12/3/2004 - My AFS Shanghai Volunteer Experience
Reflections from Julie Zhang, an AFS volunteer in Shanghai from the United States.
When people ask me how I became involved with AFS in Shanghai, they are often surprised by my answer: “I wanted to learn more about Shanghai.” It does seem to be a curious statement coming from someone who was born in Shanghai and who has spent countless vacations in the city of her birth. However, despite my numerous trips to Shanghai, I knew very little about the ‘real’ Shanghai. My vacations always revolved around family activities, shopping, and the nightlife of Xintiandi and Fuxing Park. I realized I could name practically every store on Huaihai Road, yet barely knew any Shanghainese outside of my extended family! During this trip to Shanghai, I was determined to learn more about the city, and thought the best way to achieve that goal was to volunteer with a non-profit organization, specifically one that focused on bridging cultural and language differences. AFS, one of the oldest foreign exchange organizations in the world, seemed to be the perfect choice.
I learned about AFS Shanghai through the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai’s website and contacted Indre Bermann, the program development coordinator for AFS Shanghai. My first meeting with Indre proved to be an eye-opening experience as I have never met a non-Chinese who spoke fluent Mandarin. She described the volunteer opportunities available with AFS Shanghai; for me this entailed assisting them during their post-arrival orientation for foreign exchange students living in a Chinese family and studying in Shanghai high schools.
Through the post-arrival orientation and the meetings preceding and succeeding the event, I achieved my goal of learning more about Shanghai and Chinese culture. I met some of the other AFS volunteers, most of whom were native Chinese students who studied abroad with AFS in high school and are now studying at top Shanghai universities such as Jiaotong and Fudan Universities. It was my first time meeting with Chinese students and allowed me the opportunity to observe the way they interacted in meetings, which was in a manner far more reserved than that of their American counterparts. The orientation was in Datong High School, a Shanghai city-wide school, and this was my first experience in a high school in Shanghai. I noticed how similar many aspects of the campus were to schools in United States. The school had a soccer field, a track and a cafeteria, like many American high schools, but it also had residence halls for students who live on campus, which are not usually a part of American schools.
The orientation brought together the exchange students and their host families, and gave them the opportunity to share their collective experience as students and parents. The other volunteers taught the exchange students calligraphy, wu-shu (taiqi), Chinese history, music, and I taught Chinese geography. One of the German exchange students even demonstrated morning exercises, a part of every Chinese school’s morning routine, and led the group in the singing of the Chinese national anthem. The orientation ended with the exchange students learning to sing “Peng You [Friend],” a Chinese pop song. Although I was a volunteer during the orientation, I felt that I was learning along with the exchange students because many of the things being taught were foreign to me. Prior to the orientation I knew very little about the geography, music and history of China, and even less about calligraphy. Imagine my surprise when one of the fellow volunteers pointed out that I wrote my Chinese name using incorrect brushstrokes! I enjoyed learning more about Shanghai and China, but my favorite part of the volunteer experience with AFS was my new AFS Shanghai volunteer friends. Hu Jieru, another volunteer and student of Fudan University, even invited me to her house for dinner. And I went shopping with Xu Jingjing, another volunteer and student of Jiaotong University, who helped me navigate the complexities of Shanghai return policies. I have discovered that the AFS song of “Walk together, talk together,” really is true, even when learning about the city and country of your birth. And I am certain that I want to continue my volunteer experience with AFS once I return to the United States.
In the photo: AFS students, volunteers from Shanghai, two volunteers from Hong Kong, and Julie on the far right.
 |
Printer Friendly |
