Blue Army

We have something that lurks around our venue. It’s always there, always watching, always moving. It stands in line at check-in, it greets us with a smile at lunch and waves goodbye when we leave. It’s a little something that we like to call the “Blue Army,” the huge number of Chinese volunteers that work at the Laoshan Bicycle Cluster with us. They have been dubbed the “Blue Army” because of their blue volunteer shirts and because they huddle in masses around the venue.
We first noticed the “Blue Army” on our first day of training. We didn’t, nor did we expect to, see so many Chinese volunteers. They are there to check our bags, check us in, to check our passes, to tell us where we can’t go, to be translators, to help spectators find seats. You name it and they do it.
The Chinese volunteers applied to be volunteers over a year ago. Many of them participated in the “Good Luck Beijing” test events last summer. Being an Olympic volunteer is a big deal and not something they take lightly. They have been preparing for months. They work long days and are confident that when game time comes they will be ready to rock!
At first I looked at the “Blue Army” as a single unit, after a while one smile just faded into the next and I thought of myself on a different level than them. Not in a bad way, just in the sense that they all had experience and more training under their belts. I have come to find though that ever face has a story, every face has a job. Everyday I try to meet some more Chinese volunteers. I know that this is the only opportunity that I have and that our time together is short, but that doesn’t stop me. I have become fast friends with some of the language specialist, all of them university students. I have found that we are not that much different. We are all excited for the Games, we all like music, we like to crack jokes, we all like to learn about each other’s cultures and we all have a common goal, to help host a great Olympic games.
It’s so refreshing to look at every smile in the “Blue Army” and know that it’s not just another smile; rather it’s a symbol of genuine joy and appreciation for being apart of a great event. As cheesy as it may sound, I have to say that the “One World One Dream” Olympic motto rings true in the lives of the Olympic volunteers, whether Chinese or international. We are all ready to help host an awesome Olympic games!