Jeff Barnwell: China Eve

So the eve of our departure has finally arrived.  All our bags are packed (hopefully), and all we really have to do is wait until the morning arrives.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep at all; it’s the excited, nervous, anticipation that usually makes it hard for me to do so the night before something amazing.  It is almost like Christmas!

Questions race throughout our minds.  Who will be become lifelong friends?  What experiences will push us outside of our comfort zone and allow us to grow?  What wild new food will we eat?  What is the spiciest thing that we’ll be served, and who will have the best tolerance to it?  Will anyone become sick (stay optimistic)?  Who are the new and exciting people we’re going to meet, what will we learn from them and what will they teach us?  How will we deal with conflicts in the group and emerge stronger; or will the WOLF PACK not have them because we are too awesome?  How is the language barrier going to be for us non-Chinese speakers?  What will we be able to come home and tell our families?  How will the flight over be (I hope to sleep the entire way)? Will anyone run into any trouble (I’m gunna place my money on Gonzo)?

We’ve already learned so much from many different speakers.  On Friday we visited Neptune Terminals.  I have always wanted to visit a port, so this was a bit of a dream come true for me.  We were shown a pile of potash that was valued at over 350 million dollars!  I don’t think that I have ever seen anything so valuable, and likely won’t see something of such value again (well, at least until we go to the port in China!).  It was also very fun to dress up like the “Village People.”  It was nice to learn that a company that you would not generally consider as caring about the environment is actually working very hard at reducing their environmental impact.  They are doing this by increasing efficiency in many of their processes such as: using fully electric locomotives, and increasing the number of cars that trains carry.   We all look foreword to meeting up with Tony Nardi, Vice President, Logistics and Community of Neptune Terminals in China.  Hopefully we can split a few pi jios with him!

 

   It has been along road to get to this point – with papers, tests and classes all on top of a grueling finals schedule.  But we are finally here, and now all we have to do is get to the airport on time.  All we can hope is to be upgraded to First Class by the generosity of Capilano University.