Krabi, Thailand
After spending the last few weeks in wet, cold Shanghai we hopped a plane down to the beaches of Thailand.
Once again, lots more pics on Flickr…
收工饭 at 敦煌小亭
The recruitment team went out for our 收工饭 (last meal) before everyone leaves for the Chinese New Year. This is a selection of the 15 plates we ordered…
top: 羊杂锅仔 (lamb’s bowels)
left: 凤爪虾 (shrimp and chicken’s feet)
right: 土豆牛肉锅 (beef with potato and wide noodle)
The chicken feet were good, and I snacked on some of the lamb’s bowels; the intestines had a bit of a funky smell, the tripe was similar to others I have had, and I didn’t venture into the lungs section of the party platter because I wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous today. All of the food was from the western part of China, including some amazing lamb that I did not get a picture of.
We have stuff! on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Our sea shipment arrived yesterday. Very excited to have all of our things in Shanghai.
L’Oréal China 2012 Annual Dinner
All over the world, L’Oréal has annual meetings at the end of the year to celebrate the wins of the past 12 months as well as to excite everyone for the coming 12 months. I have attended past annual meetings in NYC with L’Oreal USA and last week I attended my first annual meeting in Shanghai. It was quite the show!
The evening started with a Dragon Dance and an exhibition of martial arts, followed by speeches from our Chairman and and our CEO. There were awards for long service and then the real fun began; with each of divisions putting on a performance that they had been practicing for the last few weeks. Some were quite elaborate with costumes and dancing while others were more traditional with talented team members playing instruments.
Overall it was a really great way for us to usher in The Year of the Dragon!
You can see more pics on my Flickr page
Christmas in Beijing
Corrie and I took our first trip outside of Shanghai and celebrated Christmas in Beijing. It was a very quick visit, but in under 60 hours we were able to tour the Forbidden City, walk on the Great Wall, and eat our Christmas goose (i.e. Peking Duck). The weather was quite cold, but we braved it and managed to stay warm by eating some of the spiciest food I have ever had. The trick is to get progressively spicier until your mouth is so numb that you start to lose your mind a bit and you can’t taste anything anymore. That’s how you know its good.
This was our first Christmas that was not spent with our families, but through the magic of FaceTime on our iPads we have been able to stay connected. I was “passed around” and got to chat with all of my cousins and aunts and uncles on Christmas Eve and we opened presents with Corrie’s family on Christmas morning. It was almost as if we never left!
As always, lots more pics on FLICKR.
2011 Top 100 HR Awards
I attended the 51job’s annual Best HRM Companies Award ceremony on December 9th. 51job is one of the biggest job boards in China (similar to Monster or Careerbuilder in the US) and every year they honor the top 100 HR management programs. This year, L’Oreal China won an award for “Most Popular Employer on Campus.” We have an amazing Campus recruitment team and I was really excited to accept the award on their behalf.
To read more about the awards visit 51job (in Chinese)
Happy Thanksgiving?
First downside to working in Shanghai? The fourth Thursday in November is completely insignificant. It is currently 8:24 AM and I am at the office, dreaming of cider-brined turkey and Stove Top stuffing and Grandma Bonk’s stuffing and watching live football that does not have a kickoff time of 1:30 AM on Friday and taking a nap in the afternoon and pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie and gravy and mashed potatoes and second helpings of turkey…
Jean-Georges Vongerichten Cooking Demo & Lunch on Flickr.
It was a rare chance that we had the opportunity to see a world-class chef preparing our lunch in front of us. JGV spends a lot of time in Shanghai, but on this occasion he was in town to promote his new book. There are a few more pics of the demo on the Flickr page but we completely forgot to photograph the meal.
Fazangjiang Temple on Flickr.
We stumbled upon a temple that was completely devoid of tourists. A very calm spot in the midst of a bustling city. This statue was part of a stairway inside the temple.
