Lu Yantong and her father at the Olympic village. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As soon as the winter vacation started, Lu Yantong, a sophomore at the Beijing International Studies University, packed her bags and moved to the Beijing Yanqing Winter Olympic Village with friends to report for work as a volunteer. As well as being able to volunteer for the Olympics, Lu feels even more fortunate because her father is also volunteering nearby.

Throughout the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, she serves as an external liaison assistant, offering translation, guidance and other services to foreign athletes and staff who have come to participate in the competitions, and assist delegations with matters related to competitions, training and daily life.

"I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that my father would be there too because in a unfamiliar environment, being able to work with him and celebrate the New Year together was beyond my expectations," she said, adding that only learned a week before departure that her father, who had been working at the Beijing Winter Olympic Village, was being temporarily transferred to Yanqing.

Since starting her work, Lu and her father have met several times at the entrance and exit of certificate verification points, and each time they hurriedly say 'hello' and then go their separate ways.

Lu's father is engaged in security work and volunteered before her. On one occasion, she ran into her father in the parking lot. He was just finishing a night shift. "Yantong, you must take care of yourself, drink plenty of water, wear thicker clothes when it's cold, and look after yourself so you can finish your work successfully. I have faith in you. Just do your best," her father told her.

In fact, Lu's father has been encouraging and supporting throughout the volunteer selection, training and placement process, which has also strengthened her determination to do a good job at the Winter Olympics. "I feel very motivated to work with my father every day, and his words always warm my heart."

Since taking up their posts, Lu and her colleagues have encountered emergencies every day, many of which require that volunteers coordinate with various departments to help delegations successfully complete training, competitions and live more comfortably in the Winter Olympic Village.

Due to the nature of volunteer work, Lu travels all over the Olympic Village every day. "In the more than two weeks since I took up my post, by assisting delegations in coordinating and communicating with different departments, I feel that I have become more organized and that my foreign language proficiency, communication skills and logistical ability have greatly improved. Now, I can convey the most important message in a clear and simple manner, which gives me a huge sense of accomplishment."

Not long after she started, as delegations from different countries settled in the village, Lu's workload grew.

The day after the Saudi delegation arrived, Lu and another assistant received them and helped them raise their national flag. The task of hanging three large flags and two small flags is not as easy as it might sound. The large flags have to be hung quite high and although they are light, the Winter Olympic Village is in the mountains, where the wind is very strong. As a result, the bucket at the bottom of the flag post has top be filled with water to stabilize the flagpole before the flag can be raised.

"A bucket of water is very heavy, we two women together couldn't move it, so we created a clear division of labor with two people from the delegation — we were responsible for filling the bucket with water and fixing the bracket, while the head of the Saudi delegation and one of the athletes were responsible for carrying it. We assembled the parts and installed the flag buckles, while they installed and erected the flagpoles," Lu said.

After the first flag was successfully hoisted, Lu and the Saudi delegation clapped happily. From the warmth of the afternoon until the cold of the night, they worked to finish the job.

Lu said that in the process, the head of the delegation demonstrated genuine care for the volunteers, saying "be careful, be careful" and asking them if they were tired and whether they needed to rest. "He said that he likes China, he likes the Chinese, and he likes to talk to us because we are always enthusiastic and willing to help. The delegation complimented us on our work, and I felt that our hard labor had been worth it."

In an even greater coincidence, her uncle is working as a bus driver for athletes and guests at the Games. Together with Lu and her father, the family is all contributing to the Beijing Winter Olympics in different ways.

Due to the epidemic, the volunteers have heavy workloads, and spend long periods of time in the closed-loop subject to strict epidemic prevention and control measures. "Because my father, my uncle and I are working together for the Olympics and cheering together, we have effectively become comrades-in-arms, and we encourage each other as we work on the front line of service," Lu said.

With both father and daughter volunteering for the Olympics, Lu's mother, who is on her own, has become their deepest concern. "My mother spent the Spring Festival with my grandmother, and she said that she would be a the 'volunteer behind the volunteers'. The whole family is looking forward to the safe return of us three Winter Olympic volunteers, and hope we will successfully complete our tasks and return home safe and healthy," Lu said.

Ye Yuting and Tang Ensi contributed to this story.