Carnival - 20111208

Being "volunteerized", I helped out in a carnival.

The carnival was a localized one. There was a big stage, together with some game booths, as the whole set up. We could encounter no seducing Samba dancer, absolutely not. Instead, I saw lots of little girls, their mothers and grandmas. It was a lovely function for families. Under the cloudless blue sky, there was no better way to enjoy the warm sunbeam in a cool winter day.

We decorated our booth at 10:30am. Being given a short notice to become volunteers, I, together with several colleagues, made some childish stuff to furnish our cubicle. The backdrop was a reminiscence of any primary school production. Nevertheless, to distinguish our amateurish skill from those children, we invited a colleague to write some calligraphy to embellish our lacklustre product. It helped.

People popped up around noon. The game of our booth, designed by colleagues in another section of our department, was a "ha-ha". To use a fishing rod alike stick, with the end fastened a toy car but bait, player had to lead the car through a simple maze and park it in the right place. Silly enough, I thought. The punishment cast upon me immediately, and continuously. The queue did not dismantle until the last second. I wondered whether my service was that good, or the game was that interesting.

Serving people was a funny way to meet all walks of life. Children were generally lovely, though some did not laugh much. Many people visited our booth repeatedly. Ok, boys and girls love kawaii gadgets, I understand. But, several middle-aged men came and gone and came again, just to get some more pencils and erasers, was quite head-scratching. I maintained smiling, and I was proud of my professionalism.

The event finished smoothly at 5pm. In addition to some time-off, I got some souvenirs which my teammates acquired. Thanks them.