As a junior college student, I have lived in Zhoushan for nearly three years. Before that, I had never been to Zhoushan, exactly, never been to an island. I still remember my excitement the moment my father drove across the Zhoushan Cross-Sea Bridge. Although the color of the sea is different from what I expected, the bridge is really spectacular which is beyond my expectation. When we drove out of the highway toll station, a strong smell of fish filled the air, and this is the unique smell of this city. As a girl who grew up in the inland, I found everything in this city full of novelty. This vigorous island is waiting for me to explore and appreciate.
When it comes to my Zhoushan story, I will share my volunteer stories with you without hesitation. Thanks to my college providing many opportunities of volunteering, I have participated in a variety of volunteer activities, such as dissuading people from uncivilized road-crossing behaviors, helping patients in the hospital, teaching in various communities for free and cleaning the guardrails by the roadside. Through these volunteer activities, I get closer to Zhoushan, learning more about its long history, comfortable environment and hospitable citizens. Among these volunteer experiences, one of them is still within my recollection.
It was a chilly winter morning at the end of December. I enrolled in a volunteer program of roadside civilized persuasion, and dissuading people from uncivilized road-crossing behaviors is my responsibility for this volunteer activity. After wearing a specific red vest and hat for volunteers, I chose a crossroad to start my volunteer work. The cold wind penetrated my bones, which made me shiver. One of the passers-by noticed me, and spoke to me in Zhoushan dialect. Despite that I wasn’t proficient in Zhoushan dialect, I can still understand that he tried to express his gratitude and concern to these volunteers like me. A few minutes later, a middle-aged man stopped beside me and waited for the green light. He said to me with a smile, "How cold it is today! It is hard for you to volunteer in such villainous weather. Thanks to the volunteer program, the citizens obey the traffic rules more consciously than before." As time goes by, I was constantly thanked and cared for by passers-by who stopped by me to wait for the green light. Words failed to express how touched I was. Just as I was going to finish my volunteer work, an old woman stopped and gave me the hot water bottle in her hand. I was stunned by her act whereas her later words moved me. She talked to me in mandarin, mixed with the Zhoushan dialect, "You need it more than I do!" This hot water bottle not only warmed my body, but also warmed my heart.
