Stress Reliever

So, this whole experience is quite contrived I am sure.  I have lost track of the number of teams I am working on now.  So, you already know about my diverse "M" team.  It is the most diverse group I have worked with and I am sure will be my favorite.  I have another team that is my activity team.  We have been given a very complex and difficult task that will last BEYOND the end of the training.  I have observed today that we are a team of 25.....who are almost exclusively physicists and engineers....most of whom have a type "A" personality, exhibit a lack of creativity and humor, and have a strong opinion about how to manage people and projects.  I think I am the odd man out here.......I am the silly one.....although I admit it is hard to act silly in a sea of serious people.   Luckily I have another teammate who also would like to be silly.  Maybe together we can bring some sanity to this group :)  My mission in this team is to accept that I can't fix everything :)

I am also working in a team that is exclusively American.  This team has been given a project that is all about creativity and self expression.  We are competing against the other nationalities and have been asked to make a work of art that displays the values of our country.  This should be interesting......

My fourth team hasn't met for the first time yet, but I have observed already that this team is predominantly french.  This one should be the most interesting.....as it is a consumer focus group :)  If Tuesday is a rough day for me, you'll understand why.  

I suppose I will learn a lot in the next few weeks about how I interact with others....how people of different cultures interact, and how efficiency and end result can be different given different team dynamics.

Since I spent the entire afternoon with the engineers (I am sorry guys but I am a socialist at heart), by the time we escaped this evening, I was ready for some stress relief.  It is also interesting to me that the Americans and the Germans seem to be most compatible and easy to intermingle.  The Russians make a close second.  Tonight the American-German contingent decided to have dinner and drinks to detoxify.

The proprietor of the restaurant enjoyed our visit so much that he gave us a bottle of some kind of hard drink (it tasted like ashes so I'm guessing it is related to some kind of french whiskey).  The coolest part was that it was served in a bottle that looked like the Eiffel tower.

We all seemed to enjoy it

I suppose I will have to remember NOT to let my coworkers handle the camera (particularly intoxicated ones).  I think this is an indication that I won't have a lovely picture of myself in a natural setting to send to friends and family :(

After dinner and drinks, two of our coworkers decided to go for a run.  We were quite surprised by their commitment.  However, we were a bit afraid they might not return safely (after all it isn't a good idea to drink and run).  In any case, they DID make it back.  I only know this because I heard a key in my hotel room door sometime later.  I knew what it was right away.  One of my friends who went running "lives" directly above me.  I am proud that he was able to find his way back to the hotel, but unfortunately, he WASN'T able to discover the correct floor.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the city of Lyon together.  In particular, we are going to the OLDEST parts of the city.  We will see a lot of Roman architecture and of course will have a fun time. On wednesday, I registered 19,000 steps on my pedometer.  I will see if I can break this record tomorrow. Of course I will take many photographs.  I love you girls (and honey).  I wish you were here to experience the wonderful French culture.  I did get a green guide to Auvergne and Rhone Valley today.  Now I should be able to navigate without trouble!!!   Sunday, there is a plan to go hiking in the mountains.  Next week, we will go to an air show and a rugby match!  I am hoping these breaks will keep us all sane.  I am still waiting to decide if this experience can be compared to a reality TV show.  So far, I am leaning towards the apprentice (with the Mole coming in a close second).  

Sleepless in Clermont

Today I really really miss my family.  I hope that McKinley and Madison are cleaning their rooms and helping their daddy get ready for this weekend (the babysitter is coming for relief).  Yay Isabel!

The morning was long.  I had a lot of trouble staying away through many lectures.  I'm sure you will laugh when I tell you the most INTERESTING part of the morning lectures was the one about taxes.  This is ironic because it was actually very funny and I will remember the material that was covered.  The reason is that it was filled with hilarious quotations and comics.  For example one was "The only difference between the tax man and the taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."

The afternoon was filled with a team building exercise. My team of 9 (including myself) was given a map and a destination with a "territory" to cover.  The rules are the game are:

1.  You must be able to prove where you went and what you saw without taking any pictures, using any electronic devices, or spending any money.

2.  You are competing against the other teams for a prize

3.  When we all assemble back at the meeting point we must tell our story and convince the other teams that ours is the BEST

4.  We must have fun.

So my team is a team of 10 people (including our monitor who wasn't to participate in this event) from 8 countries (the most diverse group in this training program).  I love my team and together we will have a lot of fun.  Here are the places we visited and some of the "proofs" we obtained

1.  We visited a pharmacy in Place delille- Proof was the receipt/business card of the pharmacist with an official stamp.

2.  We visited the church Notre Dame du Porte - Proof was that we got an artist who was enjoying the cathedral to sign a statement that we were there AND we etched the insignia of the virgin mary from an engraving in the church onto the signed statement (we also signed the visitor log in case anyone cares to go verify in person)

3.  We visited a remote control moto shop - Proof was the card with stamp and signature of the vendor

4.  We visited a tattoo parlor and convinced the proprietor to give us a free tattoo (dont worry she only gave us a photograph of a tattoo she had put on a person)

5.  We visited a lovely water fountain called Place de la Poterne - Proof was that we could produce the likeness of the fountain (which was filled with cherubs) with our bodies (complete with their positions and poses on the fountain).  AND we took a sample of moss from the ground (a forensic scientist could make the analysis).  We also "buried" a treasure there for the other groups to find.  The treasure is due north of the fountain and due west of the lady who looks over the city.  We have declared that anyone who can locate our treasure will be awarded with purchase of their entry or beverage at the next social outing.

6.  We visited the Cathedral De Notre Dame de l'Assumption - Proof was the brochure given out inside the church and a paper airplane that one of the other groups MUST have left there

We won a prize with our story and will work well together I know.  I left the day on a high.

After the competition, there were cocktails and appetizers.  I mingled for a bit, walked back to my hotel, dropped off my stuff, went to eat a "quick" dinner (if there is such a thing in France), had a lively conversation and returned "home."  It is only 11!  I am now very sad because Shannon and the girls called to talk to me and just after saying hello the connection failed.  By the time I got back on, they had run off to eat dinner.  Now I am sad and missing them all.  I suppose I should go to bed.....since it is now almost midnight.  I have trouble sleeping here at night.....but normally about 5pm I could lay down and pass out.....I am afraid I am going to develop narcolepsy.

Well, maybe a hot bath will make me feel better.  I am all melancholy and feel lonely for home.  Sleep tight for me girls, and enjoy your weekend with Isabel.

The Honeymoon is over

The days are starting to blur together already (which is quite sad).  This is day 5 of my travels and day 3 of training.  I wont elaborate on this (because that is not the point of the blog), but I have heard this training compared only half jokingly to the reality shows Survivor, Big Brother, The Apprentice and the Mole.  HAHAHA.   Lucky me.  I know I am not a Richard Hatch or Amarosa so maybe the outlook is not so good for me; however, I am having a lot of fun and meeting a lot of interesting people :)

Yesterday was a long day.  The most notable experiences involved working for the first time with my team to accomplish a case study and eating dinner in a Moroccan restaurant.  It was a VERY cultural experience and I have decided that I love cous cous.  I wish I had a picture of the inside of the restaurant but I thought it might be rude to take one.  However, picture feeling like you are eating inside the tent of the sheik of Arab!

When I got back to the hotel last night, I couldn't sleep at all.  I ended up working until 4 am and then getting an entire 1 hour of sleep.  Today was a fairly long day.  I had my first meeting with the tribunal (haha this is just a joke but it is a figure of speech in a way).  The afternoon was quite awesome.  I spent it in the Michelin museum.  I think if I could convince my father to come to Clermond Ferrand and visit the museum, he would see what a wonderful company I work for: one that is both socially responsible as well as passionately innovative!  I must have been emotional due to the lack of sleep, but it was a pretty inspiring day overall.  After the day, I trudged back to my suite with several colleagues.  We hiked up to the cathedral and had a lovely dinner and then walking back to the hotel....and here I sit documenting my day for my loves.  Here are a couple of pictures I took today:

I was told by one of my colleagues that my eyes look "like his do when he hasn't had any sleep."  Yes, I posted it on a blog just to make him feel bad.  Here is a picture I took of myself.  Do I really look like I haven't slept more than an hour??????? Perhaps I should have purchased the INDUSTRIAL brand of makeup.

Here are three of my colleagues walking through the streets of Clermont Ferrand.

The architecture is interesting with both old and new elements

Plenty of attractive looking shops

I have seen a lot of beach cruiser and antique bicycles.  Well of course this city is the origin of the pneumatic tire!

This is one side of the cathedral notre dame and the view from the table where we ate our diner.

Tomorrow will be another long day followed by a cocktail party.  I am sorry girls but I don't think I can bring myself to wear a party dress.  I will be doing a partial tour of the city on foot in the afternoon and I feel the need to be practical.  30% of my fellow stage mates are female and so far there are not many dress wearers :)  I will try to wear something attractive and sparkly and I'll be sure to take a picture of myself in the morning so you can tell me if you approve!  I love you and have a wonderful night.

"The First Day"

So, today was my first day in training :)  I am here with 111 other people from 15 nationalities!  There are people here from Germany, Poland, Russia, Thailand, China, Japan, France, Spain, England, Kenya, Canada , USA, Mexico and at least two others I can't drum up at this late hour :)

Now that I have assembled my camera and begun to document my adventure, I can give you the tour.  I am staying in a suite at the Novotel in Clermond Ferrand.  It is quite nice!  I have a lovely bathroom with a bathtub AND a shower.  Note that all my woman tools cause a great deal of clutter I am not used to dealing with (makeup, makeup remover, face wash, perfume, and curling iron).

There is a beautiful sitting area with a couch/cot, a dining table, and a kitchenette (not shown but to the left).  I have precious little storage space for my clothing, so I had to convert the silverware drawer to be used for undergarment storage  :)  I learned at breakfast today that I am not the only one to have done this, so it seems to be a logical choice.

The bed is nice (though quite firm) and I have a TV on a stand with wheels that I can strategically place just about anywhere I like.

In case you are wondering where the most important item in the room is (it was notably absent from the picture of the bath room), it is in a separate little nook on the other side of the suite (took me a while to find it, as it is hidden around a corner and behind the kitchenette).

There is a communal ironing room......this is an interesting gathering point.  It turns out that french irons do not have steam (or at least not the one provided by the hotel).....so ironing is a bit of an art form (involving a spray bottle of water and some skill in determining the proper temperature of the iron and quantity of water). I ironed my entire wardrobe last night, and succeeded mostly (less one slightly melted silk top).

Near the ironing room is a workout room.  I'd like to think I will spend a lot of time in here.....but I can hear some of you laughing already.  Apparently at least 20% of my fellow stage mates enjoy running, so there was talk of the formation of a runners club.  I suggested a complementary remedial club and so far we have a great following!  Our only activity so far consists of visiting the workout room to raid the water bottles (complementary from the hotel) and to snap this photo.

I declared that my main goal for this trip was to lose at least 5 lbs (to which Shannon cackled).  France is the center of fashion AND good food.  The people here are generally quite thin, but my stage mates and I have decided that it can't be related to diet (neither variety or quantity).  Our conclusion is that the lack of obesity is either due to dehydration (you can see there is very little water consumption and quite a lot of alcohol consumption) OR due to a high rate of intestinal parasites :)  Tonight I enjoyed a lovely dinner with several of my North American and German colleagues.  The gentleman in the black sweater on the left was our HUMOROUS and quite TOLERANT waiter.  He was very enjoyable, although he did give me a terrible time about ordering my fillet well done :)

He was nice enough to take this picture of our group.

So, now that I have a full belly and am completely worn out by the day of introductions, instructions, and assignment of teams, I am going to face-plant in my bed.....after removing the makeup and putting on my slob garb.

So I am really here.  Day 1!  Myself and several travel companions arrived in Clermont Ferrand France today after a long voyage.  I am QUITE embarrassed at the amount of luggage I brought, but I keep telling myself that being a girl takes a lot!  We have a TINY little Peugeot and nearly couldn't fit all of our luggage.  The trouble with Clermont this time of year is that the weather can span from 85 and sunny to 30 and rainy.  Add in the fact that I must pack fancy clothes, business casual, exploring attire (for hiking and being in the elements), exercise clothes (hahahahaha....), and just plain old SLOB clothes... In the end I decided that if I'm going to be here for a month I might as well be comfortable!  Aside from the clothes, I also have a ton of toiletry items (like shampoo, face wash and that dreaded makeup) as well as two laptop computers, my fancy Nikon, and two cell phones.  I felt like a pack mule traveling over, but I am now nicely unpacked and feel like I am in a little apartment (complete with kitchenette, a dining table, and a couch).

So we arrived at the hotel at about 11:30 am.  Our main mission for the day was to keep each other awake until a reasonable hour and then crash (and hopefully sleep all night).  To accomplish this we went exploring the city on foot.  A good walk usually succeeds in keeping one awake.  I was utterly exhausted when we left the hotel and UNWISELY opted to leave my camera pack behind.  We went downtown and had a late lunch and then we went into the Notre Dame Cathedral and paid E1.20 each to hike up the narrow spiral stairs to the top of the cathedral.  It was WELL worth the money and we were ALL awake and gasping for breath by the time we reached the top.  The view of the city from the TOP of the cathedral is spectacular.....the only thing I regret is that SINCE I did not have my camera, I will most certainly have to make that hike again to get some cool shots of the city.  See the link below for info and pictures about the cathedral.  The cathedral was built (start of building) in 1248 out of volcanic rock.  It is a huge black figure and central to the landscape of the city.   It also marks the center of town.

Notre Dame Cathedral Clermont Ferrand

After that adventure, we wandered around until we were delirious.  I ended up getting back to the hotel with over 13,000 steps on my pedometer.  Then I unpacked, took a LONG hot bath, and am preparing to hunt down the ironing room so that I can be sure my clothing is presentable in the morning for my first day in training.   Tomorrow, hopefully I will have some pictures to post :)

Becoming a Parisian

So, I figure if I'm going to look the part, I have a lot of work to do!  I am not exactly a fashionista....by any standards.  For example, the other day I decided to break out the makeup and see if I could remember how to apply it in any reasonable manner.  Imagine my disappointment, when I removed the cobwebs and examined the labels only to discover that the NEWEST cosmetic item I own expired sometime in early 2009!!!  YIKES!!!  I suppose if you know me that wouldn't really be a surprise.  In fact I think at least one person I know was surprised to discover I even owned any (expired or otherwise).  Nonetheless, that brings me to a very important question.......what gives with the whole makeup expiration thing????  As if it weren't already an expensive and rediculous custom!!  After realizing that my most recent cosmetic purchase (I think it was circa 2008) was expired (because there was an EXP 02/09 label on it), I decided to check into the guidelines on makeup expiration to satisfy my curiosity about the items I owned that did NOT have an explicit expiration date.  WOW!  Do you ladies out there REALLY discard your mascara after 30-45 days???!!!!!   Do people actually replace their foundation every 6-8 months???!!!    Am I the only not-quite-middle-aged-mother-of-two on the planet that still has loose powder they used in highschool??!!!

I mean seriously, if I applied makeup EVERY day, I bet a good tube of mascara could last at LEAST a year.  Mary Kay is VERY generous with their loose powder, so I seriously doubt I could use up a whole container of that stuff in any less than a DECADE!   What a waste.  Are the landfills of the world really that full of partially used cosmetics, or am I just not caking it on like I ought to be???

OK OK, now that I've finished with my rant.......I DID purchase new cosmetics.  If you know me well enough, you also know that I am a BIT of a germ-o-phobe.  If I really CAN loose my eyes to gangrene for keeping my mascara any longer than the recommended 6 weeks, you know I will be faithfully discarding the tube I bought as soon as I return from the land of fashion (which coincidentally is about 6 weeks from now).   Likely, since I am cheap and haven't even paid for a haircut in 2 years, I wont be replacing any of this stuff after I discard it.  Who developed these guidelines any ways.....by chance it wasn't the COSMETIC INDUSTRY who sells this stuff for an absurd price in the first place???

I must apply it well enough, because Mr. Mom has decided he REALLY REALLY likes me with makeup.  This is strange to me considering he has been an avid fan of the "natural look" for the entire 12 years I have known him.  Good thing for me, cause it may actually have been that long since I put the stuff on!  After having worn it for a sum total of 3 days last week, I decided to take a break this weekend.....and suddenly I look "tired" and I should have put on some of that eye stuff?  HAHA.  Does this mean that I will have crossed some kind of point of no return if I decide to go forward with my measly attempt at "blending in?"  Is there any chance I could convince the ladies of the fashion world that the "natural look" is the NEXT BEST FAD??!!

In either case, we documented my adventures in wearing makeup......so I will some day have proof that I actually DID put some effort into my appearance at some point in my life :)

So, here it begins.  If you don't know by now, I am about to embark on a big adventure.  Two weeks from today, I will be "abandoning" my family to travel to France for work for an ENTIRE MONTH.  My wonderful, patient, and BRAVE husband will be taking on the task of being the single parent while I am away.   He has had a lot of practice over the last year especially.  I have been away for business about one week per month for the last year or so, but NEVER for more than a week.  Daddy makes a good Mr. Mom.  The image below is an example of his handiwork.  Mr. Mom does a mean pony tail (a difficult task when both girls have short hair).  

In any case, I have decided to start this blog so my children and family can keep up with my big adventure abroad.  Hopefully, when I return, my travels will become less frequent.  I am looking forward to becoming a homebody (as is Mr. Mom).  Once I return, my postcards will just be from a "broad."  But in the meantime, I am looking forward to some adventures.  I hope Mr. Mom and the pigtail brigade will have a safe and uneventful month.  Wish them well.