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For the first month of my internship, the focus of my work and energy was almost entirely dedicated to National Day events. What is National Day you might ask? At the 2010 Expo, every country pavilion has an assigned “National Day,” usually on or around the individual country’s national or independence day, on which day the country in question has the opportunity to host special cultural performances/events dedicated to showcasing their pavilion with the blessing and assistance of the Expo Bureau. The USA National Day was on July 2nd (not July 4th, which is why we couldn’t refer to the holiday as “Fourth of July” as we usually do in the States). However, to Consulate staff, the term “National Day” did not represent just one day, but was used to refer to the entire Fourth of July weekend, during which several outreach programs and events were planned. There were three big invite-based events planned for actual National Day (July 2), two outreach programs planned for July 3rd, and two cultural performance planned for July 4th, in addition to related programs scheduled earlier in the week. Needless to say, National Day(s) was a big deal, and took up 95% of our energy during our first five weeks on the job. The services of the three interns in the Public Affairs Section (and most of the rest of consulate staff) were divided as equally as possible among these different programs and events. I was assigned to work two major events that weekend, the Evening Concert on July 2 -featuring Harry Connick, Jr., Miss USA, and the USC Marching Band- and a cultural outreach program on July 3rd featuring the opera soprano Angela Brown and the famed concert pianist David Wolff. I was also given the special, unenviable assignment of being the RSVP Coordinator for the Harry Connick Jr. Evening concert. At 1800 invitees (the number of seats available in the concert hall), this program was the largest invite-based event ever organized by the Consulate. And guess who was responsible for managing the invitation list…me!

I don’t think I really understood what a monumental task it was when it was first assigned to me, and the details of my responsibilities would probably bore readers. To sum up, I was in charge of first designing the invitations (not just the concert invitations, but the other two July 2 events as well), designing the wording, creating the maps to go on the invitations, working with a graphics design vendor to get the invitations made and printed, distributing the invitations to different sections, collecting RSVP name lists from the various sections, monitoring and tracking the ever changing RSVP lists submitted by the different sections, organizing a ticket will-call, and answering the same questions over and over again about sections wanting more tickets. An 1800-person name list is a very difficult thing to manage. But, I did it, and the concert was great! We had a full house, Harry Connick Jr. -who I have to admit I did not know who he was at first- gave an excellent performance, even though I felt that Miss USA could have been more prepared and less cheesy in her MCing duties.

Harry Connick, Jr.

The opera concert the next day, featuring the magnificently diva-liscious Angela Brown, was also a fantastic event, and much less stressful for me. I basically only had two things to do in the weeks before, create a save the date attachment to be sent out in an email blast, and design the program (which I am very proud of). I was relieved of pick up duty on the day of the concert, so I thought that I would have no duties except to be present and on-call. Well, two hours before I was supposed to arrive at the venue, I get a call from my boss saying that we had no one to introduce Angela, and he asked  if I would mind giving a 1-2 minute bi-lingual introduction. I say no problem, and get to work drafting an introduction in Chinese and English. The rest of the afternoon I spent sitting in the the theater rehearsing my lines, and doing odd jobs. Nothing stressful, I am prepared. Finally, the moment of truth arrives, and I mount the stage to give my introduction. I begin my welcome enthusiastically, and dive into my well-prepared speech for a full 20 seconds before someone yells “We can’t hear you!” The microphone was on, but malfunctioning, and was not picking up my voice. Whoops! After banging the microphone a few times, it begins to work, and I complete my introduction, a little chagrined that the first half got lost due to malfunctioning tech. It happens. I then get to sit down and enjoy the show with no further duties. It is nice not to have responsibility!

Soprano Angela Brown

The next day, I finally get the day off. I have plans to go to a BBQ at a friend’s house. I decided that my contribution to actual Fourth of July will be to make apple pie from scratch. I end up making 3 apple pies. They were delicious. We ate them with ice cream, and even I had to pat myself on the back, especially considering the fact that I had rolled out my home-made pie crust with a water bottle (gotta make do with what you have!).

All in all, Fourth of July (or National Day weekend as I should say), was busy, but fun. And to top it off, since I worked extra over the weekend, I get comp time, which I am currently enjoying with a 3.5 day weekend as I write this! Good life.