ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END...

Here I am in the domestic terminal in HCMC all ready for my last big trip to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. It seems like I just planned the trip two months ago and now…here it is! Tonight and tomorrow I splurged and booked a room at the Intercontinental in Hanoi, then will have my 2 night/3 day Ha Long Bay tour and stay at the Intercontinental again on Tuesday night before flying back to HCMC on Wednesday and then leave for the US on a 6AM flight back to the states!

If someone had told me two years ago that in only two months I would have had the opportunity to work in Sourcing for Reebok, work closely with 4 different factories, learn so much about product development and sourcing from an abroad perspective, live in Ho Chi Minh City, make a nice group of new friends, explore the Mekong Delta, visit the Cu Chi tunnels and crawl through them, shoot a machine gun, religiously take a mixed martial arts class 3 times a week with the hottest instructor, have an inner self makeover, travel to Singapore, visit Da Nang and Hoi An, get clothing tailor made, hike marble mountain, see the ancient ruins of My Son, step on China Beach – where the US soldiers were first dropped, see a water puppet show, bargain prices for EVERYTHING especially at Ben Than market, get weekly massages, have a house calling mani/pedicurist, go to the most hidden tropical paradise I’ve ever been to – Phu Quoc, see a Pearl farm, fishing harbor, see Sao Beach, go to the Saigon zoo, the War Remnants museum, find the mosaic pagoda that is in the World Guinness Record book for having the most hand laid tiles, have 4 rotations in the FTP program at Reebok under my belt (Project Management, Costing, Pattern, Sourcing) and now make my way to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay – I would have laughed in your face and not believed you!

It’s been more than a trip, the last 2 months and I think I have taken the phrase “live each day to the fullest” to a whole other level! I taught myself how to live in the present moment, enjoy it, and not be rushing into the next thing on the list. If you keep rushing into something else and get excited for what’s next instead of what’s now, when do you really ever enjoy what you are doing?

Many people have said to me over the past few days, well you know – all good things must come to an end. I have to disagree here and say that yes, this great adventure is coming to an end but I am ready for the next great adventure once I return back to the states. I will be bringing with me my new sense of adventure, enjoying life, and living each day beyond the fullest – bringing this back will keep my adventure going, and keep the good to continue!

The last couple of weeks here seemed to have gone faster than I had liked. I still feel like I just got here. It was so strange checking out of Somerset this morning. The staff there were incredible, so friendly, hospitable, and helpful. It will be hard to adjust to not having daily maid service, pool, gym, restaurant, and staff that would do anything to make your day or life easier at my disposal…That good thing did come to an end I must say!

Last night was my last MMA class with FX. I of course gave it my all throughout class and knew I’d miss this weekly ritual but really look forward to keeping it up at home and finding a new studio to box at.

All of my projects came to an end at work. I ended up managing 50 styles spread between 4 factories while here and let me tell you it made things very interesting. I’m going to miss working with the factories and being inside of them almost every day. This is where all the dirty work is done, and I LOVE IT. It was great coming here at the end of PPR stage (our first samples) working with the factories on improving the samples for second sample shipment (PFR) back to HQ. I now see things from this side and will return seeing things with a new pair of eyes. I look forward to maybe changing the way some things are done so that the work flow is somewhat smoother and certain processes run a bit more efficiently, it will be a challenge and it will be interesting but I am up for it!

I also know that once I get back and continue my rotations in other departments, more connections will be made and this experience will have really made a difference for me. I already know it has but am excited to see how else it will help me.

Luckily Dave and Margarita (Dave is a team leader on the footwear classics team here for 2 years, his girlfriend Margarita is here with him) were ok with me leaving my 3 very packed suitcases that I will be towing back with me to the US while I went on my little adventure to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. They are actually on the same flight back to the US with me on September 10th for their vacation. So they also offered I stay with them Wednesday night instead of getting my own room for 13 hours. It totally works out perfectly!

I totally took advantage of my last few days here and did EVERYTHIING I wanted to get in. I climbed X rock which is a huge rock climbing wall in the middle of D3 of the city, walked through the zoo – its such a nice zoo I must say, found the mosaic pagoda that I had read about, its in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most hand laid tiles and I managed to get the driver lost trying to find it, saw the War Remnants Museum, checked out some new restaurants, had my last few visits to Saigon Square and Ben Than Market, took full advantage of the pool at Somerset, had a really fun Saturday night out with Pam, Mark, Dave, and Margarita – we basically had a pub crawl. It’s really been so surreal and I am just so happy I was able to experience so much in such a short period of time professionally and personally – what could be better? Like I said I know the adventure DOES NOT STOP HERE – it’s going to continue and I cannot wait!

Thanks so much for keeping tabs on me while I’ve been away, it sure has been a journey!!!