Monday, August 16, 2010 - Orientation and Arrival

Volunteers for the Chengdu Youth's visit all gathered for the orientation at the Sutton Place hotel. The organizers voiced their expectations which included keeping a positive attitude toward the youths, treating them with respect and of course talking to them in Mandarin (I'm sure everyone was excited to exercise their Chinese, no sarcasm there) . The gathering room buzzed with everyone's excitement as they heard that the youths would arrive soon. Everyone received awesome bright green T-shirts that were all 3 sizes too big! No one seemed to mind though.

The Chengdu kids arrived really late, yet no one looked tired. Everyone was ready outside the hotel, holding their posters that brightly said "Welcome to Edmonton". There was one particularly long banner made by my family and I that stretched across the entrance of the hotel, which also had "Welcome" on it. As the bus pulled around the corner, the sea of volunteers proudly wearing their green T-Shirts cheered. It literally sounded like a whole football stadium there! The expressions on the Chengdu kid's faces were priceless, a dash of surprise mixed with a whole cup of happiness.

Everyone, volunteers and our new guests, filed back into the gathering room. Many speeches were given by the organizers, government representatives and Chengdu representatives. Soon, the 7 Chengdu youth were paired up with the buddies that they would be with tomorrow.

After the paparazzi photo shoots leaving everyone seeing spots, we started mingling (yay!). Even though the first part of the mingling moments were as silent as a class of students writing a test, the noise increased so that I couldn't hear what the person beside me was saying. My buddy especially was very tired. The wonderful Chinese cuisine of chow mien and fried rice was served to the kids (the volunteers were already stuffed beforehand). Bright green bags full of who knows what were also handed out to the guests while they ate.

When it was time for bed, everyone said their goodbyes but were still bloated with energy. The journey has begun.


By Megan