22 August 2010: Rod's grocery shopping finds and Venice, Italy!

21 August 2010

Greeting all from wet & rain-soaked China,

I spoke last week about the landslide and flooding here in China and as you may have seen in the news it has continued.  God bless these families.  To my surprise today, watching CNN, I heard the Liaoning Province (like a state in the US) mentioned showing pictures of flooding over by the North Korean border.  I can assure you that while it's rained a lot here today in Shenyang, there are no mountains in view from which mud can slide...and even though we drove through some backed up water today going to the grocery, I don't think there is any risk of us washing away!  I do admit though that it is getting closer to home when you see your Province's name on CNN!  

This week has been relatively quiet!  Rod has started Chinese lessons, and I'm continuing them.  I've gotten kind of excited about starting to learn the characters.  The stories behind some of them is fascinating.  Some have evolved from the ancient scripts and graphics  like the one I try to show below for early morning.  Others have their meanings in myth and legends, others are strictly for pronunciation.  There is an order and direction in which to draw the lines (typical top to bottom from left to right).  I don't know many characters yet, but I now believe that they are possible to learn (which of course is the 1st step!)

OK, I'm really in the basic level..not even kindergarden, but it's a start! (And I did this from memory..not looking at my notes or anything!)

Otherwise, as you have seen in some of the other updates, shopping for food is always an adventure.  Rod does all of the shopping here, so he typically gets to see all the "weird stuff", (live turtles, fried duck carcasses, fried duck bills,  fish getting whacked in front of your eyes in the seafood section of your friendly grocer etc)  unless of course he waits to go on the weekend!  This week, he saw some interesting food in "your frozen food section" which is relatively tame by Chinese "weird" standards...he said he was afraid they wouldn't have it when he went back and he didn't have a camera, so he bought some.  I'll let you read the "fine food" label yourself..interesting they put the contents in English too!  Now who out there is secretly importing this stuff?  He did assure me that we weren't having any of this...he'll "regift" to one of our Chinese friends!

Rod's interesting find in the local grocery store frozen food section!

The other event that happened this week was Chinese Valentines day called "Qi Xi" which means  Double Seventh because it occurs on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month.  There's a legend about two lovers being separated and who could only meet each other on this day.  There's evidence that this special day has been around since  the Han Dynasty (206BC - AD220)...now that's a long time to keep track of a legend!  Rod and I didn't observe it...mainly because we didn't know about it until it was over...that's one for me to remember next year!

That's about all for China...now, back to vacation and Venice!  

I took a bazillion photos in Venice...but I've limited myself to just 3 to not do the "travel log" too much!  One of the obligatory things to do in Venice is to take a Gondola ride...and we did it early evening so that it wouldn't be so blazing hot!  

The Goldola drivers in Venice have to take a test and get a license to drive around Venice, and of course if they want to earn a tip, they have to be a good photographer!

The architecture in Venice is quite amazing...of course when you have water at your foundation and buildings that have been around for ages, and a city on water is a main tourist draw,  the Architectural Review board for any changes is quite powerful..consequently, it's beautifully preserved.    It is a very romantic place, but be warned...there is almost no place to sit down...unless you want to eat or drink...and the restaurants know all you really want to do is sit down...so they really hike the prices for everything in the big tourists areas...we saw an 8.00 euro Coke on the menu at St Marco's square...so we kept walking instead of sitting!

A view from one of the many pedestrian bridges in Venice, Italy...definitely NOT a handicapped accessible town!

 Of course, no spot is complete without a stop to the gift shops!

Well, that's about it for us.  Hope all is well with you all and thanks again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!  The adventure continues...next time, the Swiss Alps and the Bernina Express train across the Alps  For those of you who mentioned that your images of the Alps was more like the movie "Heidi"...you'll be right at home in the next update!

Sarah & Rodney

15 August 2010: Michelin construction site at the beginning, European vacation excerpts

15 August 2010

Greeting all,

I hope this note finds you all well.  Today here in China, it is a national day of mourning for the landslide victims in Zhouqu.  The flags are flying at 1/2 mast and many ceremonies around the country.  On the national TV stations, they have been showing many poignant pictures of the area with over 1200 people confirmed dead and another 500+ still missing.  Please keep these people in your prayers. I have thanked God all day that we were not personally affected, but my heart has been heavy none-the-less.

It's tough to be light-hearted after typing something like that, but I'm going to try.

This past week has been very nice at work...most of the people who keep my e-mail box full at work are still on vacation...so I've actually had some time to try to catch up, moving into a new office and try to get settled back in after being gone for so long.  I also took the opportunity to go to the site where our new factory will be.  There is nothing there yet except a banner announcing that Michelin will build here.  See below are some photos:

Banner announcing Michelin's arrival in a new industrial park in Shenyang, China

Sarah Miller and Jonathan Huang standing in front of the site.

Otherwise, to continue a few snipits from our European vacation...in my last note, I stopped in Theirs, France.  We left from there and took the train to Zurich, Switzerland (via Lyon, France and Bern, Switzerland).  We ended up our Vacation in Zurich, so the goal in going there at the beginning was to dump luggage!  I had all of my "work clothes" and didn't want to lug them around, so we re-packed and left all the work clothes behind and then went to Innsbruck, Austria (home of one of the Winter Olympics in the 70s").  

We went up into the Alps there (read, we took a train...no we didn't do any climbing!) and, it was stunning..

Austrian Alps

One of the other things we did was to visit a Bell foundry, we just happened upon this place while riding on one of the city busses.  This foundry has been continuously operating since 1599 in the same family!  It was interesting to visit the museum beside the plant, learn about the different methods of tuning the bells, who their customers are today (mostly carillons in churches or large city parks) and see them work to "move 'em out".  The part of the museum outside the plant had a lot of old bells from "days gone by" (I figured probably some scrap bells!) was also an interesting place to see some of the past come to life.

The Bell Foundry in Innsbruck, Austria

After Austria, we went to Venice, Italy...now that deserves enough room to show some beautiful pics...ah...Venice!

Take care to all, and thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers!

5-7 August 2010: Rod's 4th of July in China and European Vacation excerpts

5 August, 2010

Greetings all,

Just a quick note to let you know we’ve arrived back home, safe and sound here in Shenyang, China.  As you may recall by the last update, Sarah was working in Clermont-Ferrand, France on passing an important milestone for her project since the 19th of June and Rod joined her there on the 11th of July.  On the 19th of July, we started a “train vacation” going through parts of France, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, flying out to China on the 3rd of August, arriving here in Shenyang on the 4th in the afternoon.

You've probably heard about the devastating flooding on the news.  From what we can tell, that's all in the South of China and nowhere near us.  Of course we're thankful for this, but we keep those families in our prayers.

I'll dose in some pic’s and stories from July in coming updates when I get them downloaded onto my computer, but for now, I just wanted to let you know we arrived!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers as we traveled, and continue in our adventures here!

Sarah & Rod

7 August 2010

Greetings all and Happy Saturday!

As I write this the sun is getting low in the afternoon sky here in Shenyang, and for most everyone on this list, the sun is just starting over the horizon in the morning!  

We're still not quite adjusted to the time change yet (after being up at 2:30am-4:30am and going back to bed, we slept until 10:00am...unheard of for us!), but we're slowly getting back into our little world here.

It's been since June that I actually wrote an update, so I'm going to go back in time to July 4th! For those of you on Facebook, you may recall that I was in France, worked as usual, but Rod was with me by the 14th of July and we had a nice day off together.  Here in Shenyang on the 4th of July, Rod was his American Patriot self and, true to form, he got out his tenor tuba and stood at attention outside the IC hotel and under the Chinese flag in the shadow of the biggest Mao statue in the world, played the US National Anthem perfectly to a small crowd of curious Chinese and some fellow Americans!  One of our American friends took his picture as I show below!  I was and still am very proud of him and grateful for his service to our country!

Rod Playing the Star Spangled Banner in Shenyang China on the 4th of July 2010  in front of our home, the Intercontinental Hotel, standing under the Chinese and US Flags

After Rod joined me in France, I had to work for a few more days in Clermont.  As many of you know, I work for Michelin, and Clermont-Ferrand, France is the world-wide headquarters for them.  While he was in Clermont, he did some exploring on his own and took a few pictures around town.  I go there quite often, so it's not noteworthy for me, but I have to admit, I was very pleased he took some pictures.  I don't think I've ever taken any and so I'm pleased to share them.

Center of town "Place de Jaude" in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Last year, Michelin created a very nice museum in Clermont.  They had always had a small one, but it was difficult to access.  Now, they have a 1st class place and for those of you on this list who will have the occasion to go to "Adventure Michelin", do it...it's well worth 2-3 hours to see the history and evolution of the company over the past 100+ years.  One of the highlights of the museum is the "Micheline, a train that rode on tires".  It was inspired by a rough train ride.  One of these trains still runs in Madagascar (almost reason enough for me to go there to see it...in addition to the interesting wildlife!)

Rod standing in front of a restored "Micheline" train in the Michelin museum in Clermont-Ferrand, France

For those of you who are interested in the history of Michelin, check out the following link:

http://www.aventure-michelin.com/

As of the 19th of July we were on vacation!  As I said in my last mail, we took a train tour through parts of Europe.  Several of you have said you'd like to hear the tales and see pictures of our vacation, so I'll include some in this and future updates.  

Our trip started when we went to Thiers, France on a mission (my mission, not necessarily Rod's!) to get some cutlery for our apartment in China.  Thiers is known for their knives and we went there several years ago when we lived in France. We didn't have a car, so we took the bus from Clermont (about 1 hour away) and shopped around the knife stores in search of a set that would go with a set I bought 13 years ago that was now of course, in storage! (I knew that would be an impossibility, but still held out hope!).  Found the pattern and they still made the knives, but not the forks and spoons...so we ended up buying a different set.  It was made there in Thiers and so I was happy.  Rod reminded me I could have bought 10 sets in China for the price of that one...but he had to admit the quality was not comparable either!   Thiers is a small town, and, like may French towns, it's built on a hill with the Church in the center. On of the things that is so beautiful about most any town in France is the flowers!  They have the beautiful hanging geraniums everywhere!

A typical building in Thiers, France on a Friday afternoon.  The window boxes with the flowers are just beautiful,and what a nice place to put a bench!

So, that's about it for this update...I went to work for a little while on Friday just to reacquaint myself !  I'll go back on Monday and I'll be in China for a little while now...at least until mid September!

Thanks for your prayers for safe travels...we really enjoyed our trip, but we're glad to be back home!

Sarah & Rod

20 June 2010: Hair cut, buys at the dirt market and our new friend Daisy

20 June 2010 China Update

It's sunny, warm and very pleasant here today.  Since having a mid-week holiday, and knowing that I'll be flying out tomorrow evening to go to France, we didn't want to do anything big, so we have rested and relaxed!  

Yesterday, my big deal was going to get my hair cut.  One of the tough things about moving is you have to get new hair care, new doctors, new dentists...all of the personal care items.  So far, I haven't needed the Doctor, and I still plan on using a US dentist on trips back...but I had to get a new hair dresser.  Around the corner from the hotel, there is a hair place, so I decided to go..with Rod's prodding!  I went in, they greeted me, told me the price (68 Yuan...about $10.00) for a wash, cut and style.  I said OK, and this young man (looked like he couldn't have been over 14 to me!) took me back to was my hair.  The room was filled full of recliner spa type chairs with hair bowls attached.  I laid back, and he got my hair wet, shampooed it and gave me about a 15 minute scalp and neck message..I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  I came out of my trance and went to get my hair cut by another older man.  I'm guessing the young guy is an apprentice because he watched the entire time as the other man cut my hair.  Neither one spoke english...so I had to show how much I wanted off with my fingers...I'm not exactly thrilled with the look, but, one thing about hair...it will grow out!  Not really great...but here's a picture anyway!

Today, we went to the flea market and looked around and ended up buying several decorative items to put in the apartment.  Rod made friends a few weeks ago with a young girl who speaks english and he bought a nice piece of petrified wood from her...there is a forest of petrified wood in her home town and she brings it to Shenyang to sell at the flea market.    We also bought from another guy a bronze cloisonné bowl and a "singing bowl".  The cloisonne bowl looks old, but I'm not sure it is...I really don't trust anything to be authentic...I'm sure they see the foreigners coming from a mile away and see $$ in their pockets.  It's amazing how much they will start off asking..and how much you can actually buy for.  The singing bowl is common here..you hit it and it reverberates like a bell, then you rub it on the edge with a wooden stick and it will really reverberate and get a lot of harmonics going to "sing".  

"Daisy" (her english name) and her mother in front of their flea market store with a few pieces of petrified wood on the table in the background

Bronze cloisonne bowl with dragon handles, a piece of petrified wood and the singing bowl.

A ceramic figurine of a baby human riding a baby dragon, and a cloisonné pot.  This pot is not old, but I liked it!

I'm not sure any of this stuff will end up in my decorating scheme in the US when we return..but I figure we'll be here for awhile, so we might as well have something interesting in our apartment!

I"m not sure what I'll do for updates for the next month and a half...it's possible, nothing...it's possible something.  It depends on whether or not I'll take my computer.  For those of you on FB, I'll see you there for sure...for those not on FB...it could be mid August before my next note.  

Thank you all for your emails...keep us in your prayers as we travel.

Sarah

16 June 2010: Dragon Boat Days and the Imperial Palace in Shenyang

16 June 2010 China Update

Hello everyone!  Happy  "Dragon Boat Day"...don't know about Dragon boats?  Neither did we before we moved to China!

It was a national holiday here on Wednesday and Rod and I took some time off to see another sight here in Shenyang.  Before I get to that, here is something I got off the internet about the Dragon boat festival. 

"The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in the shape of dragons. Competing teams row their boats forward to a drumbeat racing to reach the finish end first.

The boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival are traditional customs to attempts to rescue the patriotic poet Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. Chinese citizens now throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water.  Therefore the fish could eat the rice rather than the hero poet. This later on turned into the custom of eating tzungtzu and rice dumplings.

 

The celebration's is a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year. It is done so by different practices such as hanging healthy herbs on the front door, drinking nutritious concoctions, and displaying portraits of evil's nemesis, Chung Kuei. If one manages to stand an egg on it's end at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year will be a lucky one."

Rod and I didn't see the dragon boat races  here in Shenyang, instead we went to the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City).  This Forbidden city is only slightly smaller than the one in Beijing and is in really good shape for it's age...Some of these buildings have been around since the early 1700's and many of the artifacts on display were around in the 1300's.  It's amazing!

This is Rodney and Sarah in front of the Royal throne building in the main coutryard.  The entire complex is probably at least 100 buildings, all very traditional architecture.

Here is a close up of one of the roof lines...I always like the little figurines on the roofs, and also the little end caps on the ends of the tiles.

Close up of the roof line at the imperial city in Shenyang, notice the dragon rain spout and the end caps on the roof tiles.

At the Palace, there was a place where you could pay a few Yuan and get the traditional dress costumes...I'm sure none would have fit me, but I did get some good pictures of some of the Chinese visitors getting into them as you'll see below.  The little girl only has the hat, but I thought she was adorable, so I took her picture!

Little Chinese girl at the Imperial Palace with her hat                                                                                                           

Chinese woman on "Dragon boat day" at the Imperial Palace in Shenyang, China

Sarah with a little boy in traditional dress...

Back to work tomorrow!  Have a great "rest of the week" everyone!

Sarah

13 June 2010: Shanghai expo, Pearl shopping and the Bund

13 June 2010 China Update

Greetings all,

This has been an cram-packed week.  I had 1 day in Shenyang at work, then I had to go to Shanghai for a series of meetings.  Rod went to Shanghai with me and we took the opportunity to see some sights! 

As you may recall from one of my first entries in the blog, I found a pearl market in Shanghai...so of course I had to go back (and this time take Rod!)  Here are a few pictures of pearls at the market!

 The lady at the market, stringing pearls.

 Rod walked me to the Michelin offices (the tall buildings in the background) and we took photos beside the hotel in Shanghai.  Shanghai weather seems to be alot like Columbia, SC...hot.  In addition, it rains alot!

 As you probably know, 2010 is the year of the world Expo and this year it is being held in Shanghai, China.  The expo is an event that lasts for about 6 months and gives each country a chance to showcase themselves.  This year, the theme for the expo is "Better City, Better life" and is all about sustainable development and living green.  Michelin is a major corporate sponsor of the French pavilion and plays a part in the overall pavilion experience.  I was able to attend the expo and I can tell you, it was huge!  They have been experiencing over half a million visitors per day...over 2.5 square miles is the area of this expo.  The lines were long..(thankfully, since Michelin was a sponsor of the pavilion, we got a VIP entry to the French and Monoco pavilions).  Rod chose not to go to the expo..too many people...and too many long lines!

 Just entering the China Expo with some Michelin colleagues

 Sarah and Mr. Bib

 The French Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo.   The vertical green garden is a reference to the classic french gardens, but instead of taking up a lot of space, it is all vertical!

The Great Britain pavillion at the expo

 I didn't take a photo the USA pavillion...it wasn't very pretty to me...looked like a huge oil storage tank! (This was at the same time as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico too...)

The biggest attraction at the expo was the Chinese pavilion...1 huge building where each province of the country had a mini pavilion inside this big building. 

The Chinese pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai expo

The Tibet area inside the Chinese Pavilion

The Inner Mongolia area inside the Chinese Pavillion

After the expo, I came back to the hotel and rested my weary feet!  The next day, Rod and I went to downtown Shanghai to an area called "the Bund".  It's a nice riverside walkway with a lot of skyscrapers on the opposite side of the river and one of the iconic landmarks of Shanghai, the Pearl TV tower. Interesting during the day, but spectacular at night!

 Rod on "The Bund" with the giant pearl behind him

We came back to Shenyang this morning and I'm glad to be back home!  On the taxi ride to the airport, I saw something I'm not sure I'll ever see again...unfortunately I couldn't get my camera out in time to get proof...we saw a moped on the interstate highway with 3 slaughtered, skinned hogs strapped to the back...the driver cruising down the highway just as normal as possible..no plastic, no covering...just naked, skinned hogs on a moped going to some "open air" market...I think it will be awhile before I can top that!

 I've got a busy week this week, then next Monday, I'll fly back out to France and I'll be there for a month preparing for some important meetings on the project I'm leading here in China.  Rod will join me mid July, and we'll take a few days of vacation.  I'll write another update next weekend, then I'm not sure when the next one will be..haven't decided yet if I'm going to take my personal computer with me or not.  

Hope you all are having a great summer!  Keep those emails coming!!

Sarah

4 June 2010: A Chinese Wedding

4 June 2010

Sarah’s China Update emails

Greetings all,

Hope this note finds you all well!   It's sunny and warm (borderline hot) here in Shenyang...it seems like it went from Winter to Summer almost over night.  People told us that Spring didn't last long...and they were right!  The town is putting out a lot of petunias, salvias and marigolds and most of the time, they look pretty good!

Last weekend, Rod and I were invited to a wedding for one of my colleagues at Michelin,  so of course we went!   A warning up front to the men on this list...this could really be a "chick flick" note...so if you're not really interested in weddings...you might want to stop here.  I will say that a Chinese wedding is different than a Western one...so go ahead...get in touch with your feminine side and read on!

The wedding was at a hotel ballroom and the invitation said to be there at 9:30am, so like the punctual Americans we are, we were there!  We were shown the way to the ballroom and were seated at the front table.  The room was set up with a large aisle down the center with a table and flower arch in the back of the room and a small stage in the front of the room.  People were dressed very casually and there was lots of talking, visiting, eating, smoking, drinking etc going on for about an hour.  At the same time the bride and groom showed up, there was a master of ceremonies all decked out on a pink sequined coat, giving the play by play at about 500db!  The bride and groom entered together in the back of the room and poured champagne for each other, then the walked down the aisle with rose petals being showered upon them.  There was a large inflatable ball type thing they entered and said what I guess was their vows (commented all along by the MC...still at 500db!). This ball thing also served as a projection screen for the slideshow of photos during their time together as a couple.  Then, they came out and the ball deflated and they were introduced to the crowd (to the tune of Star wars!) .  After the vows, the parents of the bride and groom came up and each made a small speech and drank some wine together.  Then, the employer supervisor of the bride and groom each went to the stage to give a speech.  In our bride's case, it was a French man who tried his best to read a note he had written, and had translated into Chinese...what an order!  Anyway, most importantly, she was a beautiful bride and she and her new husband walked down the aisle smiling and waving out the back of the room.  Then the food came out..and kept coming!  There were so many plates of food, they just stacked them on top of each other, leaving a big heaping pile in the center of the table..if you really liked what was brought out first...too bad, it was buried!  The bride and groom re-entered with a new set of clothes (she had a dark pink sequined dress now) and they starting making the rounds to the tables.  It is customary for the guests to present a gift of money in a red envelope (red is good luck)  to the bride, who immediately gives it to her assistant who stashes it away in a big purse!   It is also customary to be offered (and smoke) a cigarette and a glass of beer..since neither Rodney nor I smoke or drink, we had to politely bow out of that custom...believe me, there was enough smoke in the room to go around with everyone lighting up!  The last part of the meal was brought out and it was a special dish made of mashed potatoes with some type of food coloring, made to look like a Phoenix bird and a Dragon, both are for good luck (I think).  The bride had this special dish put at our table.  I felt bad because we were all so full that we could barely move, much less eat more!  After we ate, we said our goodbyes, but from what I understand, the bride and groom had been doing something with the wedding since about 4:00am and would go on well into the evening.  I'm tired just writing about it!  Below are some  

pictures.

This is the wedding aisle in the hotel as some of the guests arrived.  

The aisle before most of the guests arrived.  The big purple screen in the front of the room is the inflatable ball/projection screen.  Notice that there are several smokers!

This is the wedding party with their parents.

 This is the table stacked full of food...this is mid course...it's not the end of the meal yet!

 This is the bride in her 2nd change of clothing that we saw...people told me it's many more during the day!

Otherwise, I've been working a lot this week, trying to get ready for my project milestone presentations, so I have had no time this week to see anything else...including my dear husband.  I hope to make up for lost time while we're in Shanghai next week...together! :-)  I've still gotta work, and on Friday, I'll be going to the World Expo (from what I understand, like the World's fair...and it's highlighting China..imagine that!)  Rod and I will stay Saturday for a day together in Shanghai and discover it a little more together.  So, I'll write about that next week.

Keep those emails coming!!

Sarah