(The author, Reuters sports correspondent)

I was given my accreditation as subway volunteer 7768 and a uniform. Donning the baseball cap and blue and white polo shirt resplendent with smiley face badge, I was ready.

My first post was at the information desk in the ticket hall, where I joined Wang Dandan.

"Being a volunteer is very meaningful in this time of Olympics," she said. "There are more people using the buses and subways than usual."

Two Chinese tourists in their mid-40s approached and Dandan gracefully allowed me to test out my new skills.

"We want to go to Wangfujing Street," they said. My Chinese is not very good but sufficient to pick up that much and I confidently directed them to exit D.

My gesture and smile were copybook but unfortunately I sent them the wrong way and one of my fellow volunteers had to scurry away to get them back on the right track.

Having spent an hour trying, with varying success, to help bemused Chinese to get to Bird's Nest -- change at Dongdan and head north on line 5 to Datun Donglu -- I was moved to a position by the ticket barrier.

The automated ticketing system is still relatively new to Beijing and unknown outside the major cities of China, so there were plenty of opportunities to show off my knowledge.

Volunteers wait under the rain during the men's preliminaries of Beach Volleyball at Beijing's Chaoyang Park Beach volleyball ground, on August 10, 2008, during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. [Agencies]

An elderly woman approached and stared open mouth as I directed her towards the Oriental Plaza shopping centre.

"How does he know? How does he know?" she exclaimed in Chinese as she moved through the turnstile.

Another hour had passed and, at 11:30, it was time for lunch, a tray of vegetables and rice which I shared with my fellow volunteers in A rest room off the main concourse.

Hao Bin told me more of his passion for volunteering and how he had raised 60,000 yuan ($8,782) to build three schools in rural areas through the Youth League-run charity "Hope".

"We are the children of the eighties generation, mostly only children, we need to learn to be less selfish. I get great satisfaction from this," he said.

Some media have reported that volunteers were being used to supplement the security effort but Hao was confused when I asked about their role in securing the Games.

"Well, we're all students and workers," he said. "Security is very complicated and detailed. If we see something suspicious, we will of course report it to the relevant authorities but that's all."

My own morning of volunteering was over. I was awarded a single wristband for my efforts and told I could earn another one for each session I worked.

For the sake of the poor, confused people of Beijing, I declined. Wang Dandan, though, was disappointed that she only had a few days left to serve.

"Now it's near the end of my time but I really feel I am far from having had enough," she said.

http://aoyunpl2.blog.sohu.com/97031061.html