Shenyang Team Miller: Dec 12, 2015 Family, trying times, happy times, adventures, Christmas wishes and everything in between!

Greetings again from Shenyang, China!

12 December 2015
Wow,
I look at my last post and it was in September talking about the summer of 2015...and now, here it is almost Christmas and I havn't written anything lately...I have such good intentions of keeping things up to date...but it seems I just get over come by events. So many things happen in our daily lives...things that seem so insignificant at the time turn out to be big deals...and things that seemed so important at the time, 5 years (or 5 weeks!) from now we can't even remember! I try to capture a little of both in this blog, and reading back on it some times, I think I'm successful. It's an experience of a life time. Many of our Expat friends have left are are leaving very soon... we're so happy they are back with their families, getting new houses, new jobs, finding the treasures that have been in storage etc..all things we have to look forward to one of these days. We miss them and are just a tad envious at times...but we get over it and stand strong!

This about sums it up for me! I'm not sure I was ever the 'dead dog' on the right...but one thing is for sure, every experience does make us stronger!

Family
In the past, I've spoken of my sister's and Rod's health so I'll start with an update on that.
My sister had the Pet scan and it confirmed 2 things...1) the tumors in her lymph system were no longer active (Yeah!!!). 2) the tumor in her rectum was still active.   She did alot of soul searching, researching and discussions with doctors and determined her best choice was to do the traditional US protocol of radiation and chemo. She started that on the Monday after Thanksgiving and is currently doing this. So far, so good. She is in so much better shape at this time than she was this time a year ago due to weight loss, a much cleaner lifestyle of eating and the Chinese medicine.
Rod is doing OK, he had another 'booster' treatment for 2 weeks in Beijing back in September..not 100% sure it was necessary looking back on things, but he got it and is none the worse for wear. His PSA is back low and his symptoms are 'normal', so we take that as a good sign. Both of these cases and many others around the world tell us time and time again, there is no magic cure for cancer.

The best way to cure cancer or any chronic disease is to avoid it...of course we would all love to do that...easy to say, not so obvious how to do! My personal plan is simple..1) eat clean (no wheat, no sweet, no red meat or poultry. 2)exercise daily 3) stay away from drugs/chemicals (unless absolutley necessary...an unfortunately here in China, I'm probably breathing more than I ingest :-(). Will my plan be enough...who knows? Rod and I both are now following this as our preventive plan. What can it hurt?!

Trying times, Happy times
I have had without a doubt some of the best things and the worst thing in my professional life in 2015. It has been a roller coaster. On the "best side", being the General Manager of the plant that I helped build, hire people, promote people etc has been a very rewarding experience. Of course it's not all wonderful..some tough decisions had to be made, but overall it has been good. On the flip side, I will say that the worst thing I have ever had to do in my professional life happened on the 25th of September, 2015. We had a death in the factory due to an industrial accident. As factory manager, I can assure you this is the worst thing that can happen in your professional life. Even if the cause was violation of 2 cardinal safety rules by the person that died...it doesn't change the fact for him or his family that he is dead, and as plant manager, it happened on my watch. Attending the funeral and facing his son and hearing and understanding the words he said to me will stay with me the rest of my life. Obviously, we went into accident investigation, root cause analysis, and significant prevention actions and we're still there. We have re-trained people, did many more safety awareness campaigns etc...I got word this week that the official report has been closed and archived in the Safety bureau. (equivalent for OSHA for my US readers).   It has reinforced to me once again that life is short. So, no matter what you do for a living, or even at home...take the time to think about the risks that you take before you do something (buckle your seat belt, don't cut off the ground prong on your electrical appliance to make it fit in an old plug, don't work on live electric circuits, don't stand on the top rung of a ladder etc...)
On the bright side, I've had the opportunity to lead a wonderful team. The new plant is ramping up in production as planned and the quality of our tires is just as good or better than any plant I've worked in. There is a "Can do" spirit at this plant that is hard to describe...no challenge too big! It really is professionally rewarding experience.  For example, as I've mentioned before, I get to do many things in the community with our employees!

The LIGHT (charitable organization who helps children with disabilities) Run , sponsored by Michelin

After 20 years of operation, The old plant was shut down in grand style, very professionally and without any disruption to our customers. After 20 years in operation, the plant had become engulfed by the city...so when you are in a country with the type of government like China...you when the government says you move...you move...and that's what happened for us. Personally, I cannot complain, it gave us an opportunity to come to China and do something that I doubt I'll ever get to do again...build a factory from the ground up! From a business perspective, it gave us an opportunity to build a state of the art factory that is helping us gain market share in China...and for the growth of Michelin world wide, it's a very important investment.

Sarah with some of the team from the New plant, all of whom worked at the old plant....all have memories and a part of their professional life there..very proud of them!

The Change of command ceremony...transferring the plant flag from the old plant to the new one

Sarah signing the last tire off of the production line of the old plant

Sarah giving the final speech for the transition from the old plant to the new plant

I also got to go to a school where some of our employees have volunteered to help the students..even some of our expat spouses had an English Corner where they taught kids english. We donated a library and reading area, stocked with new books. May sound old fashion to have hard back books, but one thing about a book...the battery never dies and the media doesn't change!

With some of the teachers at the school

In front of one of the shelves of the library...notice the tire trim on the shelves!

We were very pleased to host the Consul General of France at our plant and with the tragic events in Paris, we offered a condolences book. We have some very talented artists at the plant and one of them drew the design on the cover of this book...I was amazed at her talent and very proud to offer the book to him on behalf of all of our employees.

Sarah avec Monsieur Le Consul Generale de France a Shenyang

Nous Prions pour Paris

Michelin is a proud supporter of the International Club of Shenyang, and as such, Rodney and I were both happy to participate in the annual fund raiser for them. They support many good organizations that help children here in China. Rodney is the auctionneer in a live auction, and if you know Rodney, you know it's always a good time! He is the life of the party and makes it fun to spend money for the children! The club has alot of expat spouses, not only Michelin, but also BMW, Bombardier and several other participants.

Rodney at the raffle! Get your tickets now!

Sarah with Rod's Chinese teacher Summer

Rod calling a bid!

Sarah with Daniella...the President of the ICS club this year! Another Michelin spouse and wonderful lady!

Rod after the auction...a happy auctioneer...got the money!

Today, I got to cheer on our Michelin Shenyang badmitten team. It's the first time I've ever been in a building uniquely dedicated to badmitten! They do take their badmitten seriously. I played badmitten as a child with my mother and sisters, but nothing like what I saw today! I prefer to keep my old Kentucky memories of a fun peaceful badmitten country family game and not the killer instinct I saw today...so I don't intend to start playing again here, but very happy to preside over the first annual friendly competition in the industrial zone!

Sarah with Wang Xingwei...the Union President.


Sarah giving the opening speech at the badmitten tournament...Safety First! No birdie is worth a broken bone!

As Michelin is a French company, we needed to make sure that our Expats from France with children of school age were able to continue their studies. Since Shenyang did not offer a French school, we set one up (no simple task!). Last night they put on their end of the year program and I was happy to attend this special show. We have a very dedicated teaching and administrative staff who have helped the children have a 'normal' french school experience. The classes are small and several grades combined. It's been a wonderful experience getting to know the teachers and students of our employees.

Some of the students at the Michelin French school Doing the "popscicle dance" at the end of year show

All of the students of the Michelin French School singing a very special show at the end

Some of the little ones doing their part in the play

Our personal life continues to give us adventures!
For the 2nd time, we traveled to Yunnan to run the Qiubei trail marathon. Yunnan never disappoints! It is by far, our favorite province (so far!) It has clean air, beautiful scenery and very friendly people with beautiful native costumes.
As we walked around the town of Qiubei, we saw a procession...and we learned it was a funeral...very happy and gay funeral...singing and dancing, colorful etc...my type of affair!

Rod at the front of the Funeral procession in Qiubei

Carrying the body (we didn't know that at the the time we took the picture!) They were not sad...to the contrary...they were all singing, dancing and very eager to have a picture with the foreigners!

Rod with one group of dancers in the funeral in Qiubei

More dancers in the Yunnan funeral

Rod ran the 10k and I ran the 1/2 marathon...and we both had a big improvement over last year's results...mainly because Rod wasn't in the middle of cancer treatments this year, and neither one of us got lost this year!

After the race local celebration dance...everyone dances!

Rod and Sarah on the boat tour of the area day before the race

Beautiful Yunnan

More beautiful Yunnan!

Rod and Sarah after the race!

Beautiful Yunnan

Now, compare beautiful Yunnan above with the not so beautiful Shenyang below...it's not always this bad, but when it's bad...it's really bad...you can see why we love Yunnan! On days like this...if we get out...it's always nice to go to the Flower market and get some fresh air and eye candy!

Snow and pollution in Shenyang a few days ago...really bad day to breath

Orchids in Shenyang...inside and lots of them!

Orchid shopping in a fur coat...something strange about that!

Christmas wishes and gratitude
Well, as it's Christmas, I wanted to end up (and I know it's been a long post...I'm not even going to say I'll do better in the future...if it happens, it happens!), I wanted to say wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Rodney and I are both Christians and we make no apologies for that. If you are of another faith or belief, I wish you the best for your holiday.
Thanks for continuing to keep us in your thoughts and prayers...we're coming up on 6 years in China...it's been the longest we've lived in any area since we've been married...I would have never dreamed it would be Shenyang, China that would have that distinction...life takes us on strange turns and we are so blessed for it.
May God bless you all!

Rod and Sarah doing the "tree lighting ceremony" at the hotel where we live! No Christmas tree is complete without the Plasma ball to turn it on! Only in China!