GDUFS Foreign Students Volunteer in Asian Games

Many volunteers contributed  to the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games, and among them were several foreign students at GDUFS. Hee Ah from South Korea is a sophomore in the School of Interpreting and Translation Studies. She and her family came to China eight years ago and are living in Guangzhou now. An outgoing and lovely girl - that's the first impression she gave us. Unlike most Korean girls, Hee Ah doesn't feel like making herself up in everyday life. As we went on talking, her ready smile and fluent Chinese further impressed us.

During the Games, Hee Ah's job was ticket checking in the Guangzhou Gymnasium. Since the working time was 6:30-15:30 and 16:30-21:00, she had to get up at around 5 o'clock every day during that time and could only have one break the whole day. At the beginning, she was so excited yet nervous about being a volunteer, worrying about whether she could do the job well. In the end, everything went on smoothly she told us. Though tired, she felt very happy for serving the big event.

With dedication there comes gain. The volunteer experience has enabled her to connect with people from various countries, thus helping to improve both her languages (Chinese and English) ans well as her general communication skills. In addition, she also made some new Chinese friends. "Those handsome boys from the Police College were highly nice and kind-hearted," she said. When feeling tired at work, she would chat with friends or eat chocolate, as she is a big chocolate fan. Her favorite athletes include Park Tae Hwan, Kim Yu-Na, and Lee Yong Dae. As for her favorite thing, Hee Ah said it was to take photos with her favorite Korean athletes.

Similar to Hee Ah, Kang Tae Hwan, another South Korean foreign student from GDUFS, also shared his volunteer experience in the event. "I have never attended such a large-scale event before" the sunshine boy told us, "so I would like to become a volunteer not only for gaining a precious working experience but also offering my support for Korean sports." He did the same job as Hee Ah, which sometimes required him to communicate with the audience. For example, many game viewers wanted to watch evening game with diurnal tickets in their hands, and he had to explain the situation to them. Such communication was easy for him. However, the problem came when he met some Cantonese-speakers. "That was the only difficulty I faced," he told us.

During the 14 days, he also made a lot of Chinese friends. He also had a few conversations with a famous Olympic champion, Yu Nam Gu from Seoul, Korea, who won his gold medal in 1988, and took part in the Asian Games as a narrator. It was most unforgettable for him to see some cute children watching games with their parents. "That reminded me of my own family," he said with a smile.

Both of Hee Ah and Kang Tae Hwan are very happy with the changes of Guangzhou during the Games, especially the transportation. Life in Guangzhou has been more convenient for them as well as others.Through Hee Ah and Kang Tae Hwan's experience in the event, we can have a glimpse of how the Asian Games brang changes to people in Guangzhou, and to the city of Guangzhou. Obviously, Guangzhou is becoming more and more open and international. Foreigners are not merely visitors welcomed by local people as before, they are now also hosts, who welcome people outside Guangzhou to join in the Asian Games.