1 April 2012: Romania Revisited, Poland for the first time

Greetings everyone...
It's been so long since I've written...sorry for that!  I've just been swamped and today, 1st of April (no April fool's here!) I have some time and wanted to make a new post.  For anyone who is wanting to see more of China...go ahead and skip this entry..there is not much here about China...it's all about Romania and Poland! 
It's been a long winter this year in Shenyang...cold and long...and I'm not sure it's over yet...snow is forecasted for tomorrow!  As my friend Martine says though..that's actually good news...the snow means Spring is on the way...before that it's too cold to snow!

For the past 2 weeks, I've been on a business trip to Romania, Poland and then Shanghai...whew...glad to be back to Shenyang...it was a good trip, but exhausting.  It was especially good to go back to Romania.  Rod and I lived there from Apr 2001 to Dec 2003 and when we left, we left in a hurry as my mother was in her final days of life.  I never felt I was able to make a proper goodbye and even though I was able to go back in 2005, the plant was closed for inventory reduction and I didn't get to see many of the people..so this time, I was able to see many friends and see the progress the plant has made.  The purpose of our trip was to prepare the way for several Chinese workers to be trained in this plant.  You can imagine the emotion I felt when I paused to think that the plant that was in horrid conditions when Michelin bought it back in 2001, and for which my job was to start the transformation from horrid to acceptable and eventually "standard" would be now training the people who would startup up my plant now in China!  My heart was just full of pride in the progress that has taken place over the past 10 years..wow, how far the plant has come. I found the piece of my heart that I left there when I left and I also saw and felt the hearts of several others. I will be very happy to have our Chinese personnel trained at this plant.  Below are several pictures from my trip to Romania....but they don't capture the emotion that filled my heart.

A few from the main entrance of the plant.

Sarah with some colleagues from China, France and Romania in front of the plant cantine

View at the Front gate of the plant

A "wall" was created in 2006 commemorating the rebirth of the plant (parts of it were built in 1939 by BF Goodrich) and at long last, I now have a brick in the wall.

W wonderful dinner with the direction team in a typical nice Romanian restaurant in Bucharest.  Most of these people I hired when Michelin bought the plant...and it made me feel so good to see them still here and growing with the company!

"Bulivardul Aviatorilor". This is one of the main North/South streets in Bucharest.  When we were there it was all cobblestone..now that has (sadly) been replaced by asphault.  The Romanians have a rich history in Aviation especially between WWI and WWII..and this statue is really strikingly beautiful...Rod and I used to take our morning walks on tree-lined sidewalks along this bulevard.

After Romania, we went to Poland to visit another plant that will train more of our workers for the startup of the plant here.  I had never been to Poland and other than "Polish jokes" growing up and 1 person who is now on my team here in China, who came from Poland,  I really didn't have any expectations.  After having visited there, I will tell you that I really don't understand on what the "polish jokes" are based...I saw nothing that compared with those stereotypes...in fact, what I saw was a very organized, orderly, "by the book" run plant and rigorous application of the standards. Wow, what an impressive plant!  I didn't take any pictures there in the plant, but suffice to say that I will be very happy to have our Chinese workers trained there!  I did manage to get into the city center of Olstzyn (where our plant is located)..a nice city about 3 hours drive north from Warsaw.  Here are a few pictures of this small town (~170k population)...notice how anything under a million is a small town to me now!

The town hall in Olstzyn, Poland

Sarah in the old city center in Olstzyn, Poland

One of the several cathedrals in Olstzyn

The inside of the cathedral in Olstzyn...it was really very pretty

City square at the center of town in Olstzyn

After the work at the Olstzyn plant was done on Friday, we drove back to Warsaw.  My collegues got on their flights to Paris and Beijing and I stayed the Saturday in Warsaw and would fly on Sunday to meet up with another colleague to fly to Shanghai.  On Sunday, I walked around the city center of Warsaw and again found a city that was full of life and growth.  The city was devestated during WWII and so much of the "old city" is not old at all..but it was all rebuilt remaining true to the original architecture, so unless someone told you (and you didn't remember your high school history), you would probably never know that it was rebuilt.  Here are some pictures of Warsaw:

This was (Was not Is)  the communist party HQ in Poland...it is now an office building and convention center...notice there is no red star on top of this one...it is very similar to a building in Shanghai...which still has the red star!...The Poles have put the communist era behind them!

A cathedral in Warsaw, Poland, down by the river

The city square in the old part of Warsaw..where I had lunch on Saturday

The War memorial in Warsaw...I find that the War memorials say so much about the country and mindset of the people...this one says "strength" to me...and it's what I felt in Poland.

After Poland, I went to Paris where I would link up with another colleague and go to Shanghai were I spent another week working at the Michelin HQ...the best thing about that week was that Rod came down to meet me there!  

That's about it for now...until the next time!

Sarah & Rod

11 Feb 2012: Need a winter haircut anyone?

Greetings from still cold, but sunny Shenyang!
I don't have alot to report today...but I do have some interesting pictures to share.  Rod was out and about this week, and as usual, he brings home some interesting shots...in this case, it's all about a haircut.  Not just any haircut...this is a short story of a barber who has very low overhead and seems to always have customers.  Now, Rod tells me he didn't get his hair cut there...and I believe him...I think!
This barber sets up shop every day outside...he has chair, a sheet of plastic, steel razor blade, a bowl and some water.  In the winter, he also has a fire going.  The pictures say it all!

The barber and the customer in Shenyang middle of winter (yes, that is remnants of snow on the ground!)

Getting a little water for the shave

hand warmer in action

A good close shave...Shenyang style!

Hard to top those 4 pictures with words!  Next time you men look at yourself in the mirror for your morning shave...think of this little entry from Shenyang, China!

Rod & Sarah

4 Feb 2012: Chinese New Year Hawaiian style!

Greetings all, and Happy Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon!
This year, it's been very cold here in Shenyang and the Chinese New Year came early this year, so for our celebration, we decided to go to Hawaii.  Rod used to live there years ago while stationed in the Army, but for me it was the first time...and I don't think it will be the last!  I loved it!
It was such a nice break from the long, cold, dark, firecracker filled days and nights of Shenyang to the tropical warm ocean breezes of Hawaii, USA...hard to top that...and besides that, when going, we crossed the international date line so that we arrived earlier than we left on the same day and got 2 saturdays out of it!  It was a 7 hour flight from Seoul to Honolulu but a 10 hour flight coming back (due to the trade winds)
When we got there, we couldn't check in because we arrived too early, so we went shopping at Walmart (we're so high end!), got haircuts, did lots of practical stuff all while speaking english...it was so nice!

So here are a few pictures of our adventures in Hawaii..

Sarah & Rod decked out in Hawaiian Mumu and Aloha shirt...at the International Market in Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii

Blue skies, warm ocean breezes and a barefoot walk on Waikiki beach in January has got to be like Heaven!

Chinese new year celebrations in Hawaii...Rod got in on the deal with the dragon dance (notice the Chinese food shop in the background...we didn't have any while there!)

The garden at the Dole Pinnaple plantation...what a lovely place

A picture postcard spot on the Dole Pinnaple plantation

A unique tree bark...the rainbow gum trees on the Dole Plantation

The North Shore of O'ahu, where the big waves are.  This is where the surfing competitions we see on TV are held...it's beautiful to look at, but I'm not interested in swimming here!

The classic sunset picture on the beach...the view from Dukes restaurant...so nice!

Just had to have a Lei...just had to!

Sarah in the rain forest besdie what has to be the biggest fern in the world..a Madagascar fern...I loved it!

Rod swinging around in the rain forest!

Rod and Sarah hiking in the bamboo in the rain forest

Sarah & Rod doing a trip with "Bike Hawaii"...all downhill after our hiking...nice way to relax

Sarah & Rod on the way to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor

The raising of a flag that will flow over the Arizona memorial...a very moving place

The Arizona memorial..1177 men died on that ship alone on Dec 7 1941...truely a sad day.

When Rod lived in Hawaii, he was a member of the US Army Band of the Pacific and he played in this bandstand in Honolulu

Rod & Sarah getting ready to hike Diamond Head mountain

The view from the top of Diamond Head...so worth the hike!

Sarah & Rod after hiking Diamond Head

Another view from Diamond head

Rod & Sarah after hiking Diamond head

So that's about it for our Hawaiian vacation...we loved it and will likely go back!
We're back in Shenyang now...going to the ice sculptures tomorrow...what a contrast!
Have a great year of the Dragon everyone!

Sarah & Rod

8 Jan 2012: Happy New Year!

Greetings everyone from sunny, cold Shenyang!  The Chinese tell me we are in the 3-9 period of the year...I've tried to find out how this is organized in the lunar calendar etc...but no luck, so I've just had to accept that it's the way it is!  3-9 means there are three consecutive periods of 9 days, each period of 9 days getting colder...and so far, it seems they are right!  We are currently in the 2nd of the 9, and it was -2F this morning at 8:00am...so I'm sure it was colder in the night...brr!  Can't wait for the 3rd nine at this rate!  The good news is that our apartment is warm, we have warm clothes and can dress to stay warm outside!
Rod & I stayed here in Shenyang this year for Christmas and New Years so that we didn't have any risk of snow delays either coming or going...and from a work stand point, it was very efficient for me to be here while most of my expat colleagues were out of the country!  We spent New years with our Chinese friends, who invited us for a nice lunch at a vegetarian restaurant.

Ying Jia (momma), Rod seated, Zhou Min (Daisy), Sarah (seated) and Zhou (daddy) at the New Years 2012 lunch in Shenyang

Momma and Daddy getting the left overs ready (it's always a fight...they want us to take them,we want them to!)

This week at work was a tough one...the Chinese New Year comes early this year (22 Jan 2012) and so all the stuff that needs to be done by the end of January, must now be done by the 21st...so everyone is scrambling to get it done.  This includes the appreciation dinners..it's China tradition that the employers give a group dinner for everyone in appreciation for all that was done last year and give a little speech about what is to come this year...and then of course to have a toast at each table.  As the team for my project is getting bigger and bigger, we have alot of dinners to schedule and in order to build a good team atmosphere, I want to be at all of the dinners...so last week and this coming week are full of dinners...and toasts!  As most of you know, I don't drink, so I toast with various fruit juices...this past week it seemed to be peach nectare (that stuff is so sweet..has to have a bazillion calories in it...I started watering it down 1/2 way through the week!)  It's the right thing to do, but somewhat exhausting!  I was happy when Saturday rolled around!
Speaking of Saturday...we went to the fish market and to my surprise (Rod already knew) the market has been temporarily transformed into an inside azalea market...(most of you know, I have never met an azalea I didn't like!).  What a feast for the weary eyes in this cold, long, dark days of Winter here in Shenyang!

Sarah with the Azaleas...couldn't take that smile off my face!

Sarah & Rod with the azaleas in Shenyang

Rod playing around in a very special azalea...that thing has been trained to be like a basket with a bow on top...that is all 1 plant...unbelievable!  The guy said it took 8 years to get this looking like this!

Sarah playing around in the azalea basket!

Thought you might be interested in the price tag of this braded azalea...blew us away.  This is 50,000 RMB..that equals 7917.28 USD at today's exchange rate...yes, you read that right...right at $8000.00 for a very special azalea!  Someone here has some money...not in our league...but we did get a photo, which was much better than bringing the thing to our apartment for it to never bloom again...azaleas are not inside plants...they need that good sunshine!

Beautiful colors of azaleas in shenyang...ready for "Spring festival"

More beautiful azaleas..and orchids in the background in Shenyang

As I've mentioned several times that it's cold here...and in my last post, I showed a picture of the city park just down the road getting an ice wall built around it...I went up there one night after work and took a few pictures at night...didn't go inside the wall, but did get a few pictures from outside.  The big ice park is just outside of town...and the biggest one in the world is north of here in a town called Ha'erbin..up on the Siberian border...havn't made it there yet (on my list, but not Rod's!(

The gate to the ice park here in Shenyang

The wall around the ice park here in Shenyang

In addition to the colorful sites here in Shenyang during the cold weather...Rod noticed the loader that puts the coal in the boiler of the hotel was "dressed for the cold"...he had to get a picture with it.  Notice the insulation is old army cold weather coats...wrapped around the intake breather to keep the cold air from coming into the machine!  Pretty sure this is not how it was designed to work..but when you have very little, you make do!

Rod and the army coat insulation on the front-end loader behind the hotel here in Shenyang

So that's about it for now...hope you all are having a wonderful beginning to the new Year and thanks again for your continued prayers!

Sarah & Rod