The other night there was a meeting at City Hall, where many of the volunteers came out to learn and prep for the big arrival of the ChengDu Youths. The organizers were there telling us about expectations of the volunteers (ie no gang slang, dissing (or as some my say "spooning" or "dishing") the youths, etc, etc), the itinerary, dress code, speaking Mandarin(for sure!) and attitude. When I heard each speaker talk about the youths coming, they all had such positive outlooks to this, which began to radiate towards the volunteers. I can definitely say I took in that feeling because I'm looking forward to the visit with each passing day! (I hope I can brush up on my Mandarin before they come too!)
When the meeting came to an end, everyone received some pretty sweet brown baseball hats! There's a maple leaf on it with embroidery saying "est. 1952" on the center. I think everyone is looking forward to wearing these!
After everything came to a close, I felt mega pumped up and excited to meet the youth of Chengdu! To me, this is a once in a lifetime chance to make a difference in someone's life and help them experience the culture that surrounds me everyday.
Talking in mandarin, o geeez
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