Visiting
Hochst, Frankfurt AM Main, Germany/Carlos Pueblo
I was out of
a coffee shop with Eugenia at Frankfurt old town street,
she liked to
visit an art museum and I went on to Willy Brandt station
to catch on
a train to the central station. The train which I was on was
toward west
of the city, Frankfurt Hochst. Suddenly, I decided to visit
the township
which brought back some memory of the early 70’s at my
one year
hometown stay at Huwei, Taiwan. I went to a job interview with
a German
company called Hoechst Chemical in Taipei for a position as a
sales person
for its dye stuff in the leather industry. The interview was very
nice and the
firm paid a round trip train tickets. I did not get the job and I
learned it
after some 20 years later at Hersey Park near my old house. A
German
couple came to Houston to visit their son’s family and mentioned
that he was
the head of Hoechst Asia Operation and was familiar with
Kaohsiung. I
mentioned that interview of mine, he laughed and indicated
that the plants
was not built due to the objection of Dow Chemical in the
U.S. He
could identify the young man who interviewed me at that time.
In April
this year, I went to Viesbaden for the thermos experience and noticed
that I
missed Hochst by 10 miles and decided to make it up on my next trip.
Hochst has
been merged into Frankfurt AM Main since 1928 and is famous for
Hoechst
Chemical and now is called Sanofi-Aventis still a huge chemical power
house in the
industrial park of the city. The city itself is not as dramatic as
Frankfurt
yet is well organized city planning. I saw some immigrant population.
Hochst
reminds me Pasadena of the Houston east side industrial area except
Pasadena is
a huge petroleum refinery while Hochst is a huge chemical factory
while I can
still see some chimneys along the River Main.
I continued
to finish my second year teaching obligation in Taiwan before I was
eligible to
postpone the duty and study abroad one year later. I have never thought
that I would
have this opportunity to run into Hochst and Hoechst later in my life.
I have thought
of environment pollution in Taiwan for quite some time especially
pollution of
waterway in Taiwan. Before the migration of factory to China, Taiwan
had had many
severe protests for water and air pollution due to industrial expansion.
I closely
observe German rivers in compare with Japanese and I want to know what
the people
must pay the cost for the current life style for all the products.
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