QINGDAO: Thirty-six foreign volunteers are contributing their time and efforts in Qingdao to make the 2008 Olympic sailing event a success.

Rosa Treffers is one of them. Every morning at 9 o'clock she arrives on time at the No 63 station near the Olympic Sailing Center. The 21-year old is a third-year student at Inholland Amsterdam Diemen College in the Netherlands.

"To be a volunteer and working for the Olympic sailing competition is a privilege for me," said Treffers. Her main task is to provide translation and information service for foreign visitors, which means she must know a great deal about Qingdao and the Olympic sailing competition.

American Ericka Bancks (left) and Katya Ekaterina from Russia provide service at the Multilingual Call Center for the 2008 Olympic sailing event in Qingdao. [China Daily]

Treffers has prepared well - in addition to English and Dutch, she can now speak simple Chinese words and sentences.

"I will try my best to serve the Olympic Games," she said.

Last month Jenny Hou and her sister Anastasia Hou came to Qingdao together from their home in Maryland to serve as volunteers for the Olympic sailing event. The two Chinese-Americans are staying at their grandfather's home in Qingdao.

Jenny was a volunteer in the media operation department during last year's Olympic test event. She is doing the same job at the Olympic Sailing Center.

"I feel so lucky that I can do something for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. It's a once-in-a-life-time opportunity," said Jenny.

Her younger sister Anastasia works in the Beijing Media Center's Qingdao branch, providing language services for non-registered media.

"Working here is a great experience for me, I learned a lot about media operations," she said.

"Foreign and Chinese volunteers who have studied abroad make the service group here more globalized. Their hard work also improves the media operation for the Olympics," said Xu Jianmin, director of the operation department in the Beijing Media Center's Qingdao branch.

American Ericka Bancks and Katya Ekaterina from Russia are volunteers in the Multilingual Call Center for the Olympic sailing event.

"Gathering people with different mother tongues together - the call center is like a world community," said Erica.

Together with 106 volunteers, Erica and Katya are helping provide 24-hour services on shifts for all Olympic athletes and visitors during the competition. Besides Chinese, the call center accommodates seven languages - English, French, Russian, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.