Running the Gauntlet

I remembered a funny story yesterday when I was reminiscing about China with my roommates. I've already told you about the amount of volunteers at the Olympics, but I haven't talked a lot about their enthusiasm.

Example A
With the help of my accreditation I attended two days of the Track Cycling events. Following the event I decided to join the minions and leave the same way as the hard-working, paying fans. As I approached the exit I could hear singing and screaming and first thought it might be some roudy fans celebrating their country's success. Instead, I found two huge rows of Chinese volunteers lining the exit. They were clapping, singing, and dancing quite enthusiastically. Naturally I wanted to join the fun so I too started to clap and get excited. Not wanting to waste my excitement, I got loud, grunting high-fives from every volunteer as I walked the row. Every single one of them made sure to slap my hand and give me some form of goodbye. To my surprise, I even got a "hasta manana" from one volunteer.

Example B
Following the USA victory over Chinese Taipai (Taiwan) in baseball we exited the stands. I became excited with the knowledge that an enthusiastic goodbye may await me. Sure enough a huge row of Chinese volunteers snaked along the path to the exit. Wanting to change things up I hit the line running. Just as if I was running onto the field for a big game I got low and sped through the line getting low fives. They were no less excited than those at Cycling. It was a gauntlet of volunteers and I had successfully navigated it.