Some members wear their national team's uniforms, on which their countries' names are shown in both their native languages and Chinese.

After only two days, Ferris has made good friends with his roommates from Turkey, Ireland and China. They play table tennis and make ceramics.

However, he is most interested in the Games. Although he is only 17, he began to enjoy watching the Games during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"I've always dreamed of participating in the Games representing Zimbabwe," said Ferris, "and I've been heading toward this goal all along."

Ferris is talented in swimming, the butterfly stroke specifically, which makes him a stronger figure than his peers.

These camp members are lucky. They will watch the opening ceremony of the Games and some wonderful competitions. Besides swimming, Ferris is also interested in gymnastics and sprinting. He knew about Liu Xiang of China, but it was difficult for him to pronounce Liu's name.

Apart from the 400 camp members, there are more than 300 Chinese and overseas volunteers here, providing administrative work and services. Most are college students who can speak English fluently.

"We get along very well," said a Chinese camp member, Shao Heng, who made a lot of foreign friends in the five days after his arrival.

"We can get a better mutual understanding, and they can learn more about China, too."

China, in Ximena Flores' mind, is a spiritual and mythical land.

A Guatemalan youth badminton champion, Flores dreams of experiencing the Games. However, as an arts lover, she said the Olympics gave her a great chance to know about a culture totally different from her own.

"I can make a lot of foreign friends, sharing our culture with them," said Flores. She lives with a Chinese, a Syrian and a girl from a Pacific island country that she has never heard of.

"We just arrived here, so we don't know much about each other. However, we will find that although we come from different countries, we are the same."

Flores talked with a Chinese camp member about Spanish and South American football. The two girls spontaneously mentioned some stars' names that Flores knew. Suddenly, there was no gap between them.

"That is perhaps the Olympic spirit," said 18-year-old Shao. "We get together to know each other, like a world family."

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)