This last week has been very busy. One of my main responsibilities at the company where I work is to provide compliance training for our client companies. Inevitably the end of the year is a hotbed of activity here, since most companies are rushing to get their training done before yearend. So this week, I have been doing workshops daily for different companies.
Monday and Tuesday of this week I was up in Redding doing back-to-back workshops for a casino/hotel there. It was my first time in Redding and I was very impressed with the pristine surroundings, the natural beauty of the place, the charm of its small town, and the wonderful views of Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta, the Sacramento River and Shasta Lake. The highlight of my trip was crossing the Sundial Bridge, a walking bridge with a frosted glass bottom that allowed me to look down the Sacramento River and see salmon swimming upstream! That view made up for the fact that I had to be up at 4 am and take two plane rides to get there (side note: the second plane was a 20-seater plane that had propellers). The weather was very cold but the warmth of the people in that town certainly made up for the drop in temperature.
On Wednesday I did a workshop for an international fishing company, which was just as interesting. After facilitating the seminar, they took me on a tour of their facility and I got to see their fishing vessels up close, their warehouse where the live fish are sorted and processed, up to their freezing facility where the seafood are blast frozen for export. It was interesting to learn that modern day fishing (at least for some) has evolved from using fishing nets out in the open sea – this company had large pipes that pumped in the fish straight to the company warehouse. Apparently catching fish using a net agitates the fish, and added to the travel time to and from the boat, loading and unloading the fish, all that results in a high mortality rate for the catch. So for smaller seafood (found close to shore) like sardines, mackerel, squid and shrimp – the seafood are pumped in thru these pipes. I forgot to ask whether getting sucked into a pipe is less agitating for the fish!
Thursday I did two workshops, my morning workshop was for the executives of an aerospace company. This was held in our office so nothing interesting to report here. My afternoon workshop was for a company that manufactured crates, panels, and transport materials for airports. While I did get to visit their office, there was hardly anything interesting about seeing all the plastic and metal bins in their warehouse.
Today, Friday, I have a workshop this afternoon for a Japanese food manufacturing company. I checked out their website and they import a few of the Japanese brands that I absolutely love (among them instant ramen noodles!). The company also runs several local Japanese fast food places. Here’s hoping this is one workshop where I get to go on tour afterwards. Of course, I wouldn’t mind getting some samples too! :)
So that’s been my week so far … it’s been interesting but tiring too. Thank God it’s Friday! :)
4 comments:
You must be a superb speaker. For you an asian and a woman at that to be able to hold a predominantly white and male audience captive for two hours is certainly outstanding and impressive. I look forward to the day when I can be in the audience to listen to you. I am including Redding in my list of "to see" places.
I always look up to you. However, now that I hear about the seminars that you conducted so well; I am all the more impressed. I too hope to accomplish something as great as that someday. Congrats tofu!
Dad, Joy -
Your comments are a little embarassing. :) The seminars went well but it's not all because of me. Thanks for your praises but really everyone I've met so far has been very nice and I've been very lucky too. :)
Joybee - hope you are feeling better.
Congratulations on your hubby's new job. Japanese manga and anime is a huge industry in Japan and is just starting to take off in the States. Definitely a big potential and the right place to be in.
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