Innovative Internships Texas 2012
We've found there are some differences between business manners in the US and Japan. Firstly, we were surprised at the way people exchange business cards! It's done very casually! People don't always use two hands, it's very relaxed, not formal and often people introduce themselves with just their first name and a strong handshake. This is what happens in the real world.
Secondly, in the office at Birkman, we keep the doors open. It's very friendly, everyone talks to each other, greets each other. In Japan, sometimes people work in a big open office yet no one talks to each other! In the USA in the office we are working in even the CEO keeps her door open. It feels really nice to communicate with people!
Thirdly, flexi time is a big part of the American working day. This means that people can work flexible schedules. For example, they could work from 6:00am until 4:00 pm if they are early birds! Or even from 10:00 am until 7:00 pm depending on their schedule, e.g. If they have to take kids to school or have other duties. This is very flexible and makes the workers very happy! It's very convenient. Everyone gets their work done and not so many people need to do overtime.
Have you heard of Chi hair straighteners? They are the worlds leading brand of straighteners. They are made in Houston, Texas and were designed by Farouk Shami, the head if Farouk Systems. Farouk Shami is a Palestinian-American businessman from Ramallah, West Bank, who now lives in Houston, Texas, where he runs the hair-care and spa products company, Farouk Systems. He is an amazing businessman who has lived the American Dream! He was allergic to ammonia and he wanted to be a hair stylist but this job could kill him because of the chemicals in hair products. So, he decided to create hair products without ammonia! It was a great idea and he was able to build a very successful brand with a clear USP. Do you know USP? It stands for Unique Selling Point. His brand is unique. We were very lucky to visit his factory and get to have work experience there! This is a good case study of a successful American, Houston-based business.
There are such amazing foods in Houston! We've eaten Mexican, Greek, food from Laos, Italian, Tex-Mex, Cajun - it's all been really delicious! Houston is such an interesting city! It's very multicultural so the food is truly international and very reasonable! We came across some interesting sauces and spices, too! With very interesting names.....Slap your what??
Slap your momma means that when your mother cooks good food you should pat her on the shoulder to tell her it was great! It's a sign of appreciation!
Monday was Labor Day so it was a national holiday. Many businesses are closed on national holidays and some businesses even close early on the Friday before so staff can have a 'long weekend'. It's a good idea! A lot of people have BBQs or go shopping on this holiday. Some of us went to an outlet shopping mall, some of us went to the Galleria to hang out.
It's been an action packed Labor Day weekend! We went to our first football game on Saturday! It was CRAZY! Before the game people have a 'tailgate' party, it's kind of like an outdoor BBQ party, people have large trailers and cook food from the back of their trucks! There were over 30,000 people at the game! It's not professional, it's college student! Can you believe it?? Can you imagine 30,000 people watching a college sports event in Japan? Sport is very important in American college life! The University of Houston won! We beat UCLA. The weather was cooler than normal so it was quite comfortable watching in the stands. There were friendly people sitting near us who helped explain the game! It lasted 3 and a half hours! There were lots of commercials, t-shits and university goods for sale, and the drinks were very expensive inside the stadium. Sport is big business in the States!
Check out our photos in future posts! Coming soon!
Two of us are working at a company that is all about people. It's kind of human resources. The company has a very accurate test for personality, motivation and careers. Taking the test shows you much about yourself and about how other people see you. Companies use the test to make teams and put teams together based on the data. It can be very useful for helping make people work better together. Today we are working on important translation tasks for the company!
1,Sep,Thursday
30,Aug, Tuesday
Today we went to the U of H.We didn't know what "U of H" means. It is short for "UNIVERSITY of HOUSTON", and used in many situation.U of H was so much bigger than Fukushima University, and has won many medals or trophy, amazing!I hope F.Uni won more prize (in the field and track events, etc...).
KAORI
I didn't know about CHI products until attend this tour today. I had an image that a factory is big place, but the factory was a very small site. I can't believe that all products are made there. They export their products to over 100 countries. Sarah said that notices in the factory are written in Spanish, then I think all most all people who work there are not an American by birth, may be some of them are from Mexico. This is just like Texas. In Japan, there is the same situation. A factory in Japan, the workers are 80~90% not Japanese, they are Chinese or Thai or Philippine. I think they want a job on the other hand companies want to save labor costs. Peoples desire and interest to work has caused this situation.
By Eri
Here are some photos from Day One on the job! After our orientation, we had a factory tour of Farouk Systems. It is a hair products company that supplies products to over 250 countries around the world. They make shampoos, colours and electrical tools like dryers and straighteners. The pictures show the factory, the chemicals used to make the shampoo and the mixing vats. We'll post our reflections on the factory tour in another post, so stay tuned!!
Yesterday we went to a Welcome Pool Party! Yusuke's host family very generously prepared a wonderful BBQ feast for us! We had kebabs, cheesecake, salad, pickles, bread, lots of delicious fresh fruit and even Japanese noodles that were made by Dotty! It was all fantastic.
We also went swimming in Richard and Sharon's pool. It was a great way to cool off in the Texas heat. It was over 108 degrees again yesterday! The pool had a water slide and we played catch ball and did weights in the water! We chatted to lots of people and introduced ourselves! It was a great way to relax and get over jet lag!! We were exhausted when we went to bed!
Thank you to everyone who prepared the BBQ party!
True Texan hospitality!
We are staying in an American business hotel. It is very comfortable. We have large suits with big beds and a TV, kitchen and bathroom. There is also a swimming pool and gym. It's much bigger and more spacious than a Japanese business hotel. There is a buffet breakfast. There are many things to eat!!! We had French toast, corned beef hash, fruit, eggs, cereal, many more!
After a very long flight via Atlanta, we arrived in Houston! We were very tired so went straight to bed on the first night! Yesterday we went to the Galleria Shopping Center. It's impossible to be outside now as the temperature is more than 106 degrees during the day, so it's safer to stay inside with air conditioning!
We found the best way to cool down! We went Ice Skating at the Galleria Shopping Center! It was great fun but quite difficult!
the Intensive class,
Students on the internship from Toyo Gakuen University take the ALPS Course. ALPS doesn't mean the mountains, ALPS stands for Academic Language Learning and Professional Skills.
