Saturday, May 5, 2012

A year in Singapore...

Wow! I can't believe it...I am about to celebrate a year in Singapore. Where has the time gone? It feels just like yesterday that I moved to Asia!
But what an amazing year it has been! Incredible! Life changing! I know 30 years from now, I will still talk about this time I got to live in Singapore and what an amazing opportunity it was for me and my life!
Since I don't get a chance to spend as much time keeping up with everyone as I would like to, I thought I would recap the year with some highlights!

New job - I love it! Every day I am still learning but love the team I get to lead here. The best part of my day is getting a call or IM from the team asking a question or needing help. Working with people from so many cultures has been life changing for me...but getting to work with more great John Deere employees makes me even more proud to work at John Deere. No matter where you are in the world, John Deere employees and customers are all the same - they are great!
I am so lucky to have this opportunity. I hope I am working hard enough to have deserved this.

New countries - as you know I love traveling...but in this opportunity I have been to so many new countries and places trying new foods and meeting new people. I have been to 5 of the 7 continents this year already. I will hit the 6th in August. Just need to get to Antarctica before the end of the year!
Here are some highlights:
 - Hiking the Great Wall in China. We learn about it in school but getting to see it and spend the day hiking it didn't seem real.
- Seeing the Taj Mahal - one of the 7 wonders of the world!
- Kayaking in Thailand with 7 of my peeps. How lucky am I to have had so many friends visit me already in Singapore. Some have been here twice and the rest are coming back in 2012 to hike to the Everest Base Camp with me :)
- Cycle Safari in Cape Town - one of the most beautiful places I have been to
- Skiing in Dubai at the indoor ski slope
- Cruising in Halong Bay -Vietnam is incredible!
- Spending the Christmas Holiday biking and snorkeling in Bali - will do this again next year. Too perfect!  I have been to Bali 3 times already. So lucky to have such wonderful friends!
- Ringing in the New Year in Malaysia with her peeps
- Running a marathon in Taipei, Taiwan even though I couldn't read the mile markers!
- Seeing the wild elephants in Sri Lanka
- Quick stops in Japan, Korea, and Philippines to roundout some of the Asian countries
- Also got to spend a little time back in the USA. The Johnson Family Cruise was a blast! I loved getting to spend time with the family! Got to go skiing in the Alps with my big brother Brian - needs to be an annual trip! Also spent a week in Hawaii with her peeps - what a great trip. Think we need to make Hawaii the next family vacation!

New city - Singapore is amazing! It's a large city that tries hard to make everything perfect and easy. Which I enjoy. I love my apartment and my view of the downtown. city. Every night the laser light show starts and I think how lucky I am to be living in SouthEast Asia.

I do miss my family and friends - so please come visit me! I am looking forward to my visit back to the USA in July to see my NC peeps in the mountains, family, and weekend in Napa with my college peeps.
But I am have been lucky to have a great group of peeps here in Singapore to make the transition really easy! In fact I am going to have a hard time leaving. Having skype and facetime is great to keep in touch with the family and friends. Please skype with me anytime. I love to talk with everyone especially in English!

I will continue to enjoy my job and travel the Asia and Africa in the next year. Upcoming trips include the cheering on USA at the 2012 London Olympics, skiing in New Zealand, camping in the desert in Mongolia, hiking to the Base Camp of Everest, seeing the Ankor Wat in Cambodia, and running the Cape Town Marathon.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures!
Singapore

Taj Mahal

Hiking the Great Wall

Zip Lining in Hawaii with Melissa, Kristin, Cindy and I

Ringing in 2012 in Malaysia

Skiing in Dubai - love the outfit!

Baby Elephants in Sri Lanka

The Crew hiking in Thailand

Erin and I getting ready for a Thai Wedding

Cycle Safari in South Africa

Top of Table Mountain, Cape Town

The crew in Thailand

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Lena and I at the top of the volcano in Bail

Ben and I on the cruise - best being an aunt

John Deere Singapore Running Team

Global OF team in Brazil

Timothy, Nicholas, and Natalie with me - Aunt Stephy on the cruise

Hiking in China with the China Team

Week in Brazil - Ag Show

So it took almost 40 hrs to get to Brazil but I made the trip to the 5th continent of the year! That's right I have been to 5 continents already in 2012 - in August I will hit the 6th. Amazing!
Brazil was a blast - spent the week with the Global OF team. We got the opportunity to spend the day at the Brazil Ag show. It was HUGE! The equipment was every where and by all competitors but the Deere display was by far the best! I loved seeing customers at the tables buying equipment and ringing the bell! We also got to spend some time with two of our largest customers in Brazil! Always a great day to hear about our customers and what they need from us. We also got to have our meeting at the new John Deere Region 3 headquarter office- nice!
Here are some new pictures including me with my JD tattoo and new JD hiking boots!







All the new equipment and with label celebrating the 175 years!


I love my tattoo


Global OF team



Love my new John Deere hiking boots!

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Saturday, April 21, 2012

John Deere Singapore Runners

The JD running team in Singapore had a great run today! Three of us ran the half marathons and the others did the 10K! So fun! Though the half marathon was tough - it was 82 degrees with the heat index of 91! I don't like to run in that high it heat. I definitely felt rough during the run cause I needed more water stations. I will know next time to bring my own water belt next time. I am not a fan of the 100 plus - Asian's Verison of the gatorade. But I ran with Jamie and Jenifer and they did awesome - and their first one! So great! The others did awesome on the 10K! I was so proud of Shwu Min from my team- she did great even with all the hours we have been working!

Congrats to Jaco, Sid, Raphael, Ben, Shwu Min, Jenifer, Jamie! Representing the counties of South Africa, USA, France, Singapore, Malaysia, and us Wisconsinites in the half marathon!




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Friday, April 20, 2012

Team building event in Jongyung Canyon

I had a great time with my China team celebrating the spring in China. We had a great day hiking - though I think at times the team didn't enjoy the hills I selected! Also at one point we took a chair lift to the top of the canyon to do some hiking around the top. The team was nervous about the height on the chair lift - as was I! Then we went to have a great hot pot lunch where you cook your own food. What a great day! The team is such a fun group. Wish I could converse more with them - I need to work on my Mandarin skills!
Here are some pictures!



Team on the bus




At the entrance



The climb up - lots of hills and stairs!



Spring in bloom



I quickly learned "break/ rest" in Mandarin!


The China Team!






Waterfall



Chairlift





Tigers used to roam here - sadly they all have been killed :(


At the top of the canyon! Perfect day of hiking

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Location:China

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Johnson family cruise!

So I had the best time with the family on the cruise this past week. So fun! My trip took longer then the others coming from Singapore but it was worth it to see the nieces and nephews! The kids were so excited to be in FL and on vacation. The crew included Mom, Dad, Chris/Kristin, Brian/Lisa/ Nicholas/ Timothy/ Natalie, and Jennifer/Chris/ Abby/ Ben. Unfortunately Jennifer didn't feel well on the ship and the Robsons got off the boat at our first stop - Key West. But the rest of the Johnson's continued on... We enjoyed the perfect weather on the ship and at the stops Key West and Cozumel. We enjoyed the towns and bars at each stop. The cruise team was of course friendly and the food and entertainment was great. Though cause it was spring break - it was a full ship! The kids loved the waterslides and pools, camp carnival, mini golf, and the beach in Cozumel. It was great to spend time with the family after the move to Singapore as well as have my brother Chris back from deployment in Kuwait. Fun to have the Johnson's together. Can't wait until next year!
Some pictures!












































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