New Friends
We had our first meeting with the ONS yesterday afternoon and learned a bit more about our assignments. It seems I’ll be an assistant in the press conference area of the cycling venue and will ensure the area “runs smoothly.” To me, this sounds a lot like “make sure you clean up all the empty water bottles in between conferences,” but you know what? I’m going to clean up empty water bottles like no one has ever cleaned up empty water bottles before. We’ll have a better idea of what is really going on when we begin in a few days.
Alex, our ONS manager, asked my classmate Christy and I to start work early, on the fifteenth. Our first assignment is to help the local volunteers with their English. Seeing as we know barely enough Mandarin to put us in the “survival” category, this should be interesting. But, it is flattering that he asked us to help.
| (L to R) Alex, Bob, Ming Wen, Christy, Me, Yonny, and Cookie |
He also brought us out for a terrific meal last night where we met a few Chinese student volunteers from CUC who will work with us at the cycling venue. Over spicy Sichuan fish, black fungus, and a bunch of other mysterious yet delicious foods, we shared stories and language. Alex was very interested in learning English tongue-twisters and we all had a good laugh over his rendition of “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck…”
Bob, another ONS volunteer working with us, is apparently quite a good guy to know. When I asked the group where I should go to buy a cell phone, he whipped one out of his bag, charger and all, and told me I could borrow it until I could get one of my own. I explained that language-wise, I’m not ready to haggle yet, so Bob also offered to take me to the electronics market and do the haggling for me. Alex even admitted that for matters such as this, Bob is his first call as he always manages to get the best price.
Apparently, Bob is also quite the karaoke singer, and just opened a tea shop to which he invited all of us. Should be a good time!
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