Éméi Shān is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China. The team climbed more than 900 steps and an elevation of 10,167 feet to see the sun rise over a sea of clouds. There, we posed for this photo.
Guān Yīn is the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion. She is often depicted with 11 heads and one thousand arms with which to hear and reach out to those who suffer and need aid. Having similar quest, our work brought us to this place to help create social and economic improvement for a country where many people live in a place that lies somewhere between extreme hardship and extreme growth and abundance. Through a tremendous amount of hard work, dedication and even play, I know my team and I made a positive difference in Sichuan. We made a difference for students, citizens, government, business owners, workers and children. The ideas, methods and solutions we shared sprang from collaboration and the combined experience and knowledge that spans 7 cultures and 64 years with IBM. This CSC team is my family of sorts. All that we saw and learned together has been an extremely valuable experience and I can easily say that this has been the single most important and meaningful experience of my career -- the pinnacle.
In China, fishermen used to pray to Guān Yīn to ensure safe voyages. She may have been holding my hand as I am happy to report that I have finally come and gone. After 27 hours in route, I am now back home in beautiful Austin, Texas where I wait out the jet lag and munch on chips and salsa with my best friend and dog, Olive, at my side.
I will continue to make post-assignment updates as news may pop up. A link to the complete photo gallery will be coming soon. Most importantly, thank you for reading my blog. I am thrilled to be able to share this experience with you. Your comments have been the friendly 'voice from home' while I've been away.
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