5 September 2015
Greetings again from Northeast China,
Where did the summer go? I looked at my last post and it was back in May...and as I write this it's 5 September...I can't remember where the time went or what all I did that either made me too busy to write or the events were not memorable enough to write about..probably a combination of all of the above. I've tried to catch up in this post..and perhaps I should have split it all up...but I didn't, and I'm not going to redo it so, this post is long! If you are friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen some of these photos..I can't remember what I've posted where sometimes!
Several friends have ended their expatriation and gone back to their home countries..bittersweet..so happy they are going back home, yet I miss them here in Shenyang. When we first came here, we thought we would also be leaving this summer but thing changed..and we're OK with that...today!
My sister has completed a 2nd tour of cancer treatments in Beijing. After the 1st round of treatements, the PET scan showed some significant progress on the tumors, but that they were still active, so the Dr suggested she come back to China for a 2nd round. Before we knew all of that, we planned a trip to the US so she was here while we were there. Strange. She finished that back in July and is continuing to follow her nutrition plan (no wheat, no sweet, no meat) and losing weight (she has lost over 100 pounds now!). She needs to wait about another month before she gets the follow-up scan to see the results. We pray for good restults! She feels good, is working full time and is in the last year of a doctoral program...my sister... the over-achiever for life! When she over-achieves on the stage 4 rectal cancer it will be the ultimate overachievement! Go Trish! Love all of my 5 siblings and hope that we don't have to repeat the cancer treatment with any of the other ones or loved ones!
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| Patricia with the nurses at the Baofa cancer hospital in Beijing..she brought them some gifts from the US and that was a big hit! |
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| Sarah and Patricia do Beijing! So happy she felt good enough to get out in the city a bit this time! |
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| Sarah and Patricia on a walk at the hosptial...we affectionately call this place Pigshit alley...once you smell it, you'll know why! |
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| Rod, Sarah and Patricia at the Baofa hospital just before Patricia left to go back to the US. |
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| The Chinese Acrobat show in Beijing with Patricia..beautiful and amazing! |
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| Another scene from the Chinese Acrobat show in Beijing! |
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| The cast from the Beijing acrobat show at the end...such a nice outing with my sister! |
As I mentioned before, Rodney and I visited the US over the 4th of July (I think I've learned that it's better to visit and travel on non-holidays...neither in the US, neither in China...just 'normal days' are best to travel and visit!) We had a wonderful whirlwind trip together (Rod was there longer and visited even more states!)...for me, it went from KY, OH to SC in 10 days! Love seeing my family!
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| Granddaughter Olivia and Nana Sarah |
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| Daughter in love Rachael with Sarah in Louisville, KY, our 6 year old Olivia took this picture! |
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| Son Christopher, grand daughter Olivia, Rod and Sarah in Louisville, KY |
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| Niece Moriah and her horse..she loves him rode in the OH State fair this year! Very proud of her! |
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| Brother Bill, me (Sarah), Sister Mary Nell,cousin Jenny and Aunt Freda at Mary Nell's house for the 4th of July..so very nice, Thanks sis! |
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| Aunt Freda (My dad's sister) |
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| 2 of my nieces, Dawna (sister Becky's daughter) and Moriah (Mary Nell's daughter) |
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| Sisters Becky, Mary Nell, (her husband Bob in the background photo-bombing!) me (Sarah) and brother Bill...only missing Patricia (who was in China at the time) and Martha (who couldn't come up from Florida) Precious time with family! Thanks Mary Nell for hosting a wonderful 4th of July party at your house! |
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| Aunt Freda and cousin Jenny at my sister Mary Nell's house in OH |
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| Sarah and Rod together again in OH |
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| Visiting my Aunt Anna (my father's sister) in the nursing home in Ohio..sadly she didn't know us. She is a WWII vet as a nurse..very proud of her and so sad to see her living (if we can call it that) like this today. Thanks to my Aunt Freda and my cousins in the area, she has the best of care. Thanks Aunt Freda, Jeff, Martha and Jenny. |
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| Cousin Jeff always the center of attention with the girls! |
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| On to KY to see my Aunt Betty and Uncle John (my mothers brother) and their son John..my childhood idol and hero (and still is today!!) Love you Harm! |
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| Sarah and John Harmon...Two peas in a pod! |
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| Sarah and Rodney playing and picnicing by the creek in Bracken County, KY on a beautiful day, breathing fresh KY air! |
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| The Walcot Covered bridge in KY, not far from my home...this is "my Kentucky" Beautiful! |
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| Visiting the Lavender fields of Ky outside of Brooksville, KY, not far from where I grew up. A wonderful family farm that has transformed from tobacco to lavender..I loved it! For more information on this place, see the link below! Nice gift shop too! |
Lavender Fields of KY
After a quick trip to KY and OH, we ventured down to SC where we saw one of our dear friends in Greenville, then went to Myrtle Beach and visited the Alternative health clinic where we saw our friends and health practitioners to get a good detox and health booster before heading back to China.
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| Sarah, Glenda and Rodney at Glenda's home in SC |
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| Rod and Sarah at Myrtle beach, SC |
We came back to China together mid July and then it seems like it has been full blast ever since!
At the plant, we had several community involvement events including visiting an orphanage that we support. This was an emotional day...such cute kids. Instead of giving only money, this year we asked the orphange staff to get the wishes from the children and then we asked our employees to go shopping for the children to fulfill their wishes. I was so proud of our employees when they fulfilled the children's wishes and more and we were able to give the gifts. It was a very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon!
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| The kids opening up some of the gifts at the orphanage |
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| Legos are always a hit with kids! |
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| Sarah with one of the little girls are the orphanage |
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| One of the little boys at the orphanage...he was just too cute! |
Another commuity event we did was to plant trees here in Shenyang. This was the first time we had ever done this and it turns out, it was the first time many people in our plant had planted anything! It was hot and the dirt was hard...but we did it (and improved our plan for next year when I've already scheduled this for Spring!)
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| Sarah digging a rock hard hole for a big tree in Shenyang! |
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| With a few expat colleagues at a park where we planted trees in Shenyang. |
This past week, we had a special holiday (3 September, 2015) to commemorate the Victory over Japan in WWII (or the War of Japanese Agression as it is known here in China). It was a big deal for China and all the stops were pulled out for a big military parade in Beijing..alot of sabor rattling to show our US allies of Japan across the Sea of Japan that the Chinese are big and powerful. They honored some US veterans from WWII who were pilots from the Flying Tigers who "flew the hump" over Burma (today's Myanmar) to China to deliver food. It made the front page news here on the China Daily. I was very touched by the sentiment and even several Chinese told me "Thank you for helping us win over Japan in WWII". That was very special to me. For more on the big day here in China you can visit the english speaking state owned news website..lots of interesting pictures and articles:
China Daily
Even though I don't like the politics of the communist party of China..at all..I do admire the sense of national pride that China has been able to instill. I can't remember in my lifetime (almost 55 years!) any National military parade in Washington DC. I remember one in New York when the 1st Gulf War was over, but not any in Washington DC. We have had many different big marches and protests etc, but not a Government sponsored National display of pride. I do have pride in being American and I am proud to have served in the US military myself. I find it sad that our country seems to be losing our collective sense of Pride and patriotism and so focused on not offending anyone...the country that stands for nothing eventually does not stand at all. The Chinese children learn the patriotic songs in school. Do our US children still learn the US Patriotic songs like "This land is your land", "The Star Spangled banner", "The battle hymn of the Republic", "America the Beautiful" ? I don't know...but my sense is they don't..I think it's a shame..but that's an entirely different story!
On the 2nd of September, the day before this big holiday, I had my first big political meeting as site manager in my new job. I met with the head of the Teixi district in the morning. A district is like a borough in New York City, then in the afternoon, I met with the Mayor of Shenyang (with 8-10 million people depending on who you ask, it's equivalent of meeting the Mayor of New York City!). I wasn't alone..as I was with the head of Michelin China and some additional people and I was briefed before I met with these people that since I was not the senior person, I would not say anything in the official meetings..it was true. It was really a learning experience. I've never met with the Mayor of New York City, so I have no US reference...but I'll try to describe here my day:
It started with a ride to the head of the district office in a special van that had authorization to get through the gate and there I met the other members of the delegation. We discussed our topics then we went in. When promted, we went into a big cushy chair (think living room oversized apolstered chairs) filled room with a big round table (12 foot diameter minimum) and big dining room chairs around it. When the head of the district sat down, we sat down in specified places. The most senior (in terms of position, not age) Director of the district sat at the chair directly facing the door, and his translator sat to his right and our translator sat to his right and our most senior person sat beside her. I had met one of the government people before, and it was clear that that person had briefed the head honcho about me and my name was mentioned several times, so I smiled, laughed and made approving gestures. It was all incredibly polite even though we talked through some touchy subjects...money is always touchy! After we finished this meeting, we left and went to lunch with our team, and discussed the results of the 1st meeting and preparing for the one with the mayor to come in the afternoon.
We had a meeting scheduled at 2:00 and again, we arrived in our van that had been cleared to enter. We arrived in lobby and were met by a special representative (slim-beautiful-impecably dressed in a nice business suit- high healed shoes wearing-english speaking- woman!) who escorted us into the 'waiting room". Before entering the room, I noticed a big electronic board with a number and a time and was told that our meeting with the Mayor would be at 2:10...up to the minute scheduling! (I think I might need one of those boards outside my office!) . While there in the waiting room (a room similar to the one where we had the official meeting in the morning with big cushy chairs and a larger than life round table and same seating arrangements) , we met the communist party secretary for the district guy we visiting in the morning. I've been here for 5 years and I still don't fully understand their system...but the simple explanation is that for most every 'leadership' role there is in parallel a communist party position ..and the communist party position always out ranks the official position role! I had met this guy before and he remembered me and we exchanged approving smiles and gestures. From what I understand, this level person is my normal contact...I would not normally meet alone with the Mayor (that level is expected to be for my boss's boss) but I am expected to meet alone with the district person (or communist party person) if the need arrises. Before long, it was 2:05 and the beautiful lady from before came into the room and gestured it was time for us to meet the mayor. We went into a room that I'll try by best to describe. It was like a grand hall with a bright lights and probably 50 feet long x 30 feet wide with 2 cushy chairs to the left of the doors in one end and forming a U, some additional cushy chairs down each side (not against the wall, but in a straight line). The 2 chairs at the end had a lamp table between then and had microphones for the speakers and two translator chairs behind them. Each chair had large name plaques and it was obvious that these 2 chairs were for the speakers (our head guy and the mayor). The mayor sat on the left and our guy sat on the right. All of the mayors 'people' sat on the left line and all of us sat on the right side. On each of our chairs there was a paper name card showing who was whom and their positions (in english) and I'm sure on their side they had the same info one all of us on their card. I felt like I was sitting in a United Nations meeting with translators and all of the pomp and circumstances. No business cards were exchanged at the beginning...all of that was done at the end. I was briefed on that, so I didn't make any faux pas of etiquette. The guy who met us in the waiting room was also in the meeting and it was obvious that he had briefed everyone on the Mayor's side about the contents of the morning and meeting before the meeting contents. Again, my name was mentioned and again I nodded and smiled and did not talk...I nodded and smiled when required! At the end of the meeting, my boss invited the Mayor to visit the plant and of course I said with pleasure...so that will be an experience to organize that...at some point in the future! We all got up, had the photo's taken by the Mayor's photographer (No I don't have this photo yet!) and exchanged business cards, shook hands and were wisked away by the beautiful lady into the elevator. I was still blown away by the whole experience! We discussed our next steps, I took my visitors to the airport and that was that! I came home and tried to reflect on the entire day, and I'm writing about it now so as not to forget it! It's a pity I couldn't take photos, but it wasn't allowed. I've tried my best to recreate the experience in words, but it always seems to fall short. I learned alot from the entire experience!
So, with that, I end this post here in China..wishing all of you in the US a wonderful labor day weekend and for my other friends around the world, a wonderful normal weekend!
Sarah & Rodney
