Volunteers lend a helping hand

One volunteer has found the long hours at Expo rewarding despite the difficulties and occasion rude visitor, Shang Ban reports.

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As people enjoyed the opening ceremony of the Expo 2010 Shanghai late into the evening on April 30, Cheng Lehuan, 21, a public administration major at Fudan University, was fast asleep. She had a 5 am wake-up call the next day to volunteer at the Expo Garden.

"I was so glad to see so many groups of volunteers dressed in the green uniforms and so proud of myself to be one of them," Cheng said, recalling her first morning in the Expo Garden.

The 77,000 volunteers at the Expo Garden, most who are students at Shanghai universities, are the backbone of the Expo.

"It's a once in a lifetime event for an Expo to be hosted in my country, so I really wanted to be involved in a big operation like this and see how it is organized," said Cheng, a Shanghai native.

Cheng had to go through a rigorous series of selection procedures before she was chosen as volunteer for the Expo.

The thrill of being accepted as a volunteer quickly turned to what Cheng described as "paramount pressure" during trial runs, as she found herself ill-prepared for meeting the unexpected needs of the visitors during the first days of the Expo.

Cheng was assigned to the service desk of the Theme Pavilion. However, she often encountered questions that had nothing to do with her area of responsibility.

"When an old lady asked me for directions to the toilet on the first day, I was at a loss since I was never told the locations of the toilets during training," Cheng said.

"When I couldn't reply to these inquiries, I felt really embarrassed and anxious."

Resolved to provide as much information as she could, Cheng decided to use her 40-minute lunch break to walk around the Expo Garden, learning the locations of nearby restaurants, reservation machines, shuttle buses and neighboring pavilions - topics that visitors asked about the most.

Cheng said she used to be a spoiled girl who hated walking in the hot sun, but said: "It is worth the effort to be a qualified volunteer.

"I also equipped myself with two weapons to better fulfill my duty - a large bar of chocolate for energy and a notepad for taking down updated information, new questions and any emergencies I encounter," she said.

Cheng said now she no longer relies on her copy of the Expo Garden map. "The layout is imbedded in my brain," she said, pointing at her dog-eared map dotted with notes she has made.

Because of her devotion to work, her friends and family turn to her for any question related to the Expo.

Cheng is happy that most people are satisfied with her work and mentions one unusual experience when helping a British visitor.

"Though I'm bilingual in Chinese and English, I still stammered as he started asking questions since he was the first foreign guest I met during the event. I know I failed to fully express myself, but he was nice and encouraged me," Cheng said.

Spending almost 10 hours in the Expo Garden every day, Cheng hasn't had a chance to visit any pavilions other than the Theme Pavilion. "I definitely want to revisit the Garden as a tourist and as a guide for my parents," Cheng said.