Chattanooga's friendliness and the mild weather made Fernando and Ester Ribeiro feel right at home when they arrived almost a year ago.
"Every single door is open, you are welcomed everywhere, you feel pretty much at home," said Mr. Ribeiro, general manager controlling for Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations and a Brazil native.
"During the first two weeks we (already) had a lot of invitations for parties, theater, going for an ice cream," he added. "It made the moving here very easy."
Although the majority of Volkswagen's foreign employees come from Germany, a small group represents nine other foreign countries - Mexico, England, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, China, Brazil, Austria and Italy - according to Scott Wilson, spokesman for Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations.
And they hold a wide range of positions, from administrative assistant to the chief executive officer and all levels in between, he said in an e-mail.
"An employee who has proven his or her excellence previously is a perfect candidate to be a part of the start-up team here in Chattanooga," Mr. Wilson said. "The challenge of building a new vehicle in a new plant is quite extraordinary, so professional excellence is a requisite."
Lothar Grensemann, general manager of the VW paint department, arrived from Germany with his wife, Hildegard, and two sons, Kai and Henning, in October.
"The first few months are hard because you are missing so much and you don't really feel at home. Now we are in the phase where we enjoy our home ... and it's getting a little bit more cozy," said Mr. Grensemann in his Ooltewah home.
"Building a new plant with new people is stressful. We are all enjoying this, but you also need this opposite time to relax a little bit, make new friends and feel at home," he added.
Mr. Grensemann has been with VW for 21 years and Mr. Ribeiro for 12 years and both have worked for Volkswagen in other countries. The Ribeiros lived in the Czech Republic and Germany before moving to the United States, and the Grensemanns lived in South Africa.
Most foreign contracts are for about three years, the employees said.
After a couple of stressful months of settling into their new homes in Chattanooga, the families say they have enjoyed the city's amenities and celebrated holidays the American way.
"We have friends that bike and on Christmas Eve they came by and were singing, caroling, it was really cool," said Mr. Ribeiro in his downtown home full of paintings his father in Brazil made and furniture they've accumulated from all four countries.
"We had only seen that in movies," added Mrs. Ribeiro.
"When you see it on TV, you don't feel the reality behind that, but when you get people at your door, knocking with candles and singing, you say, 'Oh, it's really real,'" he said. "It was really beautiful, I will remember that for a long time."
For the Grensemanns, a memorable experience was spending Thanksgiving with an American colleague.
During the moment where everyone was giving thanks for what they had, most of them were thankful for having the Grensemanns and for them being settled and in their new home, said Mr. Grensemann.
"That was a moment where I started really feeling home here," he said.
The family has already explored the area's hiking trails and enjoyed a longer vacation out West.
"Before we (decided to come) to the U.S.A., we talked to the children whether to do it or not," Mrs. Grensemann said. "They were a bit worried at the beginning, so we asked them to name three places they would like to explore and we would try to do that, and the first was the Grand Canyon," she said.
"We did an eight-mile hike, it was really impressive," said Kai Grensemann, 12. "Always people tell us the Grand Canyon is large, but I really didn't imagine it was that large. I think it's my favorite site in America."
The boys also are taking advantage of the variety of sports the city has to offer, something they say they don't have in Germany. While Kai is interested in swimming and tennis, Henning, 11, wants to try football.
"Maybe I will try next year in Baylor football because I get a chance and it's kind of a fun way to keep people away," he joked.
Both families say they are impressed by the cuisine and green nature of the city.
"We really liked the red sauce used for the Thanksgiving dinner with the turkey," said Mrs. Ribeiro, describing cranberry sauce. "In Brazil we don't have any of the berries they have here, except for strawberries."
But if you get homesick, Mrs. Ribeiro said, there's always the Latin American stores, although she added that they like to try the food and customs of their host country.
"For the size of the city, it offers a lot," said Mr. Ribeiro, who was also involved in choosing the VW site. "You have all the nice features you usually find in big cities but, at the same time, the good stuff you find in small cities like parks (and) community."
He has been a scuba diver since 1999 and recently volunteered at the Tennessee Aquarium.
"When we were in Europe, I didn't have water around," he said. "If you go north, it's too cold, south it's too far. In Brazil it was in a snap of a finger, within 30 minutes you are in the sea coast and you can dive.
"When we were moving here I thought another couple of years without diving and then she found that the aquarium needed volunteers," he added.
The first year in Chattanooga has been perfect, Mrs. Ribeiro said.
"I find everything that I want here. Most people in Brazil think that you only go to Miami or New York for shopping, but here in Chattanooga you find a lot of stores with everything you need."
Mrs. Grensemann said she wants to learn how to cook good barbecue ribs.
BY THE NUMBERS* 700: Number of employees at Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations* 176: Number of employees from foreign countries* 10: Number of foreign countries employees come fromSource: Scott Wilson, Media and Community Relations for Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations
"We tried it once, but I think we grilled them too long," she said. "The summer is just starting, so hopefully I'll improve my skills before we leave."
She is also enjoying spending the evenings outside.
"We are really glad to have a screened porch so now we can stay outside," she said. "It's always too cold in Germany to have a long evening outside. Even in the summer, the cold is coming from the sea and you need to go inside."
But moving to a different country is not an easy decision to make, the Grensemanns said.
"For me, it was difficult to leave my friends," said Kai. "In Germany, I was just going to middle school so I had just met my new class and made new friends so I was kind of sad to leave them, but it's getting better."
"We took our boys in the middle of the year out of school so we could come together, spent a week in a hotel, then came to this house," said Mr. Grensemann.
"I think that's an important thing as a family, you should really come together, experience the first few days together, and (get) the first impression and work through this together," he added.
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