Goodbye Estonia, hope to come again

What a lovely country this is. Even though it was mostly work I did have a chance to see some of the country and experienced the lovely people and cuisine. The second week was mostly work and it was just as well since there were several storms that hit the country. For most days I could see snow blowing sideways and it took some bundling up before we could go outside. The country got so much snow and not warm enough to melt so by the last week they had to load the snow in trucks to dump into the ocean. All the roads and sidewalks were snow packed with a layer of ice underneath. I always had to walk very carefully to not slip and crack my head! Taxis would not go into some parts of old town because the snow was too deep. This is normal for the people here I think. They continue to go about their daily activities. Did I mention that there's a lot of fur walking around Tallinn. Forget fleece, you need dead animal to keep you warm in this weather! It sure didn't stop the Finns from coming over on the ferry on the weekends to have their drinking binge. It's a crazy scene. By this time me and the guys have dubbed them FDFs (f@&*^ drunken finns!).

I would love to come back here during the summer, I am sure the city takes on another kind of beauty. For such a small country they take pride in culture as there are many theatres for operas, music and such.

The day before our final meeting the CEO of the region took us to a fantastic restaurant called Restoran O. Sirje says it is the best restaurant in Tallinn so we were honored. We all got the tasting menu which consisted of 8 courses of very small sample size dishes. It was estonian food with a modern flair and so delicious. With each course there was a special wine that went with it. Towards the end I was a little wasted. In the picture you can see all the wine glasses by me because I could not finish any one glass!

Stranded in Munich!

Thurs - Sat Dec 16 - 18
I guess with all the traveling for this job I was bound to go through a bad experience. Well, it came in spades this week. The plan was to fly back to Dudo from Tallinn Estonia via Frankfurt last Thursday the16th. Flight was leaving at 6pm from Tallinn but apparently it was snowing heavily in germany and affecting all the airports there. First they delayed our flight to Frankfurt until 7:30. OK, that gives me half an hour to catch my connecting flight. By then I emailed Laszlo to email me all the train times in case I have to catch a train from Frankfurt to Dudo. At 7 they announced that the delay wasnow to 10:30. OK, forget about the connection and forget about catching a train at a decent time since the earliest train would be at 4am.

Strange but at 10pm I hear an announcement that our plane was here and that we were boarding in 15 minutes. I guess the weather was looking a little better in Frankfurt so we had a window of opportunity! So we took off for Frankfurt and about half an hour before landing the captain announces that Frankfurt decided to close the runways because they couldn’t keep up with the heavy snow. Now we had to divert to Munich airport! I could feel the plane ascending again. I was frantically trying to remember where Munich was in relation to Frankfurt and if it’s possible to take a train to Dudo from there! When we landed in Munich the captain told us that we had to stay on the plane until they figure out what to do. Half an hour later we were told that due to all the stranded travelers before us there were no more hotel rooms for us so they were going to refuel and try to go back to Frankfurt in the hopes of being able to land this time. After another 15 minutes we were told to get off the plane and that the people at the airport will tell us what to do. Meanwhile the stupid steward made the usual announcement of “ thanks for flying with Lufthansa we hope you enjoy your stay in Munich” was she kidding?! I could hear people laugh at the gall of it. We get off the plane and there were so many people there. We were told that we could not get to our luggage and that we would get it when we rebook the next morning. By this time it was going on 2am. They had set up cots throughout the airport and told people to sleep and that the ticket office would open up again at 5am. There was this old guys who was getting very irate. He demanded to the airline reps to open up the ticket counter because he did not want to wait. I could see that people were tired and upset and in disbelief. I really didn’t want to sleep on the cots because there were too many people around there – they said there were a couple of thousand of people all over the airport. Meanwhile I was desperately looking for an outlet so I could recharge my ipad, ipod and blackberry. Throughout the whole ordeal I was communicating with Gary through Sametime. He was looking up flight times and weather for me. He also told me to keep calm, probably afraid with my impatient I would go postal! Actually I was feeling fine. It was mother nature that was causing the problem so why take it out on the airline staff who were already getting it from other passengers? The whole time I had my ipod playing my Vietnamese xmas music so I stayed relaxed and calm. Anyway I finally found a place with an outlet but it was away from any available cots. Since it was more important to charge up my electronic device I laid out my coat, used my daypack as a pillow, took off my boots and was ready to settle in. I emailed Gary a picture of my makeshift bed and he felt bad for me. I slept for half an hour and woke up feeling cold. I realized I was laying in direct line to the entrance into the airport and that people were starting to come in so I got blasts of cold air flowing through. I thought I would get to the lines 1 hr before it opens so I could beat all the other people. Well, it seems that everyone else had the same idea and there was already a very long line. At one point the rep told us that if were flying domestic to take a train because most airports in germany are closed. Earlier Gary told me that a train from Munich to Dudo would be 6 hours. Shit, I really didn’t want to do this. I got to the train line and waited past 5am but no one was there. Finally I gave up and decided to go to the ticket counter anyway. Since the economy line was so long I decided to get into the business class line. Smart move because the rep was able to book me on the 7:30am flight to Dudo. Bad news was my luggage was NOT coming with me. She said that there were thousands of passengers in the same boat and they would not be able to get to anyone’s luggage right now. I just finished telling Gary that the weather was not that bad in munich when it started snowing heavily and I could see the snow plow on the move. Crap.I was just waiting for them to say that our flight was cancelled. We did get on the plane and onto Dudo!

I did NOT want to go into the office that morning. I did not have any toiletries for extra clothes. Unfortunately I had to go in to pick up some important documents for my India visa. Worse of all we had a department xmas party that night. I did not feel like going out to buy clothes or toiletries since it was just for one day. I got creative and used my lipsticks as eyeshadow and blusher.I only had on jeans and a tshirt so needless to say I was not looking my best.

Everyone at the office was concerned and wanted to hear about my little adventure. At the xmas party that night the senior vp made me come into the middle of the room so he could tell everyone about my night at Munich airport. I was just happy to be going home the next day. Apparently Dudo is not used to snow so it shuts down with only a few inches. The runway is especially short so a small sign of bad weather is enough to take them out of commission.

Marietta wanted me to go out with the group afterwards, it’s tradition to go dancing after the xmas party. I told her no since I felt exhausted from no sleep the night before. She wouldn’t take no and would order expressos for me. In the end I stuck to my guns and said no. It was already midnight and I really wanted some sleep.

Saturday Dec 18
Well I guess my travel troubles wasn’t about to end. Got to the Dudo airport and checked in for my flight to London where I would catch my connecting flight to phoenix. Got through security and went into the british airway lounge. Just started eating breakfast when I hear my name paged. This cant be a good signed. The lady at the lounge desk couldn’t tell me what the page was for, only to go back out to the ticketing office. Yep, definitely not a good sign. Turns out my flight from London to phx was cancelled because of snow in London. What the hell? What is going on?! Thank goodness my flight was business class because I didn’t have to get into any of the long lines. There were lines everywhere as the airport had to deal with all the backlog. They rebooked my ticket to go from Dudo to phx via Atlanta. I agreed and hoped that there wasn’t a blizzard on the east coast. The rep booked me a room at the holiday inn near konigsallee so I spent the day shopping and walking around the xmas market. I also caved and bought toiletries and some cheap stuff like socks and makeup. I have been wearing the same socks for a few days and they were starting to stink. I couldn’t take wearing them one more day. One the bright side, since I didn’t have my luggage it was quick to pack!! One bright spot was that I found a vietnamese restaurant around the corner from the hotel and had a bowl of pho! It wasn’t nearly as good as my mom’s but it was more comfort food than anything else. I am SO ready for some warmth and sunshine.

Got on the flight to Atlanta ok, I had a 3 hour layover before the flight to Phx so I spent in the lounge calling Gary and my family to tell them I was ok. I was sitting next to a solder who was desperately trying to get to germany to be with his wife and daughter. He only had a 2 week leave and was frustrated that he could not get to them because of the snow in frankfurt. I felt bad for him and shared with him some news on how things were there. He said his wife was thinking of driving up from bavaria (south germany) to get him at the frankfurt airport in case the train was not running. I told him not to drive because the roads were bad and there were lots of stranded drivers. The trains were running fine so he should just do that. At one point his eyes were getting teary as he talked about just wanting to see his family. It made me grateful that I was going to see Gary in only a few hours.

There's a blizzard raging outside!

Fri Dec 9

Wow, I haven't been in a blizzard since I don't know when! It started snowing yesterday morning and never let up. The snowfall was not heavy but most of the time it was blowing sideways. By evening the wind was really kicking up. We were still working in the office at 8pm and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get back to our hotel. I could see the road outside our office window that the roads were getting worse. But no problem in the end, I was just glad Laszlo was driving. Our hotel was busy because they cancelled all flights for yesterday and today so some people were stranded.

We braved walking outside and across the street for dinner last night. It was maybe a 100 yards walk but I had to cover myself head to toes. We got reccos for this place on the 9th floor. It was more swanky than we thought. First clue was a coat check when you walk in. Second was there 3 different wine glasses and 4 different forks on the table. When we looked on the menu the dishes that sounded fancy. No regular meat, just wild boar, deer, duck etc. We all ordered the fish soup since we love the fish soups in the restaurants here. Should have know because on this menu it was some fancy name like Clear Consome of wild herring in a ravioli blah blah blah. When it came it was this big bowl with a spoonful of soup and one ravioli in the middle of it. It was lukewarm and tasted too fishy. Our food was ok but not worth the price. At the end we noticed that they charged us for the water ($5 for a glass!) that we did not order (therefore thought it was free). The waitress claimed that this is normal and it was etiquette. What the hell? We told her that this was the first restaurant in estonia and in all the world that we were charged for water that we did not ask for. Oh well. Live an learn.

The windows of my nice hotel room (the Radisson) were rattling all night with the gusty wind. It's so crazy. I guess being on the 22nd floor in one of the higher buildings in the city didn't help either. They say that after the storm a cold front will come in. It's supposed to go back to below zero by this weekend. Oh joy! I am having a hard time remember what temps in the 70's feels like! 7 more days before I am back in phoenix! Yesterday Gary sent out xmas cards, a task that usually belongs to me. He has been so good about picking up the slack and has never complained. It really hit home last night during dinner. Laszlo was interrupted several times with phone calls from his family. He had to step out twice to talk. He explained that his family misses him and are being needy. He has been on this job one year already and actually works in germany when he's not on audit. He flies home to hungary on the weekends when he is working in germany so it's even worse than my case when at least I am working in phx when I am not on audit. Eventually Laszlo left Udo and I to our dinner so that he could call his family back.

When we drove to work this morning there were a few inches of snow on the snow. Our mercedes rental car was nice but not that good with driving in snow, espcially with back wheel drive! The fronts and sides of houses and buildings were covered in snow. It looked as if someone took a frosted paint can and sprayed the houses with it. I'm used to seeing snow accumulation on rooftops but not on the sides, it looked so strange. This showed how hard the wind is blowing and that the snow was really going horizontal.

In estonia they call wednesday "little friday"!

Wed, Dec 8
Udo and I went into the office today and there was a big tray of baked goods in the shared kitchen. When we asked what the occasion was, Mart explained that it's just a little celebration for Wednesday which reminds you that the weekend is getting closer. They call it Little Friday here. In the US we call it hump day but I like little friday much better! Mart said that in town the restaurants are quiet and empty on monday & tues but fill up on wednesday and quiet again on thursday. It shows that they really do celebrate it! On the same vein it's the same thing with xmas. The xmas holiday is shared with small intimate family settings so companies will do their xmas celebrations early December and call it Little Xmas. So cute! Udo told me that in eastern germany where he grew up, they call wednesday "berg fest" which in translation means mountain party. This means that you have climbed to the top of the mountain on Wednesday and it's downhill from there! I also like this name better than hump day!

(Btw, if you have already read the last two posts, go back to see some pics I just added to them.)

I ate blood sausage!

Mon Dec 6

One of the traditional dish during Xmas is Veriworst which is blood sausage. No, it's not just a name, it's really sausage made out of pig blood! I guess it's traditional throughout europe because the guys have had it before. When they found out I've never had it they insisted that I at least try it and that it's delicious. OK, I'm asian, I've eaten weirder stuff so ofcourse I would at least try it. There were stands in the xmas market where they were grilling meats, sauerkrauts, bratwurst, and the veriworst.- all in this huge 30 inch diameter frying pan. Udo was smart in that he ordered one for me and said if I didn't like it, he would eat it. The taste of it wasn't bad but I did not like the consistency and promptly gave the rest of the blood sausage to Udo. Like a wimp I went to get a bratwurst for myself!

Xmas market in Tallinn

Sunday, Dec 4

Friday afternoon the three of us drove up to Tallinn where the rest of our audit will be. Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and it's where a third of the country's population lives. The town is on the northern shore of Estonia and only a 3 hour ferry ride from Helsinki Finland.

I was excited to see the xmas market in the town square in old town tallinn. It was a 5 minute walk from our hotel but it was quite cold. I wanted to buy a fur hat because my stylish newsboy cap wasn't cutting it! With zero degree weather you cannot afford to expose your extremities for long. Everybody has to wear hats, gloves and scarves.There were plenty of stands with fur hats and scarfs and wool clothing. I was cold and wanted to buy everything - had to remind myself to not overdo it and that I will return to my home in the desert in a couple of weeks!

Udo told me that this is one of the best xmas market he has seen. It's not crowded, the scenery was perfect because of the snow, there was a beautiful 30 foot xmas tree all lit up in the middle of the square. The many stands displaying local foods, hot drinks, crafts & clothing were also decorated with lights. There was also a big stage set up to play estonian music or movies. We snacked on grilled bratwurst and hot wine. When our toes start to freeze we would duck into a shop or a cafe to thaw out. On average we could only stay outside for 1 hours at a time - it had warmed up to 14 degrees!

Old town itself dates back to the 13th century and is surrounded by a totally intacted wall. We found a really cool wine cellar/restaurant (Restoran Gloria) on Friday and had our drinks & dinner in front of a fireplace. We were litterally right next to it so Udo was in charge of adding logs to the fire throughout the evening. At one point when I told Laszlo I didn't want any bread because it wasn't hot, he placed a piece of bread on one of the fireplace tools and toasted it over the fire for me. I think he had a couple of glasses of wine by then and didn't care that we were being obnoxious.

We were warned about the drunken Finns but was still not prepared for the scene. Our hotel for the weekend was the Viru Sokus with 600 rooms. At any given time there were hoards of finns in the lobby, drunk. It was really claustrophobic. The breakfast room in the mornings was a sight to behold. Hundreds cram into the room and piling on masses of food like there was no tomorrow. Some looked like they never went to bed or stopped drinking. We couldn't wait for them to get back on the ferry and leave on sunday! It was funny to see them lug 6-packs of vodka as they get on the tour bus to leave.

There were so many restaurants in Old Town that we never thought to make reservations. Learned the hard way on Saturday when we walk all over town and couldn't get a table! It started to snow pretty hard so we were covered in snow and had to wipe off each time we go into a restaurant to check for a table. Finally found one place where there was a free table in the basement. So weird, the waitress tried to talk me out of it by saying it will take a very long time for the food, at least 45 minutes. She also said that they are 3 floors and 1 kitchen and it's very busy. If we hadn't walked all over town in bad weather desperate for a place to eat I would have told her to shove it and walked out. Stomach more important than pride!

Laszlo had a favorite restaurant - Restoran Aed - the place we went to for lunch on Saturday. The waitresses were cute and friendly and the restaurant itself had so much personality. It was built in the 17th century and had so many different nooks and cranny over 3 floors. The walls inside look like it's still the original wall and there were hanging plants winding around the beams. The food wasn't that great but the guys really loved the place.

I love the food here!

Tues. Nov 30

This time my team consist of Laszlo who is hungarian and Udo who is german. We also had a part timer Alex who is from austria. Dinner with the group has been so interesting, I love hearing stories about their countries.

The food has been really good in Parnu. We went back to the russian restaurant on Tues and I had the Borscht soup this time. It's more like a stew of beets, potatos, carrots, onions and cabbage and beef. It's served with a dollop of sour cream, so good. On wednesday Alex took us to an austrian restaurant so ofcourse I ordered the schnitzel. Alex refused to order it because he was offended by the fact that it was topped with herring and capers.

On thursday Mart took us to the yacht club for dinner. They all decided to do a vodka shot and ordered one for me even though I didn't want one! It tasted pretty smooth but I gave it to the guys to finish, no sense in asking for trouble! They told me stories of how the russians do business with vodka. You must drink with them or they would be offended. It's typical to have vodka in a meeting. You cannot get right to business because it will not work this way. It's almost like you are there to drink with them and if we get some business done in the process then that's fine. Udo ordered the salted herring which is a typical dish here. It's served with sour cream and is quite good. It was fresh like sashimi. The best was when I tried baked ice cream for the first time. It's not like the fried ice cream at home. Alex makes it at home and told us how to make it. I can't imagine it working but I will try it when I get home. Supposedly you whip up egg white with a little bit of sugar and salt. This mixture is pour on ice cream in a dish and put in the oven at high heat from the top of the oven. It only takes a few minutes to brown the egg white and not long enough to melt the ice cream. It was so yummy! The mix of salty and sweet was so interesting.

Estonians eat more fresh fruit and vegetables in the summer but in winter they stick to more pickled stuff. Our lunches always consist of some kind of pickled cabbage or relish and potatos along with our meats. I'm greatful that they brought lunches in for us. It's too cold to bother venturing out! Each day the weather gets a little better. Monday was the worse when it was -4. It snow on and off and the street is hard packed with snow.

I used pig fat as a spread?!!

Monday Nov 29



Lesson one when traveling to Estonia - don't eat anything until you know exactly what you are eating!

I thought I was so smart reading up on the country and the people and yes, even the food. I even heard about some weird dishes they have in the winter time. For instance they cook pork with the bones to get a jelly like substance with the meat. Ofcourse there's the pickled herring and pickled cabbage.

Tonight the plant mgr took us out to a russian restaurant. I have never had russian food before so I was excited. THe menu did have english but we all agreed to let Mart order some appetizers for us to try. He was hesitant at first in case we didn't like what he ordered. Ofcourse I was the first one to pipe in that no problem, we want to try some local traditional dishes. What came out looked harmless enough. There were some interesting dishes. Pickle wedges with honey as a dip - very good. Large white beans cook with ham and eaten with a toothpick, a plate of cheese and pickled garlic and sweet onions. I took a big bite of what I thought was goat cheese(since it was arranged with the cheeses and thought it tasted rather bland. Later Mart explained that it was pig fat mixed with garlic and used as a spread for bread. Yuck! I could have eaten a nice wedge of chocolate cake for the same amount of fat but better tasting!

Mart told us stories of estonia. He is very proud of how the country is so small but has kept up with modern times. He often says we a country of a million people and that's why we get things done so quickly. 10 years ago they stopped carrying driver's licenses. When a cop stops you your license plate will come up in the computer with picture and info. Taxes and voting have been done electronically for just as long. We were surprised to learn that Skype was developed by estonians, who would have thunk?! I for one am glad of this invention since it has made it so much easier to be away from Gary. Talking everyday helps us keep up with the day to day stuff.

It was so interesting to hear Mart tell us stories about his country and the people. Few of the things he says were in the guide books. It confirms my belief that you don't really learn about a country, beyond the surface stuff from guide books, until you talk and get to know the locals. Mart must be in his 50's so he was around durin g the soviet occupation. In fact he was forced to go into 2 yrs of military service in siberia where there is only 2 seasons - unbearably hot and unbearably cold! We were curious if estonians hold any grudges to the people that occupied their country, the latest being russia. He said no, that is a waste of energy. He does not blame the people but more the governments. "we are a peace loving people and just want to get on with our lives"

Mart was a realtor for a few years and sold pre-fab houses throughout the baltic states and scandanavia. He told us that in estonia most houses have saunas. In fact a house does not have a high selling value unless it has a sauna. The homes here are spread out. Mart says that estonians do not like to live near each other and if given the chance they want to be as far from their neighbor as possible. This is the opposite of what you would typically find in europe where you find villages of homes close together. He said this tendency of personal space extends into business as well. He admitted that estonians are not good at being politically correct in that they say whatever comes into their heads. "we are simple country folks!" These insights really helped me understand the colleagues here since it has been a little different than my previous audits.

We had a good laugh hearing about the Finnish people. Apparently it is very expensive in Finland so the Finns love to hop on a ferry and come to Tallinn to drink. They love the vodka here and will be drunk for most of their time here and then they will leave with cases of it as well. Mart told us a story about a client who repeatedly brings back to Finland more vodka than is allowed and is fined for it. When asked why he does it when he is caught every time, he replied that even with the fine, it's still cheaper than buying it in finland!

View of frozen coastline from plane-not a good sign!

Note to self, don't use weather.com when preparing for travel abroad! I packed for weather in the 20's (as if this wasn't cold enough) and I am going to be in zero or below! All last week Laszlo never fails to stop by to tell me how cold it's going to be in estonia. At first it's in the teens, OK. Then with each update it gets lower and into single digits and snow. Great! I wanted to buy clothes but gambled that I will managed and buy it when in estonia. It would be cheaper and I don't have to lug it there.

Let me just say that the first sight of a frozen sea brought home the fact that I am going to freeze my ass off in the next few weeks. My friends at home wouldn't believe me when I told them that the sea in the area do freeze and that the ferry to finland are less frequent because of the frozen sea. They break open one lane for ferries in the winter. I just thought that it wouldn't happen while I was there since it was relatively early in the winter! I learned later that the temps are 20 degrees below normal. Why me? It was actually -20C which is -4 F!! I can't believe that I would be greatful for 20 degree weather but that would be tropical right about now!

THe other thing to tell me that I wasn't in phoenix anymore - it took us 1 1/2 hours to get out of the rental car parking lot - we had to dig the car out from the snow! Well ok, Laszlo shoveled snow and I took pictures! It was funny but when we were done with the paperwork in the rental office at the Tallinn airport, the kid offered to help us with our suitcases. We both said no because it was no big deal. Ok now, try to drag a big suitcase AND a laptop roller bag in a walkway that was 1 1/2 feet wide and packed with snow. On either side is a foot of snow. If you've done the math, it's almost impossible. It was so funny. It was maybe 500 yards from the rental office to the parking lot but it took us 20 minutes to get there. Laszlo couldn't even help me because he was struggling himself. I was cussing out the kid who seemed to disappear. Later I found out he had to worry about getting snow shovels to get the car out! Yes, life of an auditor is not all glamorous.

Once on the road in our mercedes Laszlo couldn't stop mentioning the weather readings in the car. It was fluctuating from zero to minus 4. Thank god for seat warmer! We got to Parnu by 9:30 Sunday night. Even though our hotel was near the beach I don't think walking on the beach will be on the agenda!

Estonia, a small but interesting country!

As I do more research on the country where I will spend 3 weeks in, it becomes more and more interesting. Estonia holds such a fascinating history so I wanted to make some notes to remember. It's a tiny country of 1.3 million people but because of it's strategic location to the Baltic Sea, it has been the target of its larger neighbors to dominate and take over - Sweden, Denmark and most recently Germany and Russia. In fact this country has only experienced independence since 1991. Despite spending most of their history under other rule, the people have managed to keep their history and language intact. The people are very proud of their peaceful way. If anyone has the time watch the dvd called The Singing Revolution (in library or in pieces on youtube). The story is so inspiring. It brought me to tears. Over the centuries one of the key way they keep their culture intact is through songs and through singing. All estonians are borne and raised singing traditional folk songs that tells the story of their ancestors and their country. When the Soviet Union took over estonia in 1940 (secret pact of hilter and stalin as they conspire to divide up europe) they set out to wipe out the estonian culture. This was done by shipping estonians to russia and shipping russians into estonia. That's why today about 30% of the population are russian. It's very telling that about 70% of the population speaks estonian and 30% speak russian. What this means is that either sides refuse to learn the other language. As a result, english is the default language - lucky for me! English is taught in school as a second language so most people here can speak english. No communication problems for me! Actually it was a nice break to get some stations in english. I get so tired of watching only CNN whenever I'm on audit!
THe whole country is only 17,000 sqm but that also includes over 1,500 islands in the Baltic Sea! The capital is Tallinn on the northern shore of the country with 30% of the population, this is where I will spend 2 out of the 3 wks. The plant in is Parnu which is on the west coast and only 40,000 people. It's only a 2 hour drive.

The estonian language is quite unique and very difficult to learn. There are so many unique grammar rules so it's almost impossible to figure out unless you grow up with it. At least I learned how to say hello (Tere) and thank you (tainan). Next year the country will go to the euro so we are in the last few weeks of the local currency which is called the krooni. I will have to make sure I spend all my kroonis before leaving!

The food also sounds interesting. In the winter they eat a lot of pickled food. Gotta watch out for the keel which is cow's tongue!

Glühwein at the Altstaedt Xmas market!

Saturday night Nov 27

I woke up to snow outside my window! It's really winter I guess. I'm trying to ignore Laszlo's emails about it being 4 degrees in Estonia right now.

Met a group from my department in Altstaedt, we have a date with a couple of glühwein! This is a german tradition once the weather turns cold. It's typically red wine with spices (cinamon and...) served in glass mugs. Marietta & I got started first and eventually joined by Rafael, Vesselin and Julianna. It was a mob scene but somehow we found a nice spot in front of the gluhwein stand. I alternated between gluhwein and hot chocolate. You really can't drink it too slowly because it will get cold! J just got her new camera (that I bought for her) and we were taking lots of practice pics. We were also singing lots of american drinking songs, news for me. Once again Ves loved singling Last Christmas because he thought George Micheal is the greatest. Ves and Marietta tried to teach me a Bulgarian drinking song, something about 10 Bulgarians on the wall, 1 got arrested for tax evasion and now there's nine...they were so funny! Rafael talked me into trying a Krakauer which is like a bratwurst but looked more like a hot dog. Again, there hot dogs are a foot long with only 4 inches of bun! We walked around to experience other foods such as roasted chestnuts and roasted almonds. After 5 hours of being outside even gluhwein couldn't keep us warm so we moved the party inside a bar. Chill out was a cool club and we moved on to cocktails. Since when did I start drinking? Maybe it was the cold that made me more tolerant of alhocol!

It was near midnight and I hated to leave but I so needed to pack for my flight in the morning. We made a date to go dancing after the dept xmas party when I get back to germany in 3 weeks after my audit. Apparently it's tradition that after our dept xmas we all go dancing in a discotec.

Typical friday night in ddorf

Thursday Nov 26



Had dinner with Tarak an old colleague who just started an expat assignment in DDorf. He's been in germany for almost a month without his family so he was glad for some company. He picked me up at my office in a leased mercedes, how nice was that? He was driving around the city like a pro. I've been so used to taking the U-bahn so experiencing traffic on the road was different. I picked a restaurant in Altstaedt that was known for mussels and also serving the biggest schnitztel - Marie Benders. I ordered the mussels, yum, and Tarak got the schnitzel which literally covered the whole of his plate! More surprisingly, he finished most of it. Tarak is excited about his assignment. He and his wife have a 2 year old with another on the way. I think he will do well here. Funny but we talked more than the 6 months I worked with him on a project. He said that next time I am in Ddorf they will have me at the house for an Indian dinner. Tarak is Indian but has a perfect american accent, that is very rare!



Later that night I took the Ubahn to Oberkassel, which is a nice neighborhood northwest of Altstaedt. Came over to Juliana's apartment to pick up my laundry. She was sweet to offer to do my laundry for me while I was out for dinner with Tarak. What I didn't realize was that she did not have a dryer, she just air dry her clothes. Apparently it's normal here. It was a good excuse to have a glass of wine and chat while my clothes were dry enough to take home. I felt like a local hanging out at my friend's flat!

Kenny Rogers, KC & Sunshine Band? Who knew?

It's been surprising to learn what kind of american music my colleagues like. At the dinner party on Sunday Romina said she liked Kenny Rogers, the others also piped in that they liked him too. At first I thought they were joking or at least had him mixed up with someone else. Is there a new pop singer that decided to call himself kenny rogers, i.e Brayan Adams? I mean, the average age of this group of friends was 30 so I didn't think they would know who Kenny Rogers was. Until, they started to sing some of his songs. By the time I heard You Decorated My Life I knew we were talking about the same person. They didn't understand why I was laughing at them! Actually Romina like all country music. They all like country music!

Yesterday was Vesselin birthday and as with german tradition it was up to him to organize a celebration. Most would prepare breakfast but Vesselin decided on drinks after work. Vesselin is from Bulgaria and has lived in germany for most of his life. He spent the last 2 years in Moscow and is now back in DDorf with our department. All night he kept singing songs from KC and the Sunshine band and declared them the greatest band ever! Really? His english is quite good and sometimes he surprises me with a funny american slang. He then proudly claims that he learned much of his english watching Beavis & Butthead. Really?

Our celebration was in a nice pub (Schlander) a few blocks from work. I ordered the Glühwien to try. This is the hot wine that people drink in the winter time. Mine came in a coffee cup. It sounded strange but actually tasted really good! I felt it with only a few sips so I thought best to wait until dinner comes. Juliana ordered dinner that we were going to share. It was fun to try new german food. Totally forgot what it was called but our dinner came in a small skillet with fried potatoes as the bottom layer, then ham, then spinach, then an egg omellette mixture. It was topped with 2 sunny side up eggs. It was very hearty and on the heavy side and I could barely eat half of a portion. It was a fun night and I was glad for a chance to get to know more of my colleagues. Most of the group were young and single and somehow during the night they started to ask me for advice about relationships. Boy, did I feel old!

Best International Dinner Ever!

It was a memorable dinner last night. All of us met at Sascha and Romina's apartment near Hafen. It was only 2+ miles from my hotel. Juliana had me buy a canon slr camera for her from the states so we played with her new toy for awhile. I brought my ipad and now Romina wants one for Xmas!

Sascha & Romina made Pisco sour which is an alcoholic drink from Peru. When Sascha told us about this drink Juliana said she won't drink it because one of the ingredient is raw egg white. You actually whisk it so it's not the runny egg white that people would think. It had a lot of lemon and ice topped with a dash of cinamon and SO good. I took a sip and ofcourse felt it right away. I nursed it all night so it was fine. It's comparable to the caiprinhnia drink from brazil which I also really like.

When it was time to start the cooking Juliana took out a long scarf and proceeded to wrap her head with it. It actually looked very pretty on her but we asked why she did it. She said it was customary to wear a scarf so you don't get hair in the food, that's like a chef's hat or a cook's hair net but much more stylish. Sascha also brought out aprons for everyone. Vesselin didn't get one and felt left out so sascha gave him a ski hat with those long braids below your ears. He didn't care that he looked silly and wore it all night. We were laughing hysterically at him but he took it in stride.

Their kitchen was half the size as mine but there were 5 of us in the kitchen cooking at once. Most of my time was in the prep work cutting up the vegies and stuff for the salmon topping. I asked sascha to get me raw shrimp and salmon filet and he ended up with cooked shrimp and two tiny filet of frozen salmon. Such a typical guys! It ended up fine because we had so much food. Romina made a nice cold appetizer of cubed potato/tomato/lemon/egg salad scooped into a half avocado, it was very nice presentation and delicious! Vesselin made a nice fresh salad of cubed cucumber, tomato, parsley and feta salad. I was most excited about Juliana's dish which was a traditional Kenyan meal. It was made up of a meat mixture of cubed beefed sauteed in onions and tomatoes, a vegie mixture of thinly sliced greens sauteed with onions. She then made a mix that looked and felt like mashed potatoes but is made out of corn flour. Juliana felt sure we would not like this mixture but wanted to make it anyway. When she mentioned that at home people eat this meal with their hand so ofcourse we all insisted we do it the right way! SO Juliana showed us how to eat it with our hands. It's not just scooping the food up, their is a technique to it. You first take a tablespoon size of the mash mixture, fist it in our palm to a shape of a long egg, use your thumb to make an indentation in the middle, then with your thumb scoop the meat and greens into the hole. All this is done with one hand. When I started using to hands to coordinate I got yelled at! Eventually I got used to it and could do it with one hand. It's not as messy as one might think. You are really touching the meat and vegies with your thumb as you scoop it into the mixture so the mess is really minimum. It was so much fun and really good. The mixture was bland but perfect with the flavorable meat and greens. We were told that the construction workers in africa eat a lot of this cornmeal mixture as a staple to maintain their strength. Supposedly it has a lot of calories. My dish was last and we were getting full, so we took a break in the living room and Romina started to youtube traditional dances from all of our countries - the peruvian and kenyan dances were fun to watch, there was a lot of shaking your booties. Then we was the very tame bulgarian dance with the men in skirst and women wearing head scarves. The vietnamese dances weren't that much more exciting. It was fun to watch all though. Then we started eating again everyone got a kick out of wrapping their own salmon rolls. By the time we had Sascha's german pudding with almonds we were stuffed!

It was past midnight on a work night but we didn't want to leave! Sascha and Vesselin are talking about starting up a cooking school, espescially after I told them I had a hard time finding english speaking german cooking class. I can't wait to try the african meal with my friends back home. For sure I will get these recipes written down. Julianna brought her flour mix from Africa so I'm not sure if I will be able to find it at home!

Back in Germany again....

Sunday Nov 21

My flight to ddorf went smoothly enough. Got on the plane, had my dinner with a glass of mimosa, watched a movie and slept until breakfast was served an hour before we landed in London. My seat stretched out flat so I slept much more comfortably. Gotta love flying business class on british air! I love sitting on the upper deck of the 747, felt like there were only 14 of us on the whole plane.

The NH hotel is fine. Very german with its autere deco style and ikea furniture. There's a U-bahn stop just outside so the commute to work will be easy. I had just enough time to unpack, and then go out to the market to stock up on snacks and coke zero. I barely remembered that all the stores are closed on sunday. I had a nice 3 week break of no caffeine, healthy organic food, regular excercise and yoga. Gary & I went for a walk every night and hiked on the weekends. Now it's back to coffee and coke zero!

The weather is cool and crisp - in the low 40's. I bought a size large wool peacoat so I can add a few extra layers when in estonia next week. It will be in the 20's!

Doing some work today but am excited about dinner tonight. I am getting together with the 2 colleagues from my france audit - sascha and juliana. We are all meeting at sascha's apartment tonight to make an ethnic dinner. Juliana is making a kenyan main course, sascha is making a german dessert, his girlfriend is making a peruvian appetizer, vesselin (another colleague from my department) is making a bulgarian salad and I am making a vietnamese main course. 5 people from 5 different countries, so cool.

This job is not as glamorous as you might think.......

I had to made a note about the man I met on the plane from Paris to Houston. As we were getting settled in our seats I saw him take out his camera and take a picture of the cabin. I was curious so I asked him why he was taking a picture. He explained that his colleagues at home thought that his traveling was all about fancy dinners and sightseeing and luxury. So he took pictures of the view from inside the taxi, pictures of long waits at the airport, pictures from inside the plane with the back of people's heads, catered lunch inside a conference room, etc. He is creating a travel log for his colleagues at home to show them the real deal. I thought it was hysterical! And not so far from the truth with my situation although I don't think it's as bad. We do have a free weekend after the 1st weekend of the audit to do some sightseeing and we do try to eat a nice dinner at night. We also have the opportunity to extend our trip to enjoy the sights after the audit but it's only with special permission. I think I will do more of that when i get to a country I've never been and when Gary has more vacation and can join me.

Despite all this I still take away the fact that I have learned more about the country and the culture based on insights from work colleagues which is more than I would get just being a tourist visiting a country for a short time.

Paris is just as wonderful as I remembered

Friday, October 29

So happy I got to spend 5 hours walking the streets of Paris. Leaving tomorrow morning and I didn’t want to go before getting into Paris city center. Since I got back to Paris last Friday night it has been busy with writing the report and there was no time to steal away and be a tourist. Would have been bummed if I was in France for 3 weeks and never saw the Eiffel tower! The city is lovely in the fall. The leaves were just starting to turn color and already starting to fall.

Our final discussion was really rough today. We expected it and worked hard all week to be prepared and reconcile with the auditees before the meeting. I was really hoping we would finish early so I could go into the city. Our meeting was actually in Serris which is about 30 minutes by car from Paris city center, it was where I was at the beginning of the trip. Finally! At 4pm we were done and ready to go . Juliana & Sascha left for the airport to go back to ddorf. I took a taxi to the train station to catch the RER to city center. 20 minute ride to Point Nuef.

I walked to Notre Dame and it was still the same. The front looks like any other cathedral but the back has all the character and unique dimensions. Luckily I got there with some daylight left for pictures. I knew it would not be long before it gets dark so I thought the best way was to take a boat trip along the Seine river with the Eiffel tower as my final destination. 23 years ago when I was here for the first time, after my semester in spain, I took a tour boat along the Seine so just like old times!

Stumbled upon a hop on hop off type of boat for 13 euros. Not exactly the smaller tour boat but it took me to where I needed to go which was the Eiffel tower. What luck! The sun was starting to set so hopefully I got some really nice pictures. During the whole boat ride the sky took on so many different shades of light and color, so beautiful. 1 hour after we parted Notre Dame the Eiffel tower came into view. It happened to be the best time of the sunset so it was awesome. The horizon was a dark yellow, orange and red. It was dark enough that the whole tower was already illuminated. I was so excited to see it. I was so focused on taking pictures I almost forgot to get off the boat! The Eiffel tower was still a half a mile away and I couldn’t wait to get to it. As I approached it the whole thing started to sparkle. Well, that was new. Imagine a sparkler stick that people light up on new years, except this had a more distinct shape. Apparently they covered the whole tower with alternating xmas lights so the effect was an incredibly sparkling diamond. I looked at my watch and it was 8pm so I was guessing they do this on the hour for about 5 minutes only. Strolled along the river and taking in the scene. By the time I got to the tower I could see all the street vendors selling their glow in the dark miniatures of the Eiffel tower and unfortunately I could hear lots of American tourists. It sounds so strange after 3 weeks of hearing mostly French and French accented English. I felt like it was another language even when our French colleagues speak English. Their accent is thick so I had to concentrate to understand them. Even though it’s really broken French I try to speak French when I talk on the street, don’t know why. I took so many pictures but each step away from the tower I get a different view. I walked further back and discovered a new place I’ve never been to, the Trocadero! It’s a higher point and gave a fantastic view of the tower. By then it was almost 9pm and I could tell by all the people with cameras that they were also waiting for the tower to light up. It was worth the wait. You can hear the indrawn of breathes as some people were pleasantly surprised by the lit up tower.

On this audit I made another 2 good friends. The 3 of us really bonded well. Juliana told me so many stories of her country in Kenya and the many beautiful places in Africa. She called south Africa “plastic” and says that’s where most tourists go. I made a date with her that I will come to Africa and she will by my tour guide, I want to see Zanzibar. In Kenya most people grow up learning both English and Swahili. It took me time to get used to J’s accent.

Sacha is a german who lived in south of france for 10 years when he was younger. It was great to have him with us because he spoke French fluently. Such a nice guy and so smart. He is so easy going. By the end of the trip we made a date to meet at Juliana’s apartment the Sunday that I get to germany in November and have a cook out. I was going to make a Vietnamese dish, J will make a Kenya dish and Sascha “volunteered” his girlfriend who is from Peru to make a Peruvian dish. I brought Vietnamese ingredients the first time I went to germany but never got around to using them and left them there in the office. So it’s all ready to go, I just need to buy veggies and meat when I get there. I can’t wait to see them again.

On our last night together we went out for a late dinner. Juliana, in an effort to be more adventurous ordered a cocktail she never had before. She ordered an Americano in my honor (so sweet). Poor thing, turns out it’s a drink with Campari which is very bitter and none of us could drink it!

This was my best audit so far in terms of work content, audit team and ofcourse location! Who would say no to franch?! Already this week I started preparing for my next audit in which I will again be the audit lead. Estonia which is right below Finland. I already know my audit partner, Laszlo who is a really easy going guy. He is Hungarian so I am still adding another culture to my list of friends! I started doing research on location and hotels and the cities of Tallin(admin office) and Parnu (location of plant) look SO cute. It will be the beginning of winter so temps will most likely be in the 20's and 30's but I have my ugg boots and long underwear ready! And wouldn’t you know it, parnu is known as a spa town! Laszlo actually wanted to stay in a hotel called the Spa and Conference hotel. It's walking distance to the beach. It’s fate!

I had escargots for dinner last night, yum!

Yes, for the uncouthed escargots means snails. Both Sascha and I ordered escargots for appetizers. It was cooked in the shell with butter and pesto, so good. Juliana was horrified when we told her what it was! Like a good sport she did let me persuade her to try one. Not bad was her response! I thought it was better than the almost raw duck liver (fois gras) that she had for her appetizer- yuck.

When eating the escargot I thought it was just like the scene from the movie Pretty Woman. Ok, so the restaurant was one tenth in size and I didn't look like julia roberts, and my clothes were on the dumpy side, and I wasn't on a date with a billionaire. Allright, the only similarity was that the escargots were the same, in the shell and came with the same kind of tool. At one point I had one that was too hidden in the shell to get the meat out so I gave it up. Juliana wouldn't hear of it so she tried to get it out for me, I was leaning back because I totally expected her to not pay attention and the snail could go flying in my direction.

The restaurant had a beaujolais wine so ofcourse we had a glass. It's my favorite wine now, but you don't find it in too many restaurants because it has a short shelf like. It's the opposite of all other wines where it gets better with age. The average shelf life of beaujolais is 2 years and it's better when newer, the one we had last night was 2009.

I made a date with Sascha and J that I would cook a vietnamese meal for them when I come to germany next month. I left the ingredients in my office in ddorf so it's all there. Yes, I think the 3 of us bonded quite nicely.

View of Eiffel Tower outside my office window-sweet!

How often will I get to say that?! The 3 of us work out of a conference room in the office here. However, I needed a private office for a conference call this afternoon so they gave me the office key to office of a senior vp who is in germany most of the time. From his office I see a perfect view of the eiffel tower which is about 5-6 miles away.

Had 3 hours of sleep last night. It would have been the worst night of the trip since we had the deadline to turn in the report this morning. Last night we worked until 9pm until the office lights went out (literally). Had to use our open laptop for some light and pack up! Sascha made a funny comment that there's a french law that does not allow people to work more than 12 hour per day. Boy these people has it good here. No wonder they are not as stressed out as us americans! That and they have way better bakeries! Buying an eclair at safeway bakery is just not the same, no way.

Weather is getting cold here! 40 in the morning and 60 during the day. perfect fall weather. We walk 10 minutes to work so it's nice. On the way to work is our favorite bakery/boulangerie. I had a croissant this morning that was different, there was apple filling in the middle and it was so good. I am still too greedy and buying too much. Sitting in front of me is another raisin croissant that I couldn't eat. will have to throw it out. You just don't eat day old baked goods here, not when you can buy it cheap right out of the oven.

This morning I gave gary instructions to book me a massage for sunday or monday as soon as I get back! Sitting at a desk for long hours is killer on your neck and back! First thing when I get back this weekend is to go on a nice hike on sunday morning with my honey.

The french bakeries are just as I remembered!

Unfortunately. Going on a diet here is NOT an option.

J and I met up with Sascha our third teammate on Friday night. Our hotel in Paris is much better. The Hnkle headquarters in France is located in the Paris suburb of Boulogne. There's a subway station 50 feet from our hotel and it's a 15 minute right into the city center.

Yesterday morning (Saturday) went out with Sascha to look for breakfast while J sleeps in. French breakfast is typically a croissant and coffee so we couldn't really find a sit down restaurant for breakfast. Ended up in a bakery near the hnkl office that sascha and juliana know well. OMG, everything looked SO good. All kinds of tarts, breads, croissants. I tried this fanstastic concoction with 2 pieces of white bread, thin piece of ham in the middle and a pile of gruyere and mozarella cheese on top, all baked until it's brown on top. I told Gary I'm going to try and make this when I get home. Anyway, my eyes were bigger than my stomach and we bought so much. Aside from the ham&cheese melt, we got 2 baugettes, 3 raisin croissants and 10 little mini tarts. We ended up only eating through half of it! I was so full I had to skip lunch. Had to go out to buy some fruit so I don't get out of control. This morning when we did our trip to the bakery we did buy a lot less, mostly because we plan to come back to get a sandwich and dessert for lunch! They all look so tempting! I still bought too much since I was only able to eat one of the two mini quiches. Tomorrow I'll have to try what sascha bought which was a small crispy baguette topped a little bit of cheese and sausage. So much good food so little stomach space!

I ran out yesterday to get a massage. So disappointed that they did not have deep tissue and only relaxing massages. Better than nothing. Juliana found out about it last night and wanted to go as well. Until I told her how the french give massages, then she changed her mind. They give you a pair of skimpy disposable underwear and do not cover the rest of you. That's why they don't have male maseusse! For half of the time you lay on your back and your boobs are exposed. After the legs they rub your tummy and work around the boobs! Since I have gotten so many massages nothing shocks me anymore. I also knew the french are the opposite of modest when it comes to things like this. I just don't want to offend anyone with my fat body.

After the massage I found a mall nearby and thank goodness they had a zara store. This is a nicer version of H&M. The clothes are affordable so I don't feel too bad. Bought a few thin sweaters for the cooler weather and to wear over my button down shirts to cover the gaping openings due to my weigh gain! Bought a pair of warm pants and skirt. I tried to control myself since I have so much clothes at home! Now I'm set for the rest of the week. Wish I could wear those fashionable boots everyone wears now. So cute when they wear their skirts with tights and boots. With so much walking I can't do the heels! The shoes are not comfortable as the ones I have at home.

Working in our room all weekend since our report is due Tuesday morning to germany for the first round of review. I've got 50-60 pages to crank out. Bummed that I can't enjoy beautiful Paris right now. Before I leave on Saturday I need to run out take some pictures of eiffel tower and notre dame. I've seen these sights before but my pictures have got to be at least 15 years ago and not with my SLR. I think last time I was in Paris it was a new year trip with andy.

Gary went on a nice full moon hike last night with our friends, I hate it when I miss things like this. Have to remind myself that it will only be for a year. Actually it's almost 3 months already and 7 more to go.

I'm alive and well in france, despite all talks of the strike...

Friday, October 22

On the fast train to Paris and catching up with my blog…

First of all it’s damn lucky there was a train. We planned to leave from Villefranche and go back to Paris right after work on Friday. Juliana had a later train and I was going to change my ticket to match her time. Turned out my train was the only one running that day. With the strike you have to check day by day to see what train is running. What a pain in the ass this strike is going to be. So far I hear a lot about it on the news but have not seen anything from where I was. I only feel it in how we plan our travels. Supposedly international flights are not affected so I will keep my fingers crossed. It was funny when I heard on the news yesterday that they are telling airlines flying into france to come in with enough fuel to fly out! Since the strikers are setting up blockades at the oil refineries it is starting to cause a fuel shortage in the country. As of Friday about 30% of gas stations are out of fuel and there are lines at the ones that are open.

By chance I called my mom earlier in the week and she was so relieved to hear from me she started crying, I felt so bad! Apparently she hears about the strike on TV and saw some violence break out in some demonstrations and was worried about me. She was thinking there was violence everywhere. It’s typical that the news would depict the worse. We talk about it quite a bit at lunch with our local colleagues so it’s interesting. I see it on BBC but they report it on an international level. It’s interesting to get perspective from the locals. The plant mgr Christian said that in the US the union would try to negotiate first and then go on strike if there can’t be agreement. In France the unions go on strike first and then negotiate. They do this to show their power and leverage. Now they’ve incited the young population, the students, into it. These kids are the ones that get rowdy and get in trouble with the police. I wonder if they are just getting into the action or if they truly believe in what the strike is all about. Come on, they should be glad that the retirement age is only going from 60 to 62. Just look at their neighbors, Germany is 65 and England is going to be 66. But France has long ago gained the reputation of going on strike at a drop of the hat. They do not like change and do not like it that their president (Sarkozy) is trying to put in reforms in order to save the economy. Did they expect to continue to live the good life forever when the rest of the world have issues? The government is declaring some of the blockades unconstitutional and stepping in to break up the human blockades on some of the oil refineries. It would be interesting to check out these demonstrations but I promised Gary and my mom that I would not go near them. I guess that would be asking for trouble. I’m just pissed that it might stop me from checking out some of the sights in Paris this weekend. School holidays start next week so supposedly the strikes are easing up because no one will be around. I guess the unions are taking a vacation from the strike, how stupid is that!

I so regret not having more time to enjoy Beaujolais country, it’s so pretty here. When Gary & I were in Amsterdam we went to the van gogh museum. I loved it and learned a lot about the artist. Towards the end of his life van gogh went down to the French countryside to get away from the hectic Paris city scene. During that time he did a lot of paintings to depict the surroundings he loved so much. Anyway, Villefranche reminded me of this. Rolling mountains and vineyards in the distance, big open fields of wheat or corn, stone farm houses scatter around the fields. Thick blankets of fog rolling into the valley in the early morning hours, crisp clean air. I wish I had more time to take pictures. Fall is just beginning and the leaves are starting to change color. I meant to walk to the river to take pictures before I leave but this week was so busy that we were leaving the office between 8-9pm and then back to the hotel at 10pm, after dinner. The ladies at the office were so sweet about wanting me to come back down next week. Valerie the receptionist says to send here an email and she will show me around “Beaujolais” country. They are very patient with my broken French and try to teach me. I don’t expect that in Paris. Country people are much more relaxed and friendly in general I think.

My teammates on this assignments were fine, I think we got along well although all very different personalities. Norbert is a 50-ish scientist with doctorate and is the opposite of me so he drives me nuts sometimes. From the beginning I tried to establish a schedule for him along with expectations. He must think I was a slave driver but seems to take things in stride. He is a wine connoisseur so would proceed to tell you about every wine there is. I must admit I learned something from him and I did enjoy a glass of Beaujolais every night at dinner. Poor guy, I think he was traumatized by dinner at McDonalds last night. We worked late last night and did not leave the office until 9:30pm and only because I was getting hungry and cranky. Since we had more work to do that night I made the decision to stop at McDs for a quick bite instead of regular dinner in town. Well, throughout the meal he gave me an account of each of the 4 occasions when he had a burger and kept looking at his burger in disbelief and claims there is no taste to it! Too bad, I really did not have time or energy for a 2 hour meal. You really can’t rush a meal when you are in France, they won’t let you. That’s how I started having a glass of wine to sip and savor while waiting for your meal. It’s actually quite pleasant. Back home people would eat their meals in 10 minutes and would complain if the waitress is not fast enough. Or the waitress would rush you through so to increase the turnover. In France they will never give you the check until you ask for it. I really liked taking 2 hours to eat my meal. Wonder if I will go back to my old ways when I’m home.

I love the food here! I know I gained weight because my clothes are not fitting very well. OMG, I am so going on a diet when I get home, so depressing. But there is no way I am going to skip out on the great food and the fantastic French bread! It’s not like I am gorging on food but I am not active with walking or hiking like at home, and the food is free and good so ofcourse I am going to pick up that yummy looking tart! Will have to do some emergency shopping in Paris this weekend because I am popping out of my button down shirts which is all I have aside from the short sleeves. I can’t wear the short sleeve because the temps have dropped drastically from the first week. Yep, I packed very poorly this trip, will have to do better for Estonia. Anyway, back to my favorite topic, food. I have got to learn how to make some of these sauces, a far cry from the American gravy!. The cook for the employee café is so good. Since it’s a small team here and all are friendly to each other, I worked up the courage to ask the cook to give me some of his recipes – coq au vin, pork bouginon, creamy potatos, etc. Win-win since he was very proud of the fact that I asked for his recipes. He got my email address yesterday and promised to send me recipes. Since he did not speak any English the recipes will be in French! I would so rather hang out in the kitchen with him and learn to cook than do the work I was doing!

For the last week we will all be together in Paris. It’s been many years since I’ve been to Paris, can’t wait to walk around and soak in the atmosphere AND eat some great crepes! Juliana asked me the other day what crepes were, OMG! I told her she cannot leave france without eating a crepe from one of those streetcar vendor that makes it to order, with nutella and grand marnier!!

I’m skying gary everyday and that really helps. Fortunately with the time zone it works out well. I skype him when I get up and we talk for half an hour while I get ready for work and he is ready for bed. I am loving my ipad, best buy this year.

Lyon - my new favorite city!!

Sometimes things done on impulse work out better than you planned (thank goodness).

Earlier in the week someone suggested I stay the night in Lyon rather than just for the day. By Friday I was trying to figure out how it could work. Perhaps go on Saturday and come back Sunday. Unfortunately Nathalie told me that on Saturday there was going to be some nationwide demonstrations and Lyon was one of the city. She was nice enough to do some research and told me that the demonstration was going to start at 2:30pm on Saturday and even showed me where it was going to be so that I could avoid that area. After some quick thinking and some research on hotels on trip advisor I took a risk and booked myself a room in a 4 star hotel in the heart of old town Lyon for Friday AND Sat nights. It's a risk because I wasn't sure if I would have any trouble getting a train to Lyon on Friday night.

Based on the website there was a train to Lyon every 15 minutes so my chances were good. Well, apparently I didn't look at the right website. I guess there's a special website during the strike that would show all the cancellations. I got to the train station in Villefranche and the next and last train was at 8pm, 2 hours away. I had no choice but to wait. I could see on the board all the trains that were cancelled or delayed. It turned out my train got delayed as well, by half an hour. I guess reality was setting in!

When I gave the cab driver at the Lyon train station the address of my hotel - Rue du Boeuf. He was gessturing and telling me that it's problematic to get to that part because the street was very narrow for cars. I understood what he was telling me but what I couldn't get was if he was going to take me there or not! After a few iterations he gesstured for me to sit back, c'est bon! Whew! It was exciting to drive through the city, the hotel was a 15 minute ride. We passed over the Rhone river and then the Saone river before reaching Old Lyon. It was a miniature of Paris, I loved it! When we crossed over into Old Lyon it was like another world. The streets were cobblestone and only had enough room (barely) for one car. The buildings date back to the 14th century.

I love my hotel! Cour des Loges is a combination of 4 buildings in Renaissance architecture. It dates back to 1378 and were homes of weathly italian merchants before it was used as a monestary. Throughout are rich tones of orange brown and red. There is a big courtyard in the middles and lots of archways in each of the 5 stories. It was amazing - check out their website to get an idea http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.courdesloges.com/&ei=LDG7TN3iE-CR4gannaDPDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcour%2Bde%2Bloges%2Blyon%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3DmThe guy that checked me in was a young version of Michael J Fox, cute and little. He walked me up to my room and showed me where everything was. Meanwhile another guys is carrying my little laptop rolling bag. Oh, did I mention that the reason I picked this hotel was because they had a spa? I so needed a massage and some pampering!

I almost passed this hotel when searching on trip advisor because it was #17. It turned out some bonehead americans gave it a low rating because they didn't like the strange architecture and layout of the room. They had the same room type as I had, the mezzanine room which is the cheapest. I thought the room was so cool. The architect was creative in using small vertical space. You walk into the narrow room and the bathroom and closet is on either side. Then a small space for a table & chairs. Straight ahead is a greenhouse like space that has a huge bathtub and rainshower. On the left are steps going up to a mezzanine with a big bed with lots and lots of big pillows. AND as a bonus my room happens to be on the same floor as the spa. All I have to do is get into my robe and slippers and walk to the spa, which I promptly did! I did book a massage for the next day. Oh the life, I've died and gone to spa heaven!

On Saturday I couldn't wait to explore the city. Since I did have a report to write I couldn't afford to be out too long. Old Lyon was amazing. I walked a couple of blocks and turned the corner and saw a huge cathedral. Turned out to be the Lyon Cathedral, there's quite a few of them scattered throughout the city. I wandered through shops and crossed the bridge into Lyon city center. Big bummer that the us dollars sucks so bad right now. The clothes here are SO cute! But expensive so I couldn't justify buying too much.

I had a late lunch at a restaurant across from the hotel that had asian food. I heard the owner speak Vietnamese on the phone so I struck up a conversation with him. He was very friendly and before I knew it he pulled up a chair and hung out with me in between greeting some other patrons and cooking the meals! He had a sister who lived in the states and learned that life in america was rough. Based on what he heard from his sister people work hard and do not have time to enjoy life. He couldn't imagine living with only 2 weeks of vacation. Even with a restaurant he only works an average of 4 days a week and would take off half a month if he wanted to. He only earn enough to live by is not interested in getting rich. He was very proud of his children who have gone through the university. He was interested in how many hours I work a day and kept repeating how it's a rough life living in america. The thing was I couldn't really argue with him. I have heard before that the french like to live the good life. Somehow they make time to enjoy and savor, unlike many americans who work too hard in order to keep up with their big mortgage payments and fancy cars. My new friend eventually brought out a bottle of wine and invited me for a glass. It was interesting talking to him. I was surprised to find out he was in his mid 50's, he looked 40! Hmm, maybe he had a point about living the good life.

My massage was good. At first I was disappointed that it wasn't a deep tissue which was what I needed for my tense shoulders. It was called a relaxation massage and I guess that's what she did. At one point I did ask her to be more firm but I don't think she got the point. I was thinking that it was too soft to be effective but wouldn't you know it, I was so relaxed I took a 2 hours nap after I got back to my room!

As tempting as Lyon was, I did have a deadline to meet with the report, had to turn in a draft version by Sunday afternoon. As a result I got up at 5:30 Sunday morning and cranked through the writing. All this done in my cozy robe, in bed, with tons of soft pillow propped behind me. I did take a short break to go out to one of the MANY boulangerie and got some yummy mini quiches, a crusty baguette, and a couple eclairs :-) Yeah, there's no way I'm losing (or maintaining) weight on this trip. The thing is, I don't care. Some things in life are meant to be enjoyed. Life's too short to deprive yourself. I can diet when I get home! If I can just do all my assignments like this! Turned in the report by noon and really wanted to do some sightseeing before heading back to VF. Good thing I thought to ask the concierge to check the train schedule because of the strike. Turns out most of the trains were cancelled. We did find one at 4pm so that was that. I had 2 1/2 hours to do some speed sightseeing. Actually I got a lot of walking aimlessly yesterday. I really wanted to see the Notre Dame Cathedral Fourvier that sits on top of a hill in Lyon. Heard that it's not to be missed. To get there you have to take a furnicular up the hill, only a 5 minute ride. Once we got out of the station the basilica was right there. I've seen many cathedrals in my travels but this one was the most breathtaking. The inside was entirely of tiny mosaic tiles, it was so ornate and crazy to look at. As a bonus you get a fantastic view of Lyon below.

I was sad to have to leave, will definitely plan a return trip with Gary. The train station was chaotic. Looking at the board literally every train was delayed. By miracle my train was on time! This strike is a pain in the ass. If it drags on I'm not sure if I will get back up to Paris this Friday! We'll see.

And the strike goes on...

I guess I was lucky to get on the train to Villefranche 2 hours before the strike but now it's dragging on longer than I thought. According to my french colleagues it's more of an annoyance to folks not involved with the strike. Not only are all public transportation halted (subways, buses, trains planes) but public schools are also closed and now the oil refineries are also affected b/c they have no way to transport the fuel. The eventual result of this is there would be no fuel at gas stations and cars would be affected! this last part would happen it it goes on for months. I was planning to do some sightseeing in Lyon which is a short half hour train ride further south. Now I'm not so sure if it will be that easy to get there. Worse case taxi is an alternative but could cost about $60 vs $15 for the train. We will see.

It's been foggy here in the last two days. Apparently this could happen since we are so close to the Rhone river. I took a walk along a really lovely path yesterday after work and realized that the river was only about 1/2 mile. I was just getting over a light case of the flu so couldn't push myself too much. Thank goodness today I felt much better. Gary couldn't understand why I couldn't just call in sick. I guess I could but it would make matters worse in the end. You don't get to move out the end of the assignment and everyday is booked with interviews from morning to end of day. If you miss one day it would be impossible to make up. Good thing it wasn't really bad, I just had to take it easy on Tues and Wed and drink lots of liquids.

The food is so good here! Lunchtime at the employee cantine is a nice variety of gourmet food and desserts. Yesterday I had pork bourguignon. Yep, the french really like wine in their cooking. They also really like their sauces. It's so fattening but unfortunately too good to pass up. At least I try to stay away from the creamy sauces and stick with the wine sauces which I happen to love anyway. Desserts are all kinds of tarts, custards and fruit & soft cheeses. And by the way, I think the cafe workers in Scottsdale should hand us our plate of food with a "Bon Appetit!" greeting as they do over here. It just makes it so much nicer!

I can't wait to wander around old town Villefranche and take some pics this weekend. I don't hear much english spoken here since americans tend to go to Paris first. Actually, don't think I have run into any english speaking people! Most people will shake their heads when I ask them if they spoke english. Either they don't really speak english or just don't feel like it. Either way I have no choice but to speak french to them. It's really broken french but I know enough key words and body language to get my message across. I find it easier to read french than to speak it. People probably cringe when they hear me speak but so far no real problems!

Flew to Paris.....just in time for a strike (almost)

What is it about me and my timing? Should I expect a volcano eruption when I go to Estonia next month?!

Last week our colleagues in France warned me of an impending strike on Tuesday to protest the new law that went into effect raising the age for retirement. This means that all public transportation including bus, trains, planes will come to a standstill for an unknow amount of time. Typically it lasts a day mainly to make a statement, although in 1995 the strike lasted for a month. I got into Paris on Sunday morning so no problem there. The concern is that on Monday night I have to take a train to south of France to begin my assignment at the plant. When we had the opening meeting on Monday morning in Serris (about 20km outside of Paris city center) people were saying that I could have a problem because even though the strike is announcement for Tuesday it usually starts at 8pm the night before. They had that "good luck with you" look when I told them that my train to Villefranche sur Saone leaves at 6pm on Monday! I suddenly had visions of being stuck in Paris amid all the chaos, struggling with luggage and not having a way to get to my destination! Anyway, it turned out ok.

My team mates Sascha and Juliana stayed in Paris for another part of the assignment while I go to the south. I would be on my own for a week and then Juliana will join me for the second week and then we will all be together in Paris for the 3rd week.

I wish I was a little braver in driving in Europe so I could rent a car and have more freedom of moving around. Right now I am relying on taxis which is really expensive! My train from Paris to Macon Loche was 1 1/2 hours and then a half hour taxi ride further south to the little town of Villefranche sur Saone. I love the french countryside. Rolling green hills, vinyards and old stone houses. Villefranche is in the middle of Beaujolais country. I was told that there are a lot of japanese tourist because they love this particular type of wine which is fruitier and sweeter. I also learned from colleagues here that this wine is not meant to last a long time. There are lots of wineries scattered throughout this town so I will definitely make time to do a tour. The map says that these are wine caves, not sure what this means but I intend to find out.

Met me colleagues from Villefranche plant and all are very nice. Their english is very good, much better than my french! Lunch at the cantine was cornish hen slow cooked in white wine, I was surprised to not see a pitcher of wine at the table!

The city center of VF is so cute. Typical european old town complete with a small cathedral smack in the middle. I can't wait to explore more of it this weekend since our hotel is 2-3 miles from the center and too far to walk at night.

I'm still getting used the time change and this times seems a bit more difficult. Haven't had much sleep and thinking that I am coming down with something. I really hope it's just from lack of sleep. It's been an average of 3 hours of sleep the last 2 nights. To make it worse this morning I woke up at the clock on my BB wrong and thought it was 6:30am and time to get up. So I got up, got ready, dressed and ready to go when I looked at the time again and it said 4am! That mean I actually got up at 3am! Another bonehead move. I never questioned it because I was wide awake! It turned out to be ok since I made good use of the time and got some work done and was able to skype with Gary.

My biggest struggle so far is understand the french colleague when they speak english to quickly, it's like another foreign language. I mainly struggle with their names. This morning their were at least a dozen people that introduced themselves to me and I got ZERO of their names! It was too embarrassing to ask them to write it down. I figured I would get who they were when I have my one on one sessions with them. Same thing happened in the meeting in Paris on Monday!

One word for France so far - EXPENSIVE. Good thing I'm not paying for all this. The half hour taxi ride last night from the train station was $130! yikes, I'm hoping they are not just fleecing the stupid american!

Coming up for air after Taipei

Friday, Oct 1

Amazing but I survived the 2 weeks in Taiwan. Our assignment turned out to be extremely complicated and we were working hard all the way until I had to leave for the airport today. It’s been 2 weeks of working until 1am and getting up 5 hours later to do it all again. Sounds bad but I learned so much and feel more ready for France next week. You know what they say, what doesn’t kill will make you wish you were dead. Just kidding. This is the best way to learn, by going through it.I wished I had more time to write to capture the little things I want to keep in my memories.

The people of Taiwan are lovely. They are soft spoken and polite and very sweet. They are very proud of their country and culture and work hard to make sure you walk away impressed. The colleagues here have been beyond hospitable. If they catch wind of you liking something the next thing you know it’s there for you. As Rene said, it is the character of the people of Asia that they pay very close attention to your wants and make sure you get it.

Last night I had the most memorable meal EVER! After our closing meeting the local Taiwan team took us out to a special dinner. One of the famous land mark of Taipei is a building called Taipei 101. Guess how stories the building has? Yep, 101 stories. We ate at a restaurant on the 86th floor that serves traditional Taiwanese food. The President of Hkl Taiwan (Paul) ordered food for our group of 14. Let’s put it this way, our meal lasted 3 hours. The food didn’t all come at once. Instead they would bring out one dish at a time so that you can slowly eat and savor. First came a cold dish of meats – slices of goose, fresh chicken(taste like the Vietnamese freshly killed chicken in a very light fish sauce), an mullet roe which they explained to me is fish egg. I didn’t believe them because it didn’t look like the fish egg I knew. Instead it looked like slices of tuna fish, at least the look and color. The taste is unique and quite good. It was explained to me that they dry the fish egg and then bake it. Other courses were sliced squid cooked in a clay pot with ginger and whole garlic, savory shrimp, fried oysters, sautéed melons (just like the Vietnamese muop), baked fish in a “seed from the tree” sauce, roast pork, crispy slices of taro, fried squid balls. At one point they brought out a huge touret of shark fin soup. We were told that this used to be just for the king. I’ve had shark fin soup but there’s usually a little bit of it in a bowl and it’s in small pieces. The shark fins in our soup was huge, at least the size of an oyster mushroom. We finished the meal with a bowl of hot almond milk which was also delicious. The strangest thing – we all had a glass of wine for the meal and ofcourse had a toast in the beginning. However, throughout the meal one by one the Taiwanese colleagues would call out my name to catch my eye and raise their glass to toast me, some would do it more than once. They would do this throughout the night to the 4 of us. I have never seen this before.

One of our favorite lunchtime meal is the traditional beef noodle soup. It’s very popular here. It’s a beef broth with chunks of super tender braised beef. The shop by the plant make their own noodles for the soup and it’s fantastic. Each time the guys would also order my favorite veggie, sautéed water spinach (rau muon), just like the way my mom makes it. I really love Taiwanese food. It’s similar but different from Chinese food.

The language here is Cantonese. Not a lot of people speak English here which is very different from Philippines. If I had a dollar for every time someone speaks Chinese to me thinking that I was Chinese I would be rich. They tell me I look Chinese. I got tired of interrupting them with “sorry, English please!” It’s too hard to learn the language, all I could say was thank you and hello. Even the cab drivers don’t speak English.
Last Sunday I decided to make time to do a half day tour to see the country. I worked late the night before and early Sunday in order to do an afternoon tour. This was a 4 hour tour of the northeast coast of the island. It was wonderful. We had a nice sunny day and the coast was gorgeous. This part of the island is more rocky with cliffs which made it better for pictures. The western side of the island is more sandy. We stopped to look at The Beach of Two Colors which was basically a mix of ocean water and river water that was dense with copper from the mining town right next to it. We spent an hour at a really cool mining village high up in the mountains. In the village there’s an old street that’s at least half a mile long. It’s a narrow cobblestone street with shops on either side. There were red lanterns hanging over the shops. It was super crowed with tourists, mainly asian. There were so many storefronts that were cooking traditional food. I met an American girl name Laura from Colorado so we hung out together. She was not liking the few stores that had displayed in small sections seasoned chicken hearts, gizzards, chicken feet, blood pudding, you get the idea. Other shops made the sweet soups with various tapioca balls and sweet beans. Some shops had grilled meats and ofcourse there were tea shops. All of this was a feast for the eyes, I was so fascinated. The guide let us wander the street on our own for an hour. At the end of the street we all met at one of the oldest tea house in the village. They had individual tables with a hole in the middle where a teapot is boiling over hot coals. You choose a type of tea from the menu and the tea lady would come to prepare your tea. We sat on the patio which was perched on a cliff on the mountain. The view was awesome. Our guide was a Taiwanese guy named Frank. He got my name mixed up and kept calling me hampson. Laura and I sat in the back of the van with a Japanese professor in between us. We had some interesting conversations about Japan. I was trying to remember the name of Gary’s favorite show (Ninja Warrior) which is filmed in Japan, Mount Fujimoto?

The traffic in the city is horrendous. Luckily our hotel is less than a block from the main office so we don’t have to worry on the days we work at the office. Half the time we are at the plant which is an hour west of Zhonghe city. After about 20 minutes we leave the busy city and driving in the lush country side. If it wasn’t for the lack of white people I would think we were in Hawaii!

I really enjoyed working with the Taiwan team. They are so nice. Back in germany I coordinated with Paul the president of the region. His voice and mannerism reminded me so much of my brother T. He is so nice I think he set a good example for the rest of his team of 127. I love the HR mgr Meifei. She is a beautiful lady with white pale skin, long black hair and a very gentle disposition. She was so interested in what we did. When I came to say goodbye today she gave me a big hug. I was frantically working until the last minute to send the report. As the assignment leader I was responsible for gathering pieces of the report from the other 3 team members, putting it together and sending it out. I didn’t have time to say goodbye to everyone properly.

I already told Gary this place is worth a revisit. We have good reason since our friend Heather is from here and she comes home to visit. I want to come back to see more of the country. The most beautiful part is in the south with the high mountain ranges, hot springs, gorges etc. Actually most of the population of 29 million people live in the northwestern third of the island where it’s flatter. The highest mountain peak is 12,000 feet in the middle of the island, that’s no small change.

I realized I circumvented the globe in the last 2 months. I left Phx end of July, heading east to germany. Then I head east to asia. Then I headed east to Phx to complete the circle. Cool.

One week in AZ to recover, get clean clothes, replenish the freezer for Gary and head to Paris on Oct 9. The best is getting some Gary time. We discovered Skype in Taiwan so it’s free to talk to each other every day. Can’t believe I didn’t get into it earlier. So far we are doing ok with the situation.

Now I need to freshen up on my French which was poor at best.