A sea of green and white soldiers

Guangzhou, November 19 - At home like in many Chinese families, she is an only child. But at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, she is a member of a 60,000 strong group of volunteers tasked with helping the Games run flawlessly. Tan Kaiyin, a 21-year-old student at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies majoring in English and Education, like many of her fellow classmates, responded to the volunteer recruitment call last year.

The girl with shining smile is proud to be part of the 16th Asian Games, Guangzhou 2010.

It was a long process that involved creating a resume, submitting an online application and attending a round of interviews. Naturally she was ecstatic when she was selected, as more than 660,000 people signed up to volunteer but only less than 10 percent were finally chosen to work in the venues and wear the ubiquitous white and green sport uniforms.

Like in any major sporting event, volunteers play a vital role in assisting with operations and Tan's function here is not any different. She is based at the Garden Hotel and is tasked with helping guests and officials who have issues with their accreditation cards. It is now the fifth day into the Games and she narrates her typical day to me.

"I deal with guests from all over the world, I have never met so many international people and it is very, very exciting to have this opportunity to interact with them. They come to the office because they need to make a change in their accreditation card and usually they are in a hurry, so we try our best to get it done quickly."

She admits the first few days involved extremely long hours, however she likes the challenge as it gives her an immense sense of satisfaction especially when an irate guest turns a frown into a smile and says "thank you".

Tan deals with people from different cultures and personalities and feels she has learned so much in the past week, an experience that she would have never gotten if not for the Guangzhou Asian Games, therefore she is very happy and grateful for being a part of this. She also has kind words for her managers and fellow colleagues and says the hard work and positive atmosphere has bonded them into a family. She enjoys her responsibilities so much that she is afraid of feeling lost when the Games finally end on Nov 27.

However, she is aware of all the positive effects the Games have had on Guangzhou. From improvements to air and water quality to better transportation and infrastructure in the city, but most importantly to her is the fact that the Asian Games has placed Guangzhou prominently onto the world map.

This she believes, will encourage people from all over the world to continue visiting her city, and this in turn will give the residents of Guangzhou a fantastic opportunity to continue learning about different cultures.

The official Asian Games Volunteer Slogan is, "Together, we can make it better!" Indeed it seems they can.