Welcome to Herzogenaurach!

Welcome!!

It's about 2:30 in the morning here in Hong Kong, and I'm wide awake... why?  Well, jet lag is a beautiful thing.  I've just returned from yet another trip to Germany.  I'm working on a really interesting project that will probably send me back a few more times before I can say I'm finished.  It was a great, productive week, although I did miss Brian terribly.  The good news is that I don't have to travel for work again until April 21st!

When I left, Brian gave me specific instructions - he wanted to see what this village in Germany (whose name is impossible to pronounce by non-Germans... so we call it simply "Herzo") is all about.  So, when I arrived last Sunday morning, in order to fight the jet lag I was experiencing on that end of the journey, I took a stroll around this quaint town that is the home of not only one, but two sporting goods companies.  

First... to take a step back in time.  Adidas (which comes from the name of the company's founder, Adolf Dassler... not "All Day I Dream About Sports" as some young men in junior high used to say) was started in 1924 by the Dassler brothers, Adolf and Rudolf.  At some point in time after WWII, they had a falling out, and Rudolf formed his own sporting goods company - Puma.  When I joined the company, I read a book called Sneaker Wars that talks about the history of the industry and this famous falling out.  Fascinating read for sneaker heads.  :)  The two companies are still headquartered in Herzogenaurach.  In fact, I drove by the Puma HQ every day on my way to the adidas HQ.  It's actually quite amazing that these two companies (and another large company not in the sporting goods industry) are able to find enough people to work - Herzo is seriously waaaaaaay in the country, and is just a tiny little town.

I actually enjoyed being there very much.  After being in Hong Kong, a city which doesn't really sleep, it was a nice change of pace.  I got up every morning and went for a run, and I didn't have to dodge cars or millions of people on the sidewalk.  In fact, most days I didn't even see anyone!  The air was so clean and crisp - a nice break for my poor lungs that have been inhaling smog from China and bus fumes in Hong Kong.  Sunday is an interesting day in Germany.  I think you either absolutely love it or you can't stand it.  Everything, with the exception of a few restaurants, is closed on Sunday.  Coming from a country where not only are most things open on Sunday, but open 24 hours a day, I think this would be a tough thing for some people to get used to.  I have to say though, I kind of like it.  When I went for a run on Sunday, I ran through a neighborhood, and in just about every yard, the kids were out playing and the parents were reading, chatting, or gardening.  I saw neighbors walking with a pie to a dinner with friends.  I didn't see a bunch of stressed out people in cars running from one place to another.  It's a pain not to be able to go to the grocery store, but I suppose you could get used to planning your errands on the other days of the week, and really enjoy that day of rest.  I certainly did.

Without further ado, here is my photo record of my walkabout on Sunday:

This is a football town.  Er, soccer.  This football is the main landmark, and my hotel was just around the corner, so it was easy to tell taxis, "Drop me off by the football".  :)

This is SUCH a cute little German town.  Feels almost like a movie set, but it is real!

 

Cute little neighborhood

Quintessential German Church

Puma HQ

The main building of the adidas HQ - this used to be a US air base during WWII

The main building I work in - it's called Laces and was just built - one of the coolest buildings I have ever worked in.  :)

So, hope you enjoyed the tour.  Every time I go, I meet more and more people and start to feel more and more comfortable.  I got to have dinner with an old friend from Nike that also came to "the dark side".  It's always nice to have someone to sanity check things with.  :)  I also got to see a friend of mine at the Amsterdam airport on my way back to Hong Kong.  Sometimes, the world amazes me... it's really not all that big anymore.  My friend Zoe and I both landed at about 7:45pm, met for a quick drink, then she went on to Utrecht and I went on to Hong Kong.  You know,  just two friends meeting for a drink.  :)

Our exciting news is that we will have some very special visitors in just a few days!  Brian's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and our nephew will arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday night!  We are so excited to see everyone!  We will take a short trip to Beijing, and try to give them a feel of what it's like to live here.  Pictures to come!  :)

Cambodia

Last weekend, I added a new country to my list.  Those that knew me while I was living in Amsterdam know that I set a goal of seeing 30 countries before turning 30... I did it, just by the skin of my teeth, and, yes, Luxumburg IS a country (so is Vatican City, but let's not go down this path...).  There are a long list of places that I still want to visit, but, recently, I've been mostly going to the same old places that I've been going to for the past 6 years that I've been working in the footwear manufacturing industry - Korea, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.  Well, as labor gets more and more expensive in the typical manufacturing countries, manufacturing starts to spread out to where labor is still relatively cheap.  You probably have noticed that when you buy a printer, it no longer says "Made in China" all of the time... it most likely says "Made in Vietnam".  Same with footwear... what used to be made almost entirely in Korea and Japan then moved to China, and what was then made in China moved to Vietnam, Indonesia, and, in the past two years, Cambodia.  Which is why footwear prices are virtually the same as what they were ten years ago.  Which is why I was there last weekend.

I arrived on Friday night, then spent the whole day on Saturday visiting three of our footwear factories.  It was really interesting to get to see how things are developing in a new country - there are different laws, different challenges, and different ways of working.  For Cambodia, for example, the people used to all be farmers.  So, it's still quite typical during farming season for people to leave the factories to go to the fields.  New country, same challenges.  I think, however, that in no time, Cambodia will have just as much infrastructure as Vietnam.  Right now though, it's easy to understand why people would rather farm... once you get out to the country, where one of our factories is, there is NOTHING TO BUY... no restaurants, no shops, no nothing, so there is little point to trying to earn more money.  Once people start to get more and more money to open shops, buy scooters, etc, I think the economy will start to take off.  It was pretty cool to see things now... in 5-10 years, it's going to be a different world in Cambodia.

On the way to the factory... lots of farmland and skinny cows

These flat lands flood every summer, so the houses are all built up on stilts so the houses are protected.

One of the footwear factories in Cambodia... it's still relatively undeveloped, so the only signs of life nearby are this factory and a brewery nearby!

Typical interior of a footwear factory

Even monks have to get around somehow...

A new record for scooter transportation - family of 5!

On Sunday, my colleague and I had some time to explore Phnom Penh, the capital and largest city in Cambodia.  I was pretty impressed, to be honest.  I was expecting a smaller version of Ho Chi Minh City, but it has a charm all its own.  It was clean, which is a characteristic hard to come by in a lot of large Asian cities.  It was also hotter than hell... 38 degrees Celsius, which is about 100 degrees Fahrenheit!  We took a "tuk-tuk" all over the city.  Luckily, this time we didn't get kidnapped the way I did in Bangkok (okay, okay... I didn't really get kidnapped, but they did take us on a wild goose chase all over the city - stopping in at lots of shops that they thought we should buy things in!).

Independence Monument

The Palace - Beautiful!

Monument at the Palace

Lots of dried fish - um, no thank you!

Next stop was Vietnam, where I had meetings with the rest of the footwear management team for a week.  I also had the pleasure of a dinner with my costing team in Vietnam.  It was one of my team member's birthdays, so we celebrated with a yummy cake!

The whole VN Costing Gang!

I got home late on Friday night, and was so happy to see my wonderful husband!!  I have to say, I am really lucky... Brian never complains about all of my travel... if he did, it would make it even harder for me to be gone so much.  He just always asks me, "You're coming home, right?".  We always just try to make the most of our time together.  I had a strange realization in HCMC - I think I know that city better than I know Hong Kong, which is where I technically live, even if I am never here.  So... on Saturday, we decided to be tourists for the day.  We took a double decker tourist bus all over the city to see the sites.  It was fun!  :)

My love

A touch of new and old in Hong Kong

This is the building we live in... wave if you can see us!  ;)

I'm happy to be back at home, even if it is just for a few days... I leave again on Saturday to go to Germany.  Then, one more week until Brian's family arrives to Hong Kong.  We are looking forward to the Easter Break, when we will all go to Beijing for 4 days.  We are slowly but surely finding our way in this crazy city, and, I have to say, we are pretty darn happy.  :)  Brian and I are both really enjoying our jobs and the experience of living in a different culture.  Much love to our friends and family back home!  We miss you!