Volunteer Work

On 14th of March, some Danish teachers along with their students came to NFLS, I was one of the members who volunteered to treat them.
Wendy and I were in a same group, our work was to introduce the whole school and our general school life to the Danish teachers. We represented not only GCA students but also Chinese students. So the responsibility on us was huge.
We showed them the residence hall, gym, cafeteria, playground, computer room, and a supermarket opposite to our school. During the introduction, we showed our manners well and acted positively. I think they might have a good impression on us. Wendy even took them to the piano room, played her favorite song “Cannon” which was very elegant to them. Something interesting that happened during the visit was we asked the Danish teachers to teach us some easy and practical Danish words, Wendy and I learned “Thank you”; “You are welcome” and “I love you” in Danish quickly. One of the Danish teachers was surprised and expressed that our pronunciation was like Danish local people.
To make our work efficiently, we needed be polite and easy-going, also cannot delay the main parts because of the failure of one little piece. For example, when we took the Danish teachers to the school dormitory, although we explained our reasons and proposes clearly, the guard still did not let us in. We did not argue with her, gave up quickly, still used our manners and left. After that we went to other places because we needed to visit as many as we can.
During and after this experience, I benefit a lot from it. First and foremost, I practiced my English oral skills and communication abilities. Also, I learned some general ideas and lifestyles about Denmark, a country which I might never been to. Also, I used to have a stereotype in my mind that foreigners are very different from us and it will be difficult to approach them. However, I found in spite of our appearances are a little different, we are all human beings, so do not think people from other countries are far away from us in any aspects of our lives. Since we can communicate with each other, we treated each other fairly and just like friends.
Things I gained about myself were I realized that I can really communicate with people from other countries who speak English by myself, without other’s help. Also, I am so polite when treat people who I do not familiar with. I can overcome my introvert characteristics when it is necessary to speak and introduce something to others.
Wendy and I also went to Nanjing Library to do volunteer work. This time my work was to put messy books back to the bookcases in right places. This work sounds easy, but actually it was quite difficult because there were thousands of books in one reading room. Each book had its own long and regular number. I should found where the general position for the number and then search carefully to find the exact position of the book. Two days, we spent about 8 hours there. This experience made me really exhausted and deeply hated people who did not put their books back to bookcases consciously.