By Huang Shan
China.org.cn staff reporter in Harbin
Whenever you see him, there's always a big smile on his face.
Li Zelong, a sophomore of Harbin Commercial University, was one of the 3,000 Games volunteers of the Harbin 24th Winter Universiade. He is in charge of shuttle bus coordination from the Main Press Center to two competition venues outside Harbin city – Mao'ershan and Yabuli.
"It takes one and a half hours from Harbin to Mao'ershan and three hours to Yabuli,"said Li.
"My partner and I take turns to go to Yabuli, so we can have a break every other day,"said Li. "It's not too tiring because we only have one round trip to the venues per day.”
There are 130 volunteers from Li's university and most of them started training right after the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year which fell on January 26 this year).
"The training focused on the specific information required for each work-role, and how to deal with emergencies,"said Li.
Li is proud of being a volunteer. There was a strict selection process in his university as so many students had wanted to be involved in the sports meeting.
"The selection began about one year before the Univerisade,"recalled Li. "The first round was reviewing each applicant's resume. If you were lucky enough to pass that process, as I was, you would have to complete a questionnaire that asked almost everything related to the Universiade, from the history of the sports to the transportation of the host city.”
"There was also an English test. But we didn't have to take an oral test because we seldom speak directly to foreigners,"said Li.
The only downside for Li is that all the volunteers are required to live in the dormitories on the campus. "We have to be standby for any emergency,"said the Harbin native.
"I just received a gift – a basket of fruit from one of my father's friends,"said Li with a smile. "He works for the Organization and we met at the venue.”
Li and his schoolmates will return to school after the Univerisade ends. "It's been the most unforgettable winter vacation,"said Li. "I'm proud to be serving the Universiade. These Games belong to all our university students.”
(China.org.cn, February 25, 2009)
