Europe

Since my job of 7 years closed to move overseas I have been on a tour of jobs including shift supervisor positions in the plastic and rubber injection business and a coating manager helping improve a growing company. In February 2011 I was very fortunate to get a employment offer to become a shift supervisor for a global company. I would be involved in starting back up the plant that shutdown will all new equipment and products. I spent one week of orientation in Menasha and would arrive home on Friday afternoon to prepare for a two week training in Heerlen, The Netherlands. Four of us supervisors left on Saturday to fly from Milwaukee to Chicago and then onto Dusseldorf, Germany. I would spend over 8 hours enjoying free German beer and listening to Lady Gaga and Black Eye Peas over and over again. When we arrived in Dusseldorf I had the pleasure to drive to Kerkrade, The Netherlands where are hotel was located. The trip should take about 1 hour but you guessed it we got lost. That's what happens when the GPS is in German. Because it was close to lunch we stopped in a small town. As we walked into a restaurant of course everyone looked at us. After trying to ask for a menu in English and getting nowhere we left. Luckily we were able to figure out how to switch the GPS to English and put in our proper route. We found out we were over an hour away. I personally think we were driving around in circles when we left the airport. On the way to the hotel we found a KFC. It was a little bit of home at a German price, (my lunch was $15.00). We arrived safely at the Golden Tulip in Kerkrade. The Golden Tulip is located around a futbol, (soccer) stadium. The home team Roda JC was on the road so we didn't get to see any games. We checked into the hotel to find our beds were queen size but two mattresses next to each other. Trust me I fell in the crack between them plenty of times while sleeping there for 2 weeks. We took a short nap and then went to locate the plant we would be training at for two weeks. It was located about 5 minutes from the hotel. After driving by we went into Heerlen to find somewhere to eat dinner. We found a small restaurant run by a family. The kids waited tables, the husband did the cooking and the wife ran the bar and cash register. The spoke some English and made us a steak dinner, salad, fresh bread and different types of vegetable dishes. Mike ordered a great wine for all of us to enjoy. The food was excellent and only $23. The next 5 days we spent training and observing at the plant. I was on 2nd shift the first week and 1st shift the second week we where there. Most of the operators spoke English at the plant. On Saturday 3 shift supervisors from the plant took us to Maastricht, (link to city).(http://www.holland.com/meetings/en/dutch-cities/maastricht/conference-city/ We went on a boat tour and then to lunch. The weather was sunny and about 80 degrees. Great times, great people and a memory I will also remember. On Sunday we drove to Amsterdam and met three of our colleagues at the airport. We then took the train into town. Amsterdam has alot of history, old buildings and no laws. Back to work on Monday to finish the training in Heerlen. On Friday we all worked 1st shift and left around 1pm to head to Dusseldorf Airport. We checked into the Lindner Hotel and decided to take a train ride to downtown for dinner. We went to get a cab ride back to the hotel and found the driver didn't speak English. So as we climbed into one side of the cab we were already climbing out the opposite side. You had to be there to see it. Trust me it was funny. On Saturday I flew home to see my beautiful family. Since I would only be home for 2 days I wanted to enjoy every minute of it. Nicole and I took the kids to Fontana beach on Sunday. Unfortunately Monday came real quick and Nicole and Lily were taking me back to the airport to leave for Germany for 12 days. We would take a flight to Chicago and then onto to Munich, Germany. At 4:30 pm they started to board the plane to Chicago and then stopped. They announced they were having computer problems. We needed to be in Chicago to catch our next plane at 6:00 pm. Dave ran to rent a car while I went to get our luggage. We arrived in Chicago at 5:55 pm as the plane was getting ready to take off. They switched our flight to Lufthansa which was leaving at 8:15 pm. Although we missed our flight we only landed 1 hour late. Average speed on this flight was 625 but we also experienced alot of turbulence. We drove from Munich to Brannenburg to Hotel Gasthof Schlosswirt. It was an older hotel run by a very nice couple. Our training would take place in Raubling, Germany about 15 minutes from the hotel. I spent 8 total days training in this plant where only 3 operators spoke English. On Saturday we drove to Salzburg, Austria to tour the Salzburg Castle, (link to castle). http://www.hohensalzburg.com/ On Sunday we drove up into the mountains located behind our hotel. It took a few days to begin breathing normal again after being that high. On Friday as we were all excited we drove back to Munich to check into the Novotel Hotel. I drove the BMW we had rented on the Autobahn. I got to follow a Porshue for a few miles at 150 mph until he pulled away. Trust me I had the pedal to the floor. That night I took a walk to the observation deck located by the airport to view planes taking off and landing. We left the next morning to arrive in Chicago. Nicole and the kids picked me up as it was nice to be home. Training - 4 weeks Flight Miles - 18000 Flight Hours - 35 hours Experience - Priceless Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible. Special thanks to my loving and supportive wife, without you being on my side this would not be possible. Remember this: Brick walls are obstacles in life that we don't need to climb but instead knock down.