renkai, a team singapore water polo player, the guy i worked with for the ARMs, and yelena isinbayeva, one of the awesome ARMs (:
i just finished my 5th day of duty at the YOG last night, and after reading all those negativity on alternative media & blogposts this morning, there's so much in my mind that i wanna share.
i think we already know all the negatives of YOG, besides the bad food for volunteers (actually, the food at YOV since sunday has been pretty good!), being over-budgeted by three times, low response level at the games & the celebrations, inconveniences for students at schools especially NTU people, etc. etc. so there's no more need to harp on that and increase the negative vibes among singaporeans anymore. these negativism is justified in every way, and every singaporean do have the right to get angry and critical about it.
so let me go on about all the positives. i remembered i first volunteered through NTU using their web portal in october, with my first choice being an athlete and presenter escort, followed by media communications assistant. i volunteered because i sincerely thought that this was a once in a lifetime experience that i shouldn't miss, and it gave me an opportunity to see how it's like to work in the media industry. by january i was informed that i got my first choice, and by february i went for my very first briefing as a volunteer.
i was still pretty enthusiastic then, until upon missing one supposedly important briefing in NTU with a justified reason, i stopped receiving any updates from the workforce in charge of my role. i had to learn from an acquaintance who was in the same position as me to know that they actually started their trainings already, and that i mysteriously disappeared from their chain of emails. and i actually called to ask the HR manager before that, to confirm my role in the games and he did assure me of my position. and so i was particularly angry about how irresponsibly they actually managed their volunteers. was it so difficult to let me know that since i've missed the important training i couldn't be part of the team there? instead of leaving me clueless of what to be during the games they could have just given me a call or dropped me an email. will it even kill them to do so?
by the time i heard from my friend, i've decided - that's it. i'm going to travel around instead (i initially planned to stay in singapore after ocip to attend all those trainings) and heck them. they don't deserve my attention and time. no more volunteering for YOG, heck the games. and heck those reports about how insufficient volunteers there are. i'm just going to get myself out of this shit. and yes, it was about this time when all those negative reports on the alternative media started surfacing, and so i felt my frustrations were pretty much justified.
then in early june, i received a call from the media comms people who asked me to join them after conducting a short phone interview with me, and the already-negative me was reluctant of course, until they told me it's alright to miss those trainings while i'm overseas and that they'll make it up with me later on when i'm back. then i thought, she sounded like a nice person and media comms seriously sounded pretty interesting, especially since i helped out the comms personnel back in embraer and i pretty much enjoyed the work.
and so i did. but it started off real bad. i attended this event at the singapore sports school on one saturday only to be informed that i didn't need to be there and that there was an error when they dispatched the emails. that was after waking up at 6+ am and travelling for 1.5hours and missing training. i screamed loads of F words in my mind you know, like seriously pissed.
then the following saturday i made my way down to NIE to meet the comms people who kindly allowed me to come 3 hours late (i didn't want to miss another polo training) and then i had a 3 hour briefing session and free lunch. after that i thought, at least the people i'll be working with look nice (:
so i went down for my very first duty on the 10th august. because only very few athletes and volunteers were around, the day was freaking boring except for the official opening of the village. there wasn't much coverage by the media as well. it was almost painful to volunteer since there was nothing to do. by the end of the day i felt like i wasted my time.
the next training was totally different though. it was the night before the official opening of the games, and so all the athletes were around already and there were loads of students in the world cultural village. the atmosphere was pretty dull though, until later in the night when there was a welcome ceremony for the athletes at the YOV.
and i think there's where all the awesomeness began (: when the clubbing music came out, some of the athletes started dancing and formed their very own mini club. people joined in, and before i realised the atmosphere was all warmed up and everyone was truly enjoying themselves. people from different countries, of all different races and culture came together for a common goal, the games. andden the ceremony began and when the emcees brought the 20+ athlete role models (ARMs), who are (ex)Olympians, most medallists, up on stage, you could see that everyone was just looking at them with awe and respect. like omg, these people are really the best of the best in their respective sports. o.O i think everyone was inspired.
the next 3 days were pretty much the same, bringing the ARMs around (yes i had the honour to actually get to talk to these awesome people!), watching the media, going for different activities and events, interacting with volunteers and athletes etc. before i knew it, i was really enjoying myself in the YOV and being really proud to be a volunteer at the games. you know, it was really so much fun to watch everyone enjoy themselves. most athletes smile back at you whenever you smile at them, and some even take the initiative to wave and say hi. students from the different schools stationed at the world cultural village had so much fun talking to the athletes from all over the world and doing various activities with them like playing drums, foosball, henna painting, dancing, singing, etc etc. and it was simply heartwarming to see them taking photos with each other with wide smiles on their faces.
as much as how these students were probably "volunteered" into the scheme, they were having the time of their lives. (: the whole atmosphere at the village was awesome, everyone laughing and smiling, and talking to one another, and all feelings and emotions were genuine, not something forced by the village committee nor the government. and yes, i can't describe how much i loved watching portugese girls decorating their tiles, croatian athletes singing and dancing along with the students from the croatian booth, uganda boys kicking football with boys from a singapore school who were chaokeng-ing, peru girls and argentina boys competing with one another in the cup stacking competiton etc. and oh yes the argentina boys were ultimate funny!! they were like super high and jumping about . shusi (the person i worked with) and i almost died laughing!
at the end of all these, i think i'll really miss everything. NIE will never be the same again, and i believe every time i walk along the corridor i'll always think about how much fun i had with the other volunteers and athletes from all over the world. i'll probably never ever shrug whenever i hear someone talk about world peace anymore, because through the games it really makes you think that it really isn't that hard to get everyone from different parts of the world to come together as one. andden most importantly, it makes me realise that in the end, we're all human. we're all the same, as different as we may look. there's just so much to celebrate about humanity, and the games is just one of the many ways to do it (: i believe anyone who actually volunteered or is part of the YOV would have thought the same way too!
and so, i can proudly proclaim that i love YOG. i'm proud to be a singaporean, and i'm proud that my country has hosted this games (all the athletes & ARMs i've talked to all said that they love singapore!). although there's so much that could have been improved, i guess the best we could do now is to make the best out of it instead of crying over spilled milk. leave the criticisms to the end of the games, leave the blaming and the finger pointing to the elections, and for now, just enjoy the moment. because if you leave those clouds in your mind you'll never be able to see the sunshine :)
looking forward to my last 3 days of duty :D just like most of the workforce (paid staff and volunteers) at the YOV will probably too! :D shall take many many photos tmr HAHA.
+ guaishou's! :D
