[originally posted on the Student Ambassador blog and on the USA Pavilion blog]
I was on my way to my lunch break when I had to make a detour back through to the USA Pavilion’s Act II and Act III. I had forgotten my sunglasses and didn’t want them to go missing within the 45 minutes that I had for lunch. However, it turned out to be one of the most memorable detours of my Expo experience so far. x
As I make my way through the crowd of Chinese people walking around in the USA Pavilion’s Act III (an area for our pavilion sponsors to showcase the innovative steps they are taking to creating a healthier future), a middle aged Chinese man waves for me to come over to him. Thinking that he wanted to know where he could get a USA Pavilion souvenir stamp (guests can “collect” stamps from the pavilions they visit in a souvenir passport), I automatically ask him to please turn his Expo passport to page 44 and to line up near the stamping table. Page 22 if he had the big brown book. Instead, he surprises me by saying that he wanted to ask me more about our pavilion and its contents.
I recite to him the answer I usually give to our Chinese guests: The USA Pavilion consists of four parts, the Overture, The Spirit of America, The Garden and the final section where our pavilion sponsors share the steps they are taking to creating a healthier and better future. He casually waves my answer away saying that he knows all that already. He adds that he thought Obama’s speech in The Spirit of America was respectful in recognizing the importance of China’s rise in the “community of nations” and the shared dreams between Americans and Chinese in a better future for our children. He also thought the message in The Garden was nice; people working together towards the common goal of “better city, better life.” But what he really wanted to know was, was there more the USA wanted to share with the Chinese and with the rest of the world? Past world expos had introduced the telephone and the elevator, this year Denmark brought their Little Mermaid statue to showcase in their own national pavilion. Besides the American ideas that had been shared earlier, what else could the USA Pavilion offer? Where was, he asked, the USA Pavilion’s “national treasure” 美国馆的国家宝?
“National treasure? Well ... we didn’t exactly bring any statues with us to China ...”
“Nothing the USA can show to the world and be able to say this is what represents the USA?”
“umm...”
“No ‘national treasure’ 没有吗?”
“Well, the pavilion did bring over from the USA many representations of what makes the USA so unique. If you look around and see all the USA Pavilion staff that wear either the blue or white shirts, well, we’re all American student ambassadors.”
“What does that mean 什么意思?”
“You can see that we’re a very diverse group. Not only are we ethnically diverse we all also come from different parts of the United States. But even with our different heritages and backgrounds, as Americans, we all understand the importance of working together towards a common goal. Here, our common goal is to provide a positive experience at the USA Pavilion for our Chinese guests. And this idea, that a country of built by people from all around the world can put aside differences and find similarities, is what makes the United States so special and unique.”
The Chinese man thinks about what I have just said. Was this the answer he was expecting?
“Some countries may have hired local Chinese to represent their country, but we brought real Americans to represent our country. Real Americans from various ethnicities and heritages that together give our country its identity. We student ambassadors may not be famous but we still represent the United States. Sir, I will say that the USA Pavilion’s “national treasure” is its American people.”
The Chinese man breaks into a smile and I knew that I had successfully passed his test.
“真好! Good! That really is what makes the USA so unique. The people.”
He then went on to tell me how his experience at the USA Pavilion of going through the shows and exhibits and interacting with various Americans had opened his eyes to how wonderful and strong a country could be even if all its citizens originated from different parts of the world. All we need is a common passion to join us together. He said he could feel our passion for the United States just from the warm welcome he had experienced from student ambassadors, from when he first queued up and through all four parts of the pavilion.
The conversation I had with the Chinese man lasted for about 15 minutes. What I thought would be just another question that could be answered with a prepared response turned out to be one that allowed me to really share with someone my perspective of what makes the United States a unique country. I hope that the short time I had spent talking to him stays with him just as it will stay with me.
He asked me to write in his notebook and so I write a short message in English and Chinese, “Thank you for visiting the USA Pavilion, 谢谢你来美国馆. -Amy.” Something so simple for me to do, but he smiled and said that he would keep it as a treasured message that came from the United States. His final parting words to me: The USA Pavilion’s student ambassadors are the pavilion’s “national treasure” and by extension also the “national treasures” of the United States.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
The Day the U.S. Secretary of State Came to Visit
We were notified by USAP to keep this date open (May 22) because all hands would be needed on deck. Everyone was pretty sure we knew who was going to make an appearance and when they finally officially emailed us the itinerary, our suspicions were confirmed.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She, along with some top CEOs from our sponsors, would be coming to USAP for a sort of “honor day” for their (financial) contributions to the construction and running of USAP. Without our sponsors we would have no USAP today.
All SAs were assigned roles for the big day. We were mainly being used for crowd control because we were going to allow in about 200 regular Chinese guests when she went through to view the pavilion. As one of the consulate people said, we were to be “a pocket of happiness that would follow the Chinese people and keep them away from Hilary Clinton.” Free bodyguards maybe?
I was assigned the role as one of the “puller at front of public.” My job was to get the Chinese crowd to follow me as we moved from room to room. 过来！ 过来！ 跟我走！ As my group “pulled”, SAs followed the crowd of Chinese people and “pushed.” Once we got to each room, SAs who were “seat holders” would stand up once Sec. of State Clinton’s group got in and move to the side so that they could sit down. This repeated itself through the entire pavilion. Things all went smoothly, but it sucked for the few SAs who were assigned to work outside as everyone else was working inside. Those working outside were asked to hold the crowds for a long time since they didn’t want anyone else inside the pavilion at the time (for security reasons). Add to all this, it was raining outside. Needless to say, those who were stuck waiting outside were not too happy.
Pretty soon, the show was over and things were back to normal at USAP. I did get a glimpse of her; she was wearing a light blue overcoat.
Later that night, SAs and USAP staff had the opportunity to take a photo with her. She gave the SAs the most face time and congratulated us and acknowledged us for the work we were doing at USAP. It was definitely nice to hear her praise for us because it showed us that hey, some people do care about the SAs. She was kind enough to go around and asked each one of us to introduce ourselves and say where we’re from. She even took the time to answer some questions. The transcript of the conversation is online.
Pretty awesome right? Meet Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and be able to forever say that I said some words to her. It was all very brief and very fast, but it will be one of the highlights of my summer at the Expo!
Oh, and she looks way better in person. All the SAs kept saying over and over how good she looked for her age ... the show in USAP’s Act 1 makes her look so old and tired.
Photo of first session Student Ambassadors with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USA Pavilion Commissioner General Jose Villareal
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She, along with some top CEOs from our sponsors, would be coming to USAP for a sort of “honor day” for their (financial) contributions to the construction and running of USAP. Without our sponsors we would have no USAP today.
All SAs were assigned roles for the big day. We were mainly being used for crowd control because we were going to allow in about 200 regular Chinese guests when she went through to view the pavilion. As one of the consulate people said, we were to be “a pocket of happiness that would follow the Chinese people and keep them away from Hilary Clinton.” Free bodyguards maybe?
I was assigned the role as one of the “puller at front of public.” My job was to get the Chinese crowd to follow me as we moved from room to room. 过来！ 过来！ 跟我走！ As my group “pulled”, SAs followed the crowd of Chinese people and “pushed.” Once we got to each room, SAs who were “seat holders” would stand up once Sec. of State Clinton’s group got in and move to the side so that they could sit down. This repeated itself through the entire pavilion. Things all went smoothly, but it sucked for the few SAs who were assigned to work outside as everyone else was working inside. Those working outside were asked to hold the crowds for a long time since they didn’t want anyone else inside the pavilion at the time (for security reasons). Add to all this, it was raining outside. Needless to say, those who were stuck waiting outside were not too happy.
Pretty soon, the show was over and things were back to normal at USAP. I did get a glimpse of her; she was wearing a light blue overcoat.
Later that night, SAs and USAP staff had the opportunity to take a photo with her. She gave the SAs the most face time and congratulated us and acknowledged us for the work we were doing at USAP. It was definitely nice to hear her praise for us because it showed us that hey, some people do care about the SAs. She was kind enough to go around and asked each one of us to introduce ourselves and say where we’re from. She even took the time to answer some questions. The transcript of the conversation is online.
Pretty awesome right? Meet Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and be able to forever say that I said some words to her. It was all very brief and very fast, but it will be one of the highlights of my summer at the Expo!
Oh, and she looks way better in person. All the SAs kept saying over and over how good she looked for her age ... the show in USAP’s Act 1 makes her look so old and tired.
Photo of first session Student Ambassadors with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USA Pavilion Commissioner General Jose VillarealSaturday, May 1, 2010
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