It's been a crazy few days. I haven't had much time or energy to keep up the blog, especially at the level of detail I had been providing... I am not sure I can share some of the operational or logistical information. So, I'll just skip those details.
We were supposed to open on May 1 but delayed to May 6, which is tomorrow. The construction or at least the positioning of all exhibit items have not been completed. The wall towards the end of the exhibit about the Pacific Gateway and the 2010 Olympics are yet to be finished. But otherwise, the exhibit area looks great!
When the tour is given by someone with a good knowledge of the exhibit and who can tell the stories with a bit of passion and enthusiasm, it is a great experience to go through the hall. I along with some other host team members have been practicing and learning the material in the last few days. Not just where the picture was taken, what it was about, but also the whole concept behind the design of the whole exhibition area. When it all comes together, it tells a great story. The video segments being played as welcome at the impressive welcome area on 6 gigantic vertical screens is very well done and the scenery combined with the background music is quite moving and leaves a strong sense of patriotism...
As will be the case in the future, the pavilion is open 6 days a week, including the weekends. Technically Monday is a day off but only the first floor exhibit is closed. The facility is still open for business programming, which takes place any day of the week and we VIP hosts need to be there to provide tours to visiting delegations. So we worked through the weekend getting ready for the opening tomorrow. In fact, we opened today for a business delegation.
It was a long day. As usual, things change from one minute to another. A few minutes before the first visitors showed up (45min early, mind you!! ) we found out many processes had to be changed and responsibilities had to be reassigned, etc... hectic and stressful, no doubt. Overall, we pulled it off quite well. We even had a visit from the Canadian Ambassador to China, AND a surprise visit by a celebrity, Dashan!
Canadians may not know who he is but I'm sure anyone in China or anyone who spent significant time in China knows him. He is Canadian, by the way. He made his name in the Chinese entertainment industry and is a HUGE deal here. He speaks better Chinese than many Chinese and does a form of stand-up comedy called "xiangshen" here. EVERYONE here knows him and he has a huge fan base. So when we heard he was coming in an hour, the students hired locally were so excited that their eyes were glowing! :P Being a VIP host, it was part of my duty to follow him as his entourage while he toured the facilities. While I wasn't his fan and have never watched him perform, it was still quite an experience to meet both the ambassador and a big celebrity all in one day, and the first day! I wonder who else we will encounter?!
The glamour of the job aside, standing around for 9-10 hours a day is not a fun thing to do (some of those time was of course break, just not regular and not long), especially in some of the shoes people are wearing. Luckily I have wonderful shoes and my feet didn't hurt; it was still super exhausting. There was a rush to buy comfortable shoes after the first few days of work... ;p
Tomorrow, we will be open to the public. We really don't know what to expect. It could be anywhere from being super crowded to very very quiet; planning of resources will have to adjust accordingly as the day goes on. It's definitely interesting to be part of all this fluidity! :) Those who are coming in future waves, you don't know what you are missing!! :P Now that I'm here, I feel so lucky I'm here at the beginning; just being in the middle of all this chaos and somehow helping to make things work is an experience in itself. (Not to mention the weather will get so much hotter and the smog so much stronger as it gets to the peak of the summer).
Sorry, no photos to post. Been too busy to take photos of the pavilion, perhaps I'll go one day when I'm off to take some photos and post them. I wish I could give you all a guided tour of the place, I did my first VIP guided tour with a group of business delegates today! As I was the only Chinese speaking VIP host, I was assigned to do the tour in Mandarin... Having never received the material in Chinese, I had to do a lot of translation in my head! I managed quite well and only stumbled on "sea otter"... which I now know :) I'm sure I will be doing this many times in the months to come; probably get to the point where I'd be giving this tour in my sleep... ;p
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