese traditional music concert.  Here is a music clip...lasts about a minute and show cases some really fine musicians. Get your ear ready!

On additional thing about this concert was the pictures on the wall...Rod just had to have his picture taken with these guys in the background...how many can you name? (Thanks Julie Tovey for taking the photo..we've got yours too!)  Notice the camera above Mao's head...I'm sure Rod's on some surveillance footage somewhere...of course I'm sure we both have been films several times with the number of cameras here!

Rod with the Communist icons...Marx, Lenin, Mao, Engles, Stalin

So that's about it for now here in Shenyang!

Rod & Sarah

25 Oct 2011: Shanghai sideways!

Greetings all!
Happy 1st of Winter day...at least that's what the Chinese say...I think it has more to do with the fact that this was the first day that the heat was turned on the apartments here.  Most of the heat is steam heat that is centrally produced.
The last week, I had meetings in Shanghai, so on Wednesday, Rod came down to join me there and then we stayed for the weekend and took a quick tour of Shanghai...in a somewhat unconventional way.  Rod arranged for us to tour Shanghai in a couple of old motorcycles with Sidecars.  These motorcycles are Chinese copies of the WWII old BMW motorcycles, still produced in Russia and very simple engine technology...and somewhat apt to breakdown from what we've heard.
Here are a few photos of our little trip around Shanghai!

For anyone, who will be in Shanghai for a day, who would like to do this tour, here is their website!
www.shanghaisideways.com

Rod standing beside the sidecar he was about to tour around Shanghai in!

A garden in the French Consession area of Shanghai

Sarah sittin' in the sidecar on the tour of Shanghai

Rod toolin up the street in Shanghai

Sarah tooling around with the owner of the company

Tooling around the Bund in Shanghai

The Pearl of Shanghai as seen from the Bund

Just off the Bund there are some not so glamerous areas...

Rod walking in the little neighborhood off the bund

Wiring in Shanghai...humm...hope they never have a short circuit!

Bread...Shanghai style, cooked on the street

Making cookies or crepes on the street in Shanghai

Sarah in the market...that's a man taking down his laundry in the background...no I'm not buying!

So that's about it for now!
Have a wonderful week, where ever you are!

Rod & Sarah

8 Oct 2011: Seoul is good for the Soul

Greetings all!
This week is one of the "Golden weeks" in China...a 3 day national holiday for their independence days, and most schools, banks, post offices etc are shut down for the entire week.  It's a beautiful time of year, so Rod and I went to Seoul, South Korea for the week.  We really enjoyed it!  It is only about 1.5 hour direct from Shenyang to Seoul.  We found Seoul to be a huge city (somewhere around 25 million people), and very clean.  The subway system there is just excellent...clean and orderly and easy to use.  We especially liked the shopping (retail therapy is always good for the soul!).  One of the nice things we found was a tailor who was able to take measurements one day and produce a new leather jacket..in 1 day!  Gotta love it!

The tailor and his wife and me with my new jacket in the Itaewon shopping district in Seoul, South Korea

We also did some of the touristy stuff, but mostly just enjoyed the city and a change of pace from Shenyang. 
Below are some pictures from our trip.

Rod and I went to a nice show  in Seoul...one of the performers came up to our table before the show and Rod snapped this cute photo!

One of the trips we took was to the De-militarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

The mountains in the background are North Korea...there is a line on the ground, in front of which, you cannot take photos...so all photos must be taken behind the line...and you can only see N. Korea and the barbed wire boundries clearly  from the observation point.   The mountains you see in the above picture are North Korea.  From the observation area (by the mounted binoculars,  on  a clear day like we had, you can see everything, including the flag poles on both sides.   I heard one person get told to remove his camera memory card  by the S. Korean military police for having his camera out taking pictures of North Korea...they meant business too...it wasn't just for show...so I stayed behind the line!

At one of the boundry areas, there are ribbons of messages left for family members on both sides for family members on the other side.  A tough way to live....and that is real barbed wire and concertina wire.

Seoul has some nice Buddhist temples, and we went to one that was near the hotel.

Sarah in front of the Maitreya Buddah ("The future buddha who vows to save sentient beings after the era of the original buddha).    This statue depicts Miatreya coming down to earth to save all those who are suffering" ) in Seoul , South Korean

Rod & Sarah in front of the Bongeunsa temple in Seoul South Korea

The creek at the Bongeunsa Temple, in Seoul, South Korea.  The presence of water is very important to Buddism in Korea.  The pond depicts one of the nice ponds with full blossoming lotus flowers in the paradise protected by another Buddha.

One of the faithful around noon on a Thursday at the Bongeunsa temple in Seoul, South Korea

The inside of the Bongeunsa temple in Seoul, South Korea.  I'm sure there is a significance to the 3 buddahs...but I don't know what it is...

So that is about it for this week's update.  We're back in Shenyang, relaxing and enjoying the crisp, sunny days of fall...before the big chill hits here in North Eastern China! 
Thank you for your continued prayers and emails...we love hearing from you all!

Sarah & Rod

1 Oct 2011: Chinese birthday party and Chinese National Anthem tuba solo

Greetings all,
It's already October 2011...before we know it it will be 2012...it's amazing how time goes by so quickly.  The weather is turning cooler here in Shenyang...just a taste of things to come in the winter.  Fall (all 4 days of it) is really nice here...clear sunny skies and nice temperatures...just wish it lasted a little longer!

As some of you know, yesterday was my birthday and I celebrated in high style at the insistence of my driver. He and several of his friends threw us a traditional Chinese birthday party.  I didn't know exactly what I was getting into...which of course made it that much more fun!  He took Rod and I to the restaurant and surprised us with the crowd of friends.  When we walked in, there was a big table with a cake surrounded by 51 candles...that I had to blow out of course!  They gave me 2 nice chinese painted vases and a wonderful dinner and to make sure Rod didn't get left out, they gave him a tie!  It's hard to describe the generosity.  Here are a few pictures...they don't do it justice, but you get the idea.  The beer and cigarettes were flowing freely...eat a little, smoke a little, drink alot.   Mr Sun, our driver,  Rod and I were the only ones drinking sprite and not smoking..but needless to say, we all got smoked up.  Despite all of that, the atmosphere was very festive and we all really enjoyed it and were overwhelmed by their generosity for us.

51 candles await...what a way to start my 51st year!

"wish Sarah the birthday is happy"

Sarah & Rod Miller at Sarah's 51st  Chinese birthday bash

Our driver is the man in the orange shirt...surrounding him are his friends and some classmates he's known since he was 4 years old.  All these people helped me celebrate my 51st birthday here in Shenyang

Sarah and Mr. Sun...my Mandarin has gotten to the point where I can actually have a basic conversation now!

A tradition is for the birthday person to eat long noodles and eggs...symbols for long life and health.

All the gang after the Chinese birthday party

We have had a nice easy day today...got packed up getting ready to go to South Korea tomorrow as we have the next week off for the Chinese National Day (3 day holiday + 2 days of vacation).  Rod played the Chinese National Anthem today in front of the Chinese flag (actually between the US and China flags) in front of the hotel.   Here's a video of his performance.

For as nationalistic as the Chinese are, it's a little strange that they don't pay alot of respect for their National Anthem...but I guess there are those in the US that don't pay alot of respect for ours either.

Rod Miller playing the Chinese National Anthem on 1 October 2011 in Shenyang, China

That's about it for now...more to come after our trip to Korea...another first for us together!
Hope everyone has a great week!

Sarah