Rio is a vibrant city where there is always something happening, from a musical festival, to a pop-up market. "There are so many things going on at any one time, it's a chaotic place, from transportation to many other things, you can just feel it," Anna said.
Transport is an issue even for locals in Rio, and so as a foreigner being thrust into the hustle and bustle for the first time, it can be like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. Traffic jams are commonplace, and so the city has installed four bus rapid transport systems to help athletes, volunteers and spectators get to where they need to be as fast as possible. However, as the system is so new, even locals are not quite sure how it works yet.
"I needed to be extra careful when I took the bus to work every day, because you could end up further away from where you wanted to be when you started," said Anna, however things got better. "After about a week of settling in, I got more confident about getting to and from work."
Volunteers are the unsung heroes of the Olympics and have become an integral part of the event being staged every four years. International Olympics Committee (IOC) representative, Craig Reedie has said that volunteering has now become "part of the whole ethos and quality of the Games".
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Anna Chen poses with her fellow volunteers at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] |
Those giving up their time freely are given tasks such as providing directions, health and safety, or translation. Anna was placed at the Welcome Center in Barra, one of the four main Paralympic clusters in the city. "The Welcome Center in the Olympic Village is where the athletes, judges and officials from all over the world first sign in," Anna said. "And it is often where we get bombarded with a million questions."
Questions such as how to get to specific buildings and venues, where to pick up uniforms, and how to catch buses between venues and the village, were dealt with by Anna on a daily basis, despite her not being local, this is what she had to know.
