Happy Chinese New year 2017! The First day of the Rooster new year is here!
As usual, the Chinese New Year is a big deal here in China and at the plant with our annual meeting and show. The talent show...with my almost 30 years of experience with Michelin, this is a phenomenon that is unique to China! After all of the business is done and the last video or PowerPoint presentation is finished, then we go into stage show production mode. Our employees really look forward to this meeting (can you believe it?..who among us looks forward to a meeting?)
It's true! This is one meeting they don't want to miss. People volunteer months in advance to perform something..singing, dancing, magic show, combination sing/dance etc. They rehearse on their own time, rent costumes with the financial assistance of the union all in order to entertain their colleagues t this one special time of the year. It is quite special! About 3 years ago, I was talked into singing a song and I challenged myself to sing in Chinese...tough but I did it. Now, it has become an expectation...so this year, someone helped me pick out a very meaningful and popular song with the title "I wish you peace". In the past, I have learned to say the words, but didn't really know the meaning...this year, with my increased study of Chinese, I learned the meaning and of course that made the words easier to remember and put some feeling into the song. I had one small condition this year and that was that the entire management staff must get on stage with me...so this put into action a whole different level of performance...I sang and my direction team danced with the Chinese red lanterns and the highlight of the show was they surrounded me with their lanterns and formed a heart as I sung the words "I wish you peace". It may sound hokey pokey, but it was really touching to me and the audience.
At the same time of the singing and dancing, they organized a video that combined many of the safety events and training we did at the plant in 2016 and played it in the background on a huge screen. I had never seen this video playing in the background until I saw the recording of our performance. Below is a video of the performance taken by someone on the audience. I don't know exactly how long we will be staying in China, but I have a feeling this show will be hard to top...
Here are a few photos of the business meeting...words and even pictures do not do it justice!
We use a community building for our annual meeting...good price, good seats and good stage.
Sarah doing her speech in Chinese...first time ever...I had to read it, but I did it! My goal is to be able say a speech from the heart...I still have alot of improvement to make...
Even in the business meeting, we have fun. This is a picture of part of a home-made video with a caricature of me and one of the operations manager at the plant. Pretty amazing I think!
Sarah with the Plant Safety Committee
Sarah speaking at the meeting (Probably still in Chinese...I didn't hold cheat sheets for the other portions of the meeting!)
As mentioned earlier, after the business meeting was over a whole new portion happens... below are just a few pictures of the show!
2017 Show some of the Site Services team
My assistant Meng Jie is the beautiful lady with her hand on her hip
The plant Purchasing manager and Finance Manager also get into the act
All of the performers together on stage at the end
The General Manager is also a musician/entertainer..secret it out now! Thank you God, Mom and Dad for the gift of music and the courage to perform
Sarah surrounded by the plant direction team singing "I wish you Peace" in Chinese
https://youtu.be/yiV3BS2AGcw.
I hope the video comes out...if not, try the link to my Youtube page (my first attempt at this! ) And if that doesn't work well, next time I see you I can play it for you on my phone!
After the annual meeting, I still worked some days before taking off for the National days of travel in China that surround the Chinese New Year! Rod read in the newspaper that over 3 billion trips would be taken this year...it really is amazing! The plane/train tickets are much higher at this time, and there is a mass of people, so we have found it's just better to stay home! On Chinese New Year's Eve day, we went to spend time with our Chinese family friends and had a lovely dinner and exchanged gifts. It is tradition in China that close friends and family exchange "Hong Bao" (Red envelope filled with money) and eat dumplings at midnight (the first and last meal of the years) and set off lots of fire crackers to drive the evil spirits away on this day. We typically don't stay up for eating dumplings or shoot off a lot of fire crackers, but we do give the Red envelopes. This year for the first time ever, our Chinese family prepared a "Hong Bao" for each of us...it was so special! They wanted us to have the experience of a real HongBao even though they cannot afford to share a lot, they shared so much. I will always remember my first "Hong Bao" in China to celebrate the year of the Rooster with the Zuo family in Shenyang.
Rod with his Hongbao
Zuo Min (Daisy) and Rod at the Zuo's home for Chinese New year 2017...the year of the Rooster
Sarah with her Hongbao and "Mama" Zuo
Sarah with "Baba" Zuo. The hand gesture is the number "6"..it's popular this year!
Rod and Sarah getting ready to eat the Hot pot stew and share our New Years eve day together with the Zuos
Baba showing off his scarf and Mama in the background
Rod having fun delivering the gifts!
Daisy showing us how to use the incense burner set they got us
So, it's another Chinese New Year come and gone...we will continue to relax and enjoy our time together and we thank God for all of our blessings and faithful friends and family as we start another year here.
Blessings to you all until next time!
Sarah and Rod in Shenyang, China
8 Jan 2017
First let me start by wishing everyone a very happy new year for 2017, filled with good health and many successes both personally and professionally! (Since I didn't get around to writing a Christmas note for 2016!) 2017..it's hard to imagine that 20 years ago, we were getting ready to move to France...20 years...just doesn't seem possible! Since then, we've lived in France, Romania, US and now China for almost 7 years! I never dreamed that growing up on a farm just outside of Germantown, KY, USA (population 300) that I would marry a wonderful man and we would have this international life, but here we are!
For 2016, we spent our Christmas holiday in Hawaii with son's Chris and Matthew and their families. This entry is about this vacation...so if you are looking for China photos, skip this blog...however, if you are looking for some beautiful Hawaii pictures, keep going!
Rod and I went to Hawaii a few days early to get some tours set up and also just relax and get into vacation mode! It worked!
Hawaii sunset from our hotel balcony
Hawaii...just the way we like it!
Hawaii sunrise on Diamond Head road
The Light house at Diamond head
Rod and Sarah at the Royal Hawaiian under the pink umbrellas..our preferred hotel at Waikiki. She's an old one, right on the beach and just perfect for us!
Rod relaxing on the balcony of our room...ahhh... no bugs, cool ocean breeze...paradise!
We picked up everyone at the airport, and then the family fun began!! Below are just a few of the Christmas celebrations and sight seeing photos together. A Christmas that will go down in our collective memories for a lifetime!
Nana Sarah picking up Olivia at the airport with a fresh lei
Matthew, Rodney and Christopher at the airport
Rod and Olivia catching up on the bananaphones
Sarah and Matthew sightseeing
One of the beautiful bays in Hawaii
Beautiful Hawaii
Sarah, Matthew, April and Rod at one of the bay's in Hawaii
The blow hole on Ohau
One of the banyan trees on Waikiki beach..I loved how the sun came through and looked like a heart in the tree!
Getting ready to go to the Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor
The Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor
Christopher, Olivia and Rachael on the Arizona
April and Matthew on the Arizona
The US flag still flies proudly over the Arizona. The Flagpole is the only item on the memorial that actually touches the sunken ship below.
Rod and Sarah at the base of the flagpole on the Arizona
The oil still seeps from the ship below. Some people say that when looking at the oil in the water, you can see faces of the sailors below.
Nana Sarah giving Olivia her first US National Park passport and stamp for the Arizona...hopefully we can visit many more National parks together!
Grandpa getting beat in Checkers, trying to distract Olivia with an important phone call!
Christmas morning in the hotel lobby for gift exchange! That is a first! Rod and Matthew looking at their stuff!
Olivia and Rachael with their gifts
Sarah and Christopher with their gifts
Olivia and Grandpa and Nana Sarah with their gifts
April looking pretty on Christmas morning
Rachael looking pretty on Christmas morning too!
Matthew looking handsome on Christmas morning
Nana Sarah with Olivia on Christmas morning
Sarah and Rod on the bus to see the Honolulu Christmas lights!
Santa and Mrs Claus hanging 10 in Honolulu
Olivia and Grandpa seeing the lights together
Matthew and April under the Christmas tree in Honolulu
Nana Sarah with Olivia in Hawaii
Olivia and Rachael with the Christmas lights in Honolulu
Midnight mass at the St Augustine Church on Waikiki.
The best part of the mass was listening to the Hawaiian Choir
April and Matthew at the Royal Hawaiian getting ready for brunch
Rachael, Olivia and Christopher getting ready for Brunch at the Royal Hawaiian
Sarah and Rodney getting ready for a wonderful brunch at the Royal Hawaiian for Christmas
The view from the Royal Hawaiian lobby...ahhh!
At the Dole Plantation, Matthew having fun with April (of course she doesn't know what he's doing!)
Olivia with a sea turtle on the north Shore with grandpa trying to get that perfect shot!
Playing on the beach at the North Shore
Eating shrimp on the North Shore
A Monk Seal (only found in Hawaii)...the way most of us felt after eating the big brunch on Christmas day!)
One of the high mountain passes ..very windy!
Grandpa holding onto Olivia so she doesn't fly away!
April and Matthew firmly on the ground!
Sarah with her new hat and feather lei in Hawaii
The farewell at the airport :-(
Rod and I stay a couple more days after everyone else left and took in a few more sights and relaxed. We had to fix a airline ticket problem due to a reroute (note, if you are traveling international, I do not recommend using Expedia...no help!)
Another sunrise on Diamond head road...where I took my almost daily exercise path
A nice way to relax after a good morning walk..Breakfast at Duke's!
Rod and Sarah getting ready to go on the opendoor helicopter
Waikik beach (the pink building is the Royal Hawaiian hotel)
Inside Diamond head
Punchbowl National Cemetery
The pineapple maze at Dole Plantation
One of the beautiful mountain passes...pretty even in the rain!
Beautiful Hawaii seen from the helicopter
The USS Arizona on the bottom of Pearl Harbor with the memorial now on top. May they rest in peace
This video is taken from the same perspective that the Japanese bombers took when they did the bombing. Sobering. It's raining, so the view is not perfect, but you can get the idea.
Selfie in the helicopter! No, I am not a pilot..I got lucky and got to be in the co-pilot seat! Highly recommend!
So, that about does it for our 2016 Hawaiian family vacation! We had some professional pictures taken too...but that will have to wait as they are not uploaded yet! Other than an unplanned reroute due to flight cancellation for our return, it all went according to plan. Makes us all remember, don't sweat the small stuff...and it's all small stuff!
We don't know what tomorrow will bring. We wanted to have a family vacation together...our first time ever and I believe we can all say it was a wonderful success. We are very blessed and with this note, again, I wish everyone much health and happiness in 2017! As the Chinese saying goes" Attitude decides everything"! Let's make it a great year!
