I could not believe it when I was told about Cha Jingjing had been worked as a volunteer teacher by herself in one of the underdeveloped provinces in the southwestern part of China, Guizhou. She is Vice President of Youth Association of NIT, who had rarely gone on vacation outside Zhejiang Province. It seemed a great challenge for her to go to this remote place totally strange to her.
When we talked about why she chose to go there, Cha Jingjing smiled and said: “I had this idea when I saw my classmates plan to work as international volunteers on winter vacation on Wechat.”
When being asked how to cover the fee as it is a rule that volunteers should pay for themselves, Cha said, “I got scholarships and I also saved some money.”
Cha was happy to share her experience in Thailand as to the issues of her passport, flight booking and accommodation. She told me that when she parted with her parents at the airport, she felt a bit sad for she have to be alone for two weeks, but she felt the warmth of the Southeast Asian countries when she came out of the airport in Thailand. She was welcomed by the warm expressions “Savoy Deckard” (“Welcome” in English”).
“Did you live a hard life when you worked as a volunteer?” When asked about this, she shook her head and said, “It was much better than I had imagined. I had imagined that we would stay in thatched house and could not sleep well because of mosquitoes, but in fact we lived in a hotel for young people. After breakfast, we got on a Thailand car called Tutu to the school.” She also said that what was the most regrettable was that she had to leave when she came to know the children.