http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%B3calo
 | |||||||||
| Art Museum on the way (haven't gone in yet) |
Jose tossed a coin directly in the tiny hole. Make a wish!!
J
Monday, March 26, 2012
Zocalo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%B3calo
Jose tossed a coin directly in the tiny hole. Make a wish!!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
EARTHQUAKE!! (and vendor course)
Sorry for the absence to anyone that has been following. I have been very busy.....
This week, Joe, Chico, Jose and I took "El Curso de Ventas" (Sales Course). The course is for people who want to become vendors for one of our brands. It covers Bimbo's vision, values, and ideals, and how the vendors can satisfy our customers and consumers needs. There is a handbook that covers the "theory" and, in the back of the room, there is a mach Tienda where we did application. I thought the course was well organized and well taught. Our instructor, Ceasar, really knows his stuff. He kept us engaged with a lot of group exercises and "role playing". Some of it was pretty fun. I think some of our vendors at BBU could benefit from a similar course (good luck trying to get an IO to take the course though....)
The course is taught completely in Spanish. Even though I can't understand everything, I can follow along and grasp the main ideas. However, it is tough to contribute without being able to clearly communicate. I feel like I have so much to offer and I just can't get it across. Some of the group exercises left me a little frustrated. One thing I did learn though: humor is a universal language. I must have cried 3 times because I was laughing so hard. Everyone else was laughing as well. Also, without speaking good Spanish, I can still make people laugh. During some of the "role playing" I had people going. I guess what's funny is funny.....
As most of you know, there was an earthquake on Tuesday in Mexico. The center was in Acapulco, which is about 3 hours from Mexico City. The quake registered a 7.4 magnitude, the strongest since 1986, the year I was born (I know, I know, I am that ground breaking. Mexico can feel the presence of greatness. haha)!! It is the craziest feeling ever. We were sitting in class and all of a sudden I felt a slight sway. I thought someone was shaking the table. Then someone noticed other objects in the room shaking. We had to evacuate the building immediately. When we went out side, all the trucks were moving back and forth, the doors to the depot were shaking, and you could still feel this strange swaying even though you were standing still. It was actually kind of a cool feeling. Luckily we were all safe. Thanks for every ones concern!!
Thursday was our test, which counts as 60% of your grade. Even though I studied, I was still kind of nervous. I know the test didn't count against me in any way but I always want to do my best and I really wanted to pass. It was two pages, front and back, 18 questions. I am pretty sure I killed it (we never got our actually grades). There were some things that I was unsure of but the majority of the test I know I did well on. If it was in English I would have got 100% for sure.
One of the gentlemen taking the course, who already had a strike against him because he showed up late one day, brought a "cheat sheet". Cesar caught him and he was immediately kicked out. He said something along the lines of "I don't play those games". He was the only one who didn't pass the course. I know it's cliche, but when you cheat, you're only cheating your self. This guy blew his opportunity to work for Bimbo and will not get another one. Goes to show, cheaters will not make it very far in life.
After we took the test on Thursday, our class took a tour of the Marinela plant. The plant has 12 lines, 84 mixers, makes over 20 different products, and has 650 different packages. At this plant we make Gansitos, which is a VERY popular product here in Mexico. It's like a Twinky with vanilla and strawberry on top, covered in chocolate. It is SUPER sweet (I am not the biggest fan). This plant produces 72,000 Gansitos an hour, 24/7!!!! I am not even going to do the math on that one. And that is only one plant too!! (I would have taken pictures but we weren't allowed. I guess I wasn't suppose to take pictures in the Bimbo plant either..... oooopppps)
On Friday was the lesson on the Hand Held. This may have been the most frustrating day I have had so far in Mexico. Learning the Hand Held in English would be hard enough, but trying to learn it in Spanish was like learning two different languages at the same time. They might as well have been teaching me how to do sign language in German. The whole day, everyone had a HH and we did a "mach route". We went through each store and he had us do examples of different scenarios, then print out our tickets. I lost the instructor very early on and just could not catch up. Actually I ended up being two stores ahead of the rest of the class, however that happened?? Without putting the whole class on hold and taking away from the people who actually need the course, I did my best to forge ahead.
Even though class on Friday was tough for me, it ended on a great note. We all passed and got our diplomas!! It definitely turned my day around. Cesar had Joe, Jose, Chico and I help pass out the Diplomas. Everyone was in good spirits. After we all received our diplomas, there was a lot of "congratulations" and hugs. We took a group photo and everyone wanted to take pictures with the "Americans". I feel like us being in the class made an impression on them that they won't forget. Likewise, I met a lot of great people in the class. Everyone here is so gracious and friendly. Some of us exchanged information and I am definitely going to try to keep in touch with them. It was quite a rewarding experience.
After
class on Thursday, we had a little game of futbol with some guys from
class. They have fields right at the plant. Joe is the guy to my
right, Chico is the big man in the tie with his mouth open (soo
classic), and Jose is the guy in the back with the lung shirt on. Joe
and I were captains. Team Posada obviously won.
Graduating class of March 2012!!! Whooohoooo!!!! Great bunch of people right here!!
From left to right: Joe, Chico, Cesar, Jose and ya boy! In the back is our mach Tienda. Pretty cool idea.
I passed my course!!!! Cesar said I got a 100% but in reality
I'm sure it was a little lower. You have to pass with an 85% and I'm
confident I got above that.
This week, Joe, Chico, Jose and I took "El Curso de Ventas" (Sales Course). The course is for people who want to become vendors for one of our brands. It covers Bimbo's vision, values, and ideals, and how the vendors can satisfy our customers and consumers needs. There is a handbook that covers the "theory" and, in the back of the room, there is a mach Tienda where we did application. I thought the course was well organized and well taught. Our instructor, Ceasar, really knows his stuff. He kept us engaged with a lot of group exercises and "role playing". Some of it was pretty fun. I think some of our vendors at BBU could benefit from a similar course (good luck trying to get an IO to take the course though....)
The course is taught completely in Spanish. Even though I can't understand everything, I can follow along and grasp the main ideas. However, it is tough to contribute without being able to clearly communicate. I feel like I have so much to offer and I just can't get it across. Some of the group exercises left me a little frustrated. One thing I did learn though: humor is a universal language. I must have cried 3 times because I was laughing so hard. Everyone else was laughing as well. Also, without speaking good Spanish, I can still make people laugh. During some of the "role playing" I had people going. I guess what's funny is funny.....
As most of you know, there was an earthquake on Tuesday in Mexico. The center was in Acapulco, which is about 3 hours from Mexico City. The quake registered a 7.4 magnitude, the strongest since 1986, the year I was born (I know, I know, I am that ground breaking. Mexico can feel the presence of greatness. haha)!! It is the craziest feeling ever. We were sitting in class and all of a sudden I felt a slight sway. I thought someone was shaking the table. Then someone noticed other objects in the room shaking. We had to evacuate the building immediately. When we went out side, all the trucks were moving back and forth, the doors to the depot were shaking, and you could still feel this strange swaying even though you were standing still. It was actually kind of a cool feeling. Luckily we were all safe. Thanks for every ones concern!!
Thursday was our test, which counts as 60% of your grade. Even though I studied, I was still kind of nervous. I know the test didn't count against me in any way but I always want to do my best and I really wanted to pass. It was two pages, front and back, 18 questions. I am pretty sure I killed it (we never got our actually grades). There were some things that I was unsure of but the majority of the test I know I did well on. If it was in English I would have got 100% for sure.
One of the gentlemen taking the course, who already had a strike against him because he showed up late one day, brought a "cheat sheet". Cesar caught him and he was immediately kicked out. He said something along the lines of "I don't play those games". He was the only one who didn't pass the course. I know it's cliche, but when you cheat, you're only cheating your self. This guy blew his opportunity to work for Bimbo and will not get another one. Goes to show, cheaters will not make it very far in life.
After we took the test on Thursday, our class took a tour of the Marinela plant. The plant has 12 lines, 84 mixers, makes over 20 different products, and has 650 different packages. At this plant we make Gansitos, which is a VERY popular product here in Mexico. It's like a Twinky with vanilla and strawberry on top, covered in chocolate. It is SUPER sweet (I am not the biggest fan). This plant produces 72,000 Gansitos an hour, 24/7!!!! I am not even going to do the math on that one. And that is only one plant too!! (I would have taken pictures but we weren't allowed. I guess I wasn't suppose to take pictures in the Bimbo plant either..... oooopppps)
On Friday was the lesson on the Hand Held. This may have been the most frustrating day I have had so far in Mexico. Learning the Hand Held in English would be hard enough, but trying to learn it in Spanish was like learning two different languages at the same time. They might as well have been teaching me how to do sign language in German. The whole day, everyone had a HH and we did a "mach route". We went through each store and he had us do examples of different scenarios, then print out our tickets. I lost the instructor very early on and just could not catch up. Actually I ended up being two stores ahead of the rest of the class, however that happened?? Without putting the whole class on hold and taking away from the people who actually need the course, I did my best to forge ahead.
Even though class on Friday was tough for me, it ended on a great note. We all passed and got our diplomas!! It definitely turned my day around. Cesar had Joe, Jose, Chico and I help pass out the Diplomas. Everyone was in good spirits. After we all received our diplomas, there was a lot of "congratulations" and hugs. We took a group photo and everyone wanted to take pictures with the "Americans". I feel like us being in the class made an impression on them that they won't forget. Likewise, I met a lot of great people in the class. Everyone here is so gracious and friendly. Some of us exchanged information and I am definitely going to try to keep in touch with them. It was quite a rewarding experience.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
A Little Bit of Fun....
On Saturday night, Joe and I went to a party that was pretty close to our hotel. It just so happens a girl he went to High School with has been living and teaching down here for the last 3 years. It also just so happened to be both of their birthdays.... and St. Patty's Day.
I was expecting there to be some English speaking people and the rest Spanish speaking. This was not the case at all. Everyone there spoke English. They were mostly all teachers from an English speaking school. While this doesn't help me in learning Spanish, it was nice to be able to communicate with everyone clearly.
The party was a great time. There were so many cool, interesting people there from all walks of life; people from all over the US, Canada, England, Mexico, India, all ranging in age from 24-40.
I spoke with this one gentlemen named Jim who has live in Mexico for the last 10 years. He is originally from NYC. We chatted for a while about sports and what not. Which is the harder position to play; MLB pitcher or NFL QB?? I say QB. He runs a sports program for under privileged kids here in Mexico. We exchanged information and I am hopefully going to volunteer with his organization (if I have any time). I really hope we can work something out.
This other girl I talked to was from Mexico but spoke very good English. She is 27 and she was telling me about the culture here in Mexico. She recently moved out of her parents house and they were not supportive at all. Traditionally, a woman won't move out of her parents house until she is married. She was explaining to me how her mom felt about the situation and that she is always trying to be very controlling. However, with her brother, her parents let him get away with a lot more. We learned about this type of treatment of women during our cultural class our first week. Her and I chatted for a while. She told me that even if she had no money to pay rent she would NEVER move back in with her parents. She would rather live on the streets. Being independent is very important to her. I found it pretty fascinating.
I spoke with a bunch of other people, everyone with a story of how and why they were in Mexico. I love hearing people's stories. It really makes me think about life. It's not about getting from point A to point B, it's about the journey in between. The highs, the lows, the dumb things you do that you learn from, all the experiences that make you who you are. I think that is why I am in Mexico right now. It's not every day you get the opportunity to live in another country and learn about the culture. I enjoyed hearing about everyone I talked to last night. It definitely has added to my experience thus far.
I was expecting there to be some English speaking people and the rest Spanish speaking. This was not the case at all. Everyone there spoke English. They were mostly all teachers from an English speaking school. While this doesn't help me in learning Spanish, it was nice to be able to communicate with everyone clearly.
The party was a great time. There were so many cool, interesting people there from all walks of life; people from all over the US, Canada, England, Mexico, India, all ranging in age from 24-40.
I spoke with this one gentlemen named Jim who has live in Mexico for the last 10 years. He is originally from NYC. We chatted for a while about sports and what not. Which is the harder position to play; MLB pitcher or NFL QB?? I say QB. He runs a sports program for under privileged kids here in Mexico. We exchanged information and I am hopefully going to volunteer with his organization (if I have any time). I really hope we can work something out.
This other girl I talked to was from Mexico but spoke very good English. She is 27 and she was telling me about the culture here in Mexico. She recently moved out of her parents house and they were not supportive at all. Traditionally, a woman won't move out of her parents house until she is married. She was explaining to me how her mom felt about the situation and that she is always trying to be very controlling. However, with her brother, her parents let him get away with a lot more. We learned about this type of treatment of women during our cultural class our first week. Her and I chatted for a while. She told me that even if she had no money to pay rent she would NEVER move back in with her parents. She would rather live on the streets. Being independent is very important to her. I found it pretty fascinating.
I spoke with a bunch of other people, everyone with a story of how and why they were in Mexico. I love hearing people's stories. It really makes me think about life. It's not about getting from point A to point B, it's about the journey in between. The highs, the lows, the dumb things you do that you learn from, all the experiences that make you who you are. I think that is why I am in Mexico right now. It's not every day you get the opportunity to live in another country and learn about the culture. I enjoyed hearing about everyone I talked to last night. It definitely has added to my experience thus far.
Tia Rosa/Wonder Route
Before heading out there was a Union Meeting with the vendors and supervisors. They hold these meetings whenever there is new information they need to know. Joe and I were not allowed to sit in on the meeting because the information was "Top Secret". I am pretty sure it wouldn't have mattered if I was in the meeting or not. I think they highly over estimated how much Spanish was I was going to be able to understand. At the end of the meeting, they all do this cheer. It was very Wal-Mart esque.
I started out on a route with this guy named Marco. However, after only 2 stops, another truck pulled up and had me change routes. I guess Marco's route is in a pretty rough area and the supervisors decided they didn't want me going there.
So I ended up being with Julio. Right when I got in, he told me he likes to work fast so he can get done early and get home early. He told me "Buen y Rapido" (good and fast). I was not complaining.
Right off the bat, Julio was letting me do everything; putting the orders together and breaking them down, checking in the product, and merchandising. He basically just collected the payment from the owner. It was more like he was helping me rather than me helping him.
A couple places we delivered to were definitely not in good areas. We were basically in the projects. Julio made me put my phone and wallet away in the truck. At one point, I looked over, and there was a guy running around with his baby goat. I really wish I could have snapped a picture of it.
I really learned a lot riding on the Tia Rosa route. Julio was a really nice guy and tried to take the time to teach me how things are done. He showed me how to do the orders on the handheld and let me put all the orders together. This helped me learn the products a lot better than on the other routes. He was asking me what I had learned since I have been in Mexico and was interested in what I was doing. Julio also spoke slowly and, when I didn't understand something, he would try to say it in a different way so I would. We even stopped by his mom's house and he introduced me to his mother and brother. I enjoyed being on that route.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Plant Tour
Today, I got to take a tour of the Marinela/Bimbo factory in Azcalpotzalco. It was a nice little change of pace from the route rides of the last week. No matter how many times I have toured a plant, they always amaze me. Being able to see the product go from ingredience to package is cool because I usually only see the final product.
This factory has 13 lines and makes over 20 products, both cake and bread. It produces 9,000 loafs of bread an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. That's a lot of damn bread (78,840,000 to be exact. 79,056,000 on a leap year like this one)!!!
Mixing the dough.
Giant mixer
Hot dog rolls.
Time to make the donuts!!
Bimbollos.
Frying the donuts
This factory has 13 lines and makes over 20 products, both cake and bread. It produces 9,000 loafs of bread an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. That's a lot of damn bread (78,840,000 to be exact. 79,056,000 on a leap year like this one)!!!
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