First week in China

It has been a whirl wind of a week and I am totally beat. My flight over was relatively enjoyable and I arrived on time on Monday night in Hong Kong, then made my way through immigration and found my driver, Tommy, who whisked me away on my trip to Shenzhen. I was blown away with how pretty Hong Kong looked. It is on a beautiful harbor with greenery and mountains all around. The highways and bridges are modern and impressive. I am going to want to take a trip to Hong Kong for sure.

Crossing the border into mainland China was a little weird. My driver stopped and had me get out of the van, then I had to proceed by myself through a checkpoint where some very stern looking border patrol cops checked passports and visas. I could definitely feel that I was leaving a relatively free country and going into a much different situation. Though Shenzhen is a modern city in many respects, it is MUCH, MUCH different from Hong Kong and once you get outside the city center, the buildings and apartments are pretty old and run down. And, the apartments go on and on, and up and up for as far as the eye can see. Shenzhen has a population of over 9 million and some say that the true total is closer to 13 million. It would not surprise me a bit...this city is HUGE and it is simply a mass of humanity.

I made it to my hotel about 8 o'clock, grabbed some dinner, and hit the sack, pretty much exhausted.

The next morning, I met Colleen Davis and Amanda Wuest along with several other members of the Aon Hewitt project team and we took the 30 min bus ride to Huawei's headquarters. This campus is gigantic, with over 90,000 employees and 9 very large buildings on the complex. Huawei is our #1 largest consulting client. This HR transformation project has been in process for nearly 2 years and they are now moving from the Plan phase, to the Development and Deployment phase. It is now very, very obvious to me why they are in need of so much help. There is SO very much to do to be ready for the 10/31 live date for Phase1 of the HR Shared Service Center. I won't get into the details, but just suffice it to say that as I acclimated over these first few days and got my bearings on current status, upcoming milestones, and key deliverables, I broke out in cold sweats more than a time or two. Wow, is all that I can say. To say we are needed is an understatement.

I spent my time this week reviewing and updating role descriptions for key roles that they need to recruit asap, adjusting staffing structure and roles for their Operations function, and getting myself up to speed on the project plan and the areas of responsibility. THey have me aligned to help the team develop infrastructure for Performance Metrics, Quality Management, Knowledge Management, Service Experience and Talent Management. Could we add some more? I don't think we have enough. :-) So, if I come back with gray hair or no hair, you'll know why.

All this being said, it has been a very exciting week and I am very grateful to be here. While the surroundings are new, strange, and different, I am feeling excited for this new adventure for my family and me.

A couple of funny, random items....

Bathrooms - one of the stalls in the men's room simply has a hole...I will let your imagination go on that one

Locals' curiousity - I guess they don't see many foreigners, as yesterday on the way home from work, a busload of teen age girls giggled and waved at us for 5 minutes while we were stuck in traffic. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I did manage to snap a pic, albeit not a very good one. I will share if I can get them uploaded.

Traffic - uh, yeah...there are a lot of cars and pedestrians...and neither one does much to avoid the other. It is every man and woman for themselves.

Food - one of the dishes for lunch yesterday in the cafeteria featured large, whole chicken feet. Yes, you read that right. I am adventurous...but not THAT adventurous.

Language - The project team I am working with speaks very little english...I find my self speaking loud and animated trying to get them to understand me. They nod and smile a lot...do you think they understand??? Thankfully, there is one woman, Theresa, who speaks pretty well and she keeps them on track. Learning this language is going to be a herculean task.

Funny sign in the Aon Hewitt Shenzhen office - There is this sign that seems to be advising people on how to avoid getting the H1N1 virus. It starts out with pictures of logical steps like exercising, eating right, and covering your mouth when you sneeze/cough. The next action shows people at a party with a girl putting a record on the record player. Next is a pic of a guy coughing and sneezing, then going to the doctor. Guess the partying didn't pay off. After going to the hospital, the final scene is of a girl....eating pizza. What's the moral of the story? Exercise, eat right, cover your mouth, hang out at a party, get sick, go to the doc, get better, and eat some pizza. Sounds like a recipe for health to me.

Well, I will try to upload some pics later...the internet connection is slow as molasses. Hope you enjoyed my first impressions of China. Good times!