The 2010 Shanghai Expo
Yesterday I was working on a translation that mentioned the football World Cup that is going to take place in Russia soon and I remembered the 2010 World Cup. Football (soccer for Americans) is the most popular sport in Spain but I’ve never been a fan (in fact, it makes me quite angry when I hear about the ridiculous amounts of money the players get paid) and the finals of the 2010 World Cup was I think the second time I watched a full match in my life. The reason I watched it was that I was working in the Spain pavilion in the Shanghai Expo and, as the Spanish team reached the finals, we put a big screen outside the pavilion and had a party while the match was on. Due to the time difference it started at 1 or 2 am, so the party went on basically until sunrise.
Watching the match.
I have very good memories from the Shanghai Expo because it was my first job. I was an information hostess and, as such, my main task was to help the visitors. Our pavilion was quite big and there were several positions to cover, from managing the entrance queue (visitors would queue for 2-3 hours!) to stamping the Expo passport at the exit, and in between we also had to explain some safety rules before entering, monitor the different rooms and answer any question the visitors had (I remember one of the weirdest questions I got was: “Where is the Little Mermaid?”. “Errr… in the Danish pavilion, this is Spain!”). Of course, visitors often wanted to take pictures with the hosts and hostesses! The job was not too stressful, all the colleagues were very friendly and the atmosphere was very nice in general. Even though I had always considered myself shy, I realised I had no problem at all doing a job that required facing a lot of people all the time. But maybe this was because I was talking in Chinese, and I’ve never been shy in Chinese.
The pavilion uniform was something else, haha. At least it was made of cotton, because Shanghai summers are brutal. I look so young!
A couple went to the Expo to have their wedding pictures done…
This was also the first (and only) World Expo I’ve attended. The theme was “Better city, better life” and each country had a pavilion where they presented their ideas on this topic. Being as it was held in China, there were a lot of people visiting and the lines to enter the bigger pavilions were crazy. I remember Arabia Saudi was like a 6 hours wait on a normal day! But as I had a worker’s pass, I could skip the lines in basically all the pavilions (this was reciprocal; when workers of other pavilions came to ours we also let them in by the “back door”) and I visited almost all of them.
I think the coolest pavilion was the UK one, it was like a huge spiky ball…
… and inside the ball, the “root” of each spike contained the seeds of different plants!
The “star” of our pavilion was Miguelín, a huge robot baby that sat in the middle of a room with screens that displayed several short cartoons which explained some ideas for a better city life. I think most people didn’t even notice the screens, as they were gaping at the baby in typical Chinese fashion, hehe.
A visitor asked once if we needed to change the baby’s diapers, hahaha.
All in all, it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. I can’t believe it’s been 8 years already!
Have you even been to a World Expo?
The expo sounds amazing, Marta! I’m glad you had such a great experience helping out. The Chinese must’ve been so shocked seeing a Chinese-speaking foreigner!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Some of them were, indeed! Even nowadays with so many foreigners studying in China, some Chinese people are still amazed that someone managed to learn their language!
I am far more reticent in a foreign language than I am in English. I would have been a terrible hostess. ;)
I have no shame at all in Chinese. When I was studying in Beijing I was the class’ clown. So different from my shy personality in Spanish! In English I’m a mix…
What a neat event to work at. I’m sure you encountered a lot of interesting people!
Yes, it was fun! Also tiring at times, for example when I had to monitor the queues and some people tried to jump the line. At those times I felt like I needed a whip to maintain order hahaha.
I’m surprised that you’re less shy when you’re speaking Chinese. Most people are more shy when speaking a foreign language.
The first world’s fair I attended was the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. The Space Needle was built for that fair. So as you can see, it’s a very old structure. I also attended Expo 74 in Spokane, Washington and Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fortunately none of them had lines as long as you describe. I don’t like waiting in lines.
I’ve become a soccer fan since my 9-yr.-old grandson started playing. He’s going to spend a month this summer in Spain at a soccer (futbol) and language camp. That should wear him out.
It might be because Chinese people are very encouraging and praise you even when you just said “nihao”!
There was an Expo in Spain (Seville 92) but my parents didn’t take me. You went to so many! The problem with these things in China is that you can be sure it is going to be super crowded (one reason I still haven’t been to Disneyland in Shanghai).
Ha! Your grandson is going to have a great time, I’m sure! Which city? I hope he can go to the beach too, hehe. I love summer in Spain!
Great story, we don’t always know what goes on “behind the scenes!”
Haha right! There were also some nasty stories “behind the scenes” though… like when I found a poo inside one of the exhibition rooms!!!
Oh… horrible!! :)
This World Expo looks amazing! Never been to one and it must be one huge expo. Interesting to read Nicki’s experience of it too in the comments. To wait that long for the Saudi Arabia one, it must be quite an exhibit :D If I visited these kinds of expos I think I will need a few days to see it all.
The problem with the long lines was that I personally think it was not worth to wait for such a long time. For example, in the Saudi Arabia pavilion there was a video projected on a huge sphere screen and the floor moved automatically bringing you forward (like in airports). It was kind of cool, but 8 hours wait? No way…
That looks like a really cool experience you had, working at Expo 2010 and being able to watch your country win the World Cup. I heard a lot about the expo but I read the crowds were really formidable, as you mention too, and I wouldn’t have wanted to go because of that.
If I had not worked there I probably wouldn’t have gone either! There were seriously too many people…
Ha, I don’t feel too bad about missing out on it.
Why are you less shy speaking in Chinese? People often show different personalities in different languages; is that the case with you?
It definitely is although I have no idea why! I am quite shy in Spanish, not shy at all in Chinese and something in the middle in English.
I remember it being held in Shanghai as I was studying language in Beijing but I didn’t have time to visit unfortunately Marta. I would have loved to see some of the Chinese faces when you spoke their language fluently.
Can you imagine if you had gone and visited the Spain pavilion and years later we met through the blog? That would have been cool, haha!
That would have been so funny. Shame it didn’t occur.