Day 16 - Attitude determines your Altitude!

Today will be our 2^nd but last industrial visit for this entire OIP trip! As much as I hope to have more industrial visits, but I know it is not possible already. Hopefully for the future batches, they can have a few more industrial visits! Because each and every industrial visits is really fun and exciting! Besides all that, it opens up your eyes towards each industry and gives you a glimpse of experience of what to expect in different industries! 

This time, we visited the Coca-Cola Factory! Also my first time visiting the Coca-Cola Factory, I was really excited because of its well known international level as a beverage company!

We were first brought to a room whereby they showcased a video that gave us all a better understanding of Coca-Cola such as its history, and what contributions they have made to the society. Besides that, we witnessed the entire process of how the drinks are being filled into bottles or glasses, and then processed, finally into cartons or packages to be sent for delivery! 

Lastly, we were brought to a gallery room that showed almost everything of the story of Coca-Cola, how it all started, and even products and little figurines made in the past all about Coca-Cola!

Reflections:

Witnessing how an international enterprise operates worldwide is really fascinating and incredible! Seeing how fast each and every soft drink is being produced, it only gives you the feeling that this business will only continue to prosper and grow in time to come!

But bear in mind, to operate such huge enterprise, it also means that value-added workers are required! This comes down to the word ‘Attitude’! Once you enter the reception lobby, you can literally see many motivative quotes around you, such as one that says to deliver world class standards! Although being positive when you are working still lies with the worker, but the least Coca-Cola did was to encourage its workers to have a positive working attitude! This is something that is lacking in many international companies! 

Hopefully, in the future, I am able to make an impact in other people’s life as well. Best if I can be as successful and influential as Coca-Cola! Motivating people to excel in their life and strive to do their best in anything they may be doing, be it working or living! If you want to excel in business, the best way is to have others that wants to excel in their area of work as well!

“Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something 

can be done rather than saying it can't be done.”

Bo Bennett

Day 15 - Enjoy the Process of Reaching your Goals!

Our first industrial visit has finally arrived! This time, we will be visiting the widely known Wuhan Iron & Steel Company (WISCO)! Why am I so excited? Because this company is so famous that everyone in Wuhan or even most people in China know about this company! 

A short description of WISCO, it is simply the largest company I have ever seen in my life, the land area this company covered is literally the size of our Jurong Island or even bigger! Once you cross over a mini bridge, you immediately enter into their huge territory!

While we’re on our way to the specific showcase factory out of the many factories in there, we kept seeing container trucks passing by us! What’s so interesting about these container trucks is that some of them are carrying dangerous symbols! I heard that in China, it’s pretty hard to find dangerous symbols around, so it will be pretty amusing to find some here!

Entering the factory, we were being led by a mini path along the upper floor to witness through the process of new iron being molded and went through different stages of cooling down and compression to finally become a roll of steel! 

entering the factory!

freshly made HOT iron slab!

 We could literally feel the intense heat coming from it even when we were standing from a distance! It's worst than a suana!

the iron slab being processed!

From being big and short, it became long and thin!

Final product!

inspection time!

The entire storage of finished products!

 

Reflections:

This industrial visit has really been an eye-opener for me as much as for the rest I believe. From knowing how large this corporation is, till knowing the process of how steel is being made, all of this broadened up my mind about the steel industry and how achievable one company can be! 

However, it is the process of making the steel that struck me. Many people always focus on the result of every path they make, instead of focusing on the way to getting the wanted result. But many a times, it is in fact the process of reaching the target or dream that is going to affect the outcome! 

Seeing how much work has to be done to make sure that the steel is nicely done and completed, really makes one wonder that sometimes, it’s the process of reaching your goals or dreams that makes you grow and be also be appreciative, not just the results you may or may not achieve afterwards! 

 " I do not believe in failure. 

It is not failure if you enjoyed the process. "

Oprah Winfrey

Day 14 - Putting yourself in someone else's shoes

If you’re ever interested in philosophy, this is a day you can never ever miss! This is what we were taught today during our Overseas Immersion Experience (OIE)! But if you’re those that are not the least bit interested in philosophy, fear not! Because this OIE teacher (Ms Grace Tao) we have, does make learning pretty much engaging and interesting!

We were taught basically about 2 different topics, mainly on the philosophers, and the school of thoughts in China. The main philosophers are people such as (孔子) Confucius, (孟子) Mencius, (庄子) Zhuang Zi, and last but definitely not the least, (老子) Lao Tzu. As for the school of thoughts in China centuries back, we were taught in details about the (儒家) Confucianism, (道家) Taoism, (墨家) Moism, (法家) Lawism, (佛家) Buddhism.

 

Now, the reason why I mentioned that our OIE teacher makes learning engaging and interesting, is by the fact that she actually put in lots of effort compiling texts from english books to allow us to better understand philosophy, and also provide us short videos instead of just wordy slides! 

Video viewing!

At night, it was the birthday celebration for another classmate! This time round it is Zhen Zhao’s birthday! All of us attempted to prepare a surprise celebration for him, even though it was a rushed plan, but I believe he felt our sincerity! Happy Birthday Zhen Zhao! =D

Ms Hock, Zhen Zhao, Mr Chia

There were also a few local student leaders that came and celebrated the birthday as well! The interesting thing was that, although it seems like they didn’t bring any presents for Zhen Zhao, but actually it’s the tradition for the Chinese here that they only give their presents by secretly putting it in the person’s room, or pass it to the person the next day! 

the local student leaders!

Reflections: 

Feeling the teacher’s sincerity and love for us as students, it does really touch my heart to see that even though we may not be her students in WUST, not even for 2 months, but we can always be proud to say that we are once her student! I totally appreciate and thank her from the bottom of my heart for her effort in trying to make us all understand and learn. Hopefully, all her effort and commitment will make us all always interested in philosophy and about China! 

The other thing that I would like to mention is how considerate the Chinese are towards giving the birthday present. Taking into thoughts that not everyone may be able to give a birthday present, they made it a point to either leave the present in the birthday boy/girl’s room or pass it the following day! It made me wonder why I have never even though of such thing before! Instead of making others feel awkward if they did not bring any birthday present, everyone is able enjoy themselves at the celebration. It will be real nice to see if us, Singaporeans, may pick up this tradition of theirs and make it part of our tradition as well! I would definitely try this next time is possible! 

“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can

there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.”

Sarah Caldwell

Day 11-13 - Live Your Life to the Fullest!

3 Gorges tour is finally here! One of the main highlight of this OIP trip, we will be on a cruise for 3 days 2 nights! This cruise brought us along 长江 (Changjiang) and we even had the chance to explore the tourist attractions along the 3 Gorges. As you read on, I will attempt to make u imagine that you’re actually there with us! Enjoy! ;D 

 Let's rock & roll! =D

Lunch before boarding the cruise!

The cruise that all of us boarded, even though it was not a high-end cruise, but it still allowed us to enjoy our entire trip! We even had excess to the roof of the cruise to have better view of the surroundings and there are also facilities like the Karaoke Room and the Games Room for us to relax and chill! 

Group D!

The rooms we sleep in

one of the many ship locks we had to pass through!

Besides all that, we even got to take a specially decorated little boat, entering into a cliff-like place and cruise along the river. The surroundings of the river bear the evidence of past civilizations and the very few families that still stay there. 

Next up, we even went to mini island whereby only a minority of people still lives on it and it has a temple that actually consists of the story of 诸葛亮(Zhu Ge Liang), 刘备(Lieu Bei) and 关羽(Guang Yu). 

To cut the very long of our 3 days 2 nights story short, we also went to the 3 Gorges Dam! This is one really magnificent project that the China Government are trying to complete, and it is said that it will be completed by 2015! 

All in all, I would say that this 3 days 2 nights tour was indeed worth-while! Even though it was supposed to be relaxing while most of us actually slept in much later, it gave us a different experience in China especially for me since I really love travelling!

Reflections:

Although this trip is not one whereby you can recharge yourself because of the lack of sleep, but it was a really enriching one. As you travel and visit from places to places, witnessing how the human civilization evolves throughout the centuries, it makes yourself think back about the past and now the present, most importantly, the future!

From living on mountains, staying near the cliffs, resides on a island much smaller than Sentosa, to modern building structures in cities, till building of a huge project such as the 3 Gorges Dam, all of these are evidences of how we, the human race, did from past till present.

Now we can all sit back and imagine what else could happen in the future. Floating cities above the ocean, flying cars all over the place, or just global warming, environment being destroyed, destruction happening all the over.. Whatever happens in the future, none of us are certain and sure about it, only God knows it.

So live your present life to the fullest! Instead of always complaining how bad you did this, or how much you may be suffering, someone else out there could be in a state many times worst than you! Stay happy always! 

 “Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”

 James Dean