oprah, in chinese...

Yesterday ended our three day tour on a high note, the Chinese Opera (pun intended.) After all the excitement we were very tired today. Since Monday in China is the equivalent to our Sunday we were blessed with a day off. Most of the day was spent updating our blogs, doing laundry (which is quite the experience) and simply relaxing before the real work starts tomorrow.

To elaborate on the laundry - the machines are much smaller here. The first few people to do laundry had no troubles. However, as the day progressed it got worse. The machine does not go through a spin cycle, and on top of that the water wasn't draining. Our room is currently under flood watch but the humidity is finally starting to go down.

The highlight of the day was our invitation to a Chinese talk show. It had a eerie similarity to Oprah, two feel-good stories, an important person that can help make dreams come true, and a "favorite things" give away. Unbeknownst to us we would be active participants in this show.

He started the show off with an 88 year old man, who is the oldest Olympic volunteer, and apparently a University of Michigan graduate (at least it's the Big Ten.) He is one of the 1 million people who applied to be a part of the Beijing Olympic Games. A number which far surpasses the previous record of 450,000. The media director was also a guest and he explained what was the daily requirement of the volunteers is, how we were chosen, and even provided us with some advice for asking questions to the athletes.

It was then time to turn the show over to the Australians and Americans. Five of the volunteers practiced their interviewing skills by asking each other questions about the preparation for this job, other volunteer experiences, and what was the individual's favorite part about China. It was very entertaining.

My favorite part of the show was the final two guests. These two children hailed from a town about two hours away (by plane.) Each year this school has five students from Norway come volunteer at the school. A previous group decided they wanted to create a project that helped raise money for these children to attend the Beijing Olympics. Shirts were made and sold for donations. The shirts were designed by a blind girl which took her two months to draw and perfect. She was there to show off her newly learned English. Very nervously she said hello, her name (Michelle), and welcomed us to Beijing. She could say more in English than I could in Chinese. The other child that came with was a partially deaf girl who was incredibly artistic. She knitted two purses, drew two pictures, and made these gorgeous flowers, all of which she gave away to the volunteers in the audience. Since I have taken sign language I found this to be the most interesting part. As it is with any language, sign language is different in every country. Most of the show was spent watching the interpreter to see which signs were similar. I even picked up a few: sport, Olympics, grow up, same, volunteer, and friend. I now officially know more in Chinese sign language than spoken Chinese.

Finally, in typical Chinese fashion, we were all invited forward and presented gifts for our attendance on the show. Some of us received designed chopsticks, others got a traditional Chinese dress that covers a wine bottle, all of them were beautiful and completely unexpected.

As you can see, the show had all the ingredients for a perfect Oprah show. Tomorrow starts training. I think I speak for all my classmates when I say we are anxiously awaiting tomorrow. We will learn more about what our various jobs entail and hopefully receive our much desired uniforms. It should make for an interesting day.