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
