Sunday, Augest 29, 2004 - Olympic Spirit - En Memorial

There's nothing that says Olympic spirit like grown, hairy men swimming around in a pool with only speedos on kissing each other.

It's closing ceremony night. People are saying goodbye or "See you in Toronto." Some Asburians are striking (tearing down stuff), but time is more value than money right now. We just got done having our own highlight show. We did impressions of all the staff here in the record room: the uptight ones, the relaxed ones, the bombastic ones, and the quiet ones.

I keep wondering how this trip has changed me. I'm not sure. This being my first foreign flight has made a more aware of the world. The thought of being around people that don't speak your language is humbling or at least aren't fluent in it, but I'll still probably never learn a language unless I move to another country. Makes me wonder when I'll travel again, too. I've learned that other countries' broadcasting is just as one-dimentinial as it is in the States. I've become more appreciative of my car due to public transportation. I've realized that my backyard (Kentucky) isn't that less beautiful than the Greek Islands. It's just greener. :-)


~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/

Sunday, Augest 29, 2004

Final day of work. I hear that there is a big party that happens here that involves kegs and cases. I think it goes on during the closing ceremony. So I am stuck here on the last night, but que sera. The other three people that were coming to Olympia with us are not coming now. It will make it a little more expensive for Joel and I, but we'll have more freedom to do what we want. They wanted to stay around Athens and just do day trips was the reason.

The highlight of today was that I found out that the train that connects Olympia and Athens only comes twice daily but the connecting trains to Pirgos are several times a day. The short and long of it (mainly the short) is that we can see Corinth on the way back from Olympia. That frees up another day, so Joel and I are planning on going to Andros which is a 2 hour slow ferry from Rafina (20 min away). So I'm psyched! I wanted to go to Andros in the first place. Two other Asburians, Jon and Luke recommended it, too. They went around on mopeds, which I think would be great. So yeah, that's Andros, Olympia, and Corinth all in three days. Got to love it!

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Saturday, August 28, 2004 - 360 degrees view of Athens

Here is a 360 degrees view of Athens, Greece from Lykavittos Hill.

http://www.smjdesign.com/athens/athens360/

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Thursday, August 26, 2004 - Halfway to Corinth in the middle of nowhere

I really wasn’t that disappointed when the monastery was closed. What I want to get from this trip is to bring back ideas from the Grecian way of life and evaluate them against my way of life. I mean we took a bus, to a metro, to a bus, then walked 20 blocks to catch a bus, missed it, bought tyropitas, got on a bus, got off the bus walked two blocks in the middle of nowhere, got on a bus for 2km, got off the bus, walked a block, caught a bus 15km, got off and walked three blocks, sat down on one of the ugliest beaches in an industrial port, and got on a bus back to where we started to wait for a bus to work. For the majority of our adventure, we were surrounded by elderly people. Some had trouble walking. It’s humbling to not be in control. The weirdest part of returning will probably be having the use of a car.

Bryan, a man from the First Baptist Church of Atlanta, made me think today. He asked if Joel and I were trying to share our faith with the people around us. As he came by, I saw his t-shirt with a cross on it. He asked if we wanted a free guide to the Olympics.

I asked him if it was a track. He stopped and asked us if we thought we were good people. I gladly said that we were the paradox of the saint, yet sinner. He kept on asking us questions like what gave us a guarantee of going to Heaven and if we died today, would we go there. After we quoted paraphrased scripture to him, he backed down and started asking us if we had shared the gospel with others and if we were sure that everyone in the Asbury group here was saved. He started saying that people need to be confronted and convicted with the law first before telling them about the love of Christ first.

I thought this sounded very Southern Baptist and a little Calvinist. He began talking about persecution and it being a sign of a godly life. Joel mainly nodded his head in agreement and answered in three word sentences. He started talking about watered down churches in the States. I couldn’t resist throwing in “You mean seeker-sensitive post-modernism.”

He said, “Exactly.”

I told them I was a pastor’s kid and we had just recently moved. He said that my Dad must have been preaching the truth of Scripture, because we were being persecuted by moving. I wanted to say, "Uh, no, it's that churches always blame the pastor first if they add members every year--as if the pastor's supposed to invite all the new visitors." I talked to him about some ministries I was aware of in Atlanta, and he said he’d look into it. Then, he said he had to go make it to the USA-Brazil women’s soccer game. His church had bought him tickets to the game in order to walk around and talk to people. As he walked, I said to myself--at least he's passionate.

It’s the crippled grandmother-widows withered by the everyday wars of living and the unknown bachelor never noticed except when he fusses about the way things used to be that I want to photograph. You know to pause and pray every time you pass a church in the U.S. might not be a bad idea. There’s so many of them and we are always in a hurry.

That reminds me, we randomly ran into a journalist for a Seven-Day Adventist magazine from Norway on the first day here. I gave him my card, but haven’t heard anything from him in over a week. I’ve been burning an apple blossom candle by my bed regularly before I go to sleep. This is mainly because I cannot burn candles in the dorm at school.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Tuesday, August 27, 2004 - Excuses

The annoying part of writing postcards is that it takes away from my blog. Once I write down an experience on a postcard, I have shared it and do not want to re-write the experience on my blog for everyone to read.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

List of Athenian Institutions - Friday, August 27, 2004

The Greek Orthodox Church
Coca-Cola
Feta Cheese
Sprinkled oregano and salt
Afternoon in and nights out
Street side kiosks of ice cream, soft drinks, and magazines
American music
Dining outside
Breaking the speed limit
Family Bakeries
Ignoring red lights
Graffiti
Jaywalking
Arguing with the police
Sitting silently on public transportation
Helping lost tourists
Anything with a techno beat
Having at least one English speaker in every restaurant
Cucumber or olive mayonnaise sauce on dry, chewy bread
Cans of soda with to-go meals
Bottled water and Heineken beer
Traffic jams and car horns (thankfully they aren’t that loud)
Small cars
Exact change, yes, exact change
Chanting “Hellas” at sporting events
Paying on one meal ticket
No paper flushed in toilets
Stray dogs
Pictures of cats on postcards
Clubbing till 2 a.m.
Metro and bus police
Bra straps, spaghetti straps, midriffs, and see through blouses
Half-built buildings with rebar
Roasted corn and sugared donut stands

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Thurday Augest 26, 2004 - Direlect of duty to write

Today I got lost halfway to Corinth in the middle of an industrial town with refineries trying to find a monastery that when we found it after three hours it was closed. :-) Anyway, if you know me well, I didn't mind. We got to hear some more Greeks argue with each other about bus tickets. We also ran into a guy from an Atlanta Baptist that was there to do street ministry. Yesterday in a nut shell was an art museum and running around by myself eating and a little shopping, since I didn't have to be in till 6:00pm. I saw some El Greco and some busts of Handrian (no, not really, today I actually didn't see any busts of Hadrian--it felt kinda strange :-)

Today, I saw a 10-year-old gesturing the sign of the cross on a street corner for money, an agruement over bus tickets that were a few hours over validity, a plum and raison crossiant, people swimming with oil tankers as a backdrop, and about 10 elderly people all gesture the sign of the cross simutaneously as we road the bus passed a church.

Yesterday was my alone day. I missed the bus by 30 seconds and waiting for the next one. I went to the art museum on my own and ate dinner by myself. It meant that I could watch a Greek family buy the "variety for 6" meal and share all the meat and sauces. I wrote a few postcards, too. I bought some souveniors in Plaka. I wanted to buy another poster. It was for the movie, Magnolia, expect the title was in Greek. I liked the small one, but I didn't want the big one, because I'm not a big ad promoting person.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Monday, August 23, 2004 - One minute till air

I actually felt like I did something important today with the CBC. There is a daily update of the decathlon competitors on the CBC. I was assigned to log the high jump section of the decathlon. I knew from previous nights when a producer came in and told one of us, shotlisters, that we needed to do better in keeping track of the track and field. There people are under pressue to deliver highlights of competitions as soon as they finish. I asked for some tips from the previous logger of the decathlon. She told me a little. Tonight I started logging, and it was the hardest thing to log in the entire time I have been working. There were two high jump bars that the video feed was switching between. This meant that in order to catch both the one video feed had to switch to the other before posting the first one's results sometimes. This meant that I coudln't always get the name of the guy jumping much less his bar height and his attempt number. I always could get the country tricode if I couldn't get the bib number. So about halfway through the producer cames in and says I need to focus on three people and give me the names and numbers. This makes it a little easier, because I at least know what the guy wants. Then, I can sacrifice some for the the coverage of others for the coverage of the one's he wants. While I was still logging the rest of the competition, he went to another computer and tried to find the entries of the "three clowns" as he called them. Then, another person from the edit suite came in and said they were changing the story to the winners of the high jump. Then, the story changed to the leaders in the standings overall in the decathlon when I went to the edit suite with the shotlist. There was a brief exchange of words between the two suites and I wasn't wuite sure what to do, so I guessed and searched the timecode of the shotlist for the three people I knew he wanted. I had made an error in my bib numbers in the log, but I had put KAZ (for Kazhastan) and there was only one Kazastanian in the competition. He ran the tape to that place and it was a great shot. The man jumped up and roared and ran a few yards. The other suite took it, and they wanted to see the high jumps of the top three athletes in the decathlon. The producer I was with stayed his ground and wanted the original favorites shown, not the leaders in the standings. I was busy finding the good jumps of the leaders in the standings when he said he didn't need them. He said that I did a good job and thanked me for my work. I went and took a bathroom break. I hadn't even been able to eat dinner (not that I was particularly dying to). On my return from the bathroom (we are talking 60 seconds here), I walked through the CBC lobby to see the clips that I logged on the screen live on air in Canada.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Sunday, Augest 22, 2004 - Logging a Marathon is not marathon logging

I just saw the women's marathon run past the Pikermi bus stop where we wait daily on our way to work. About two blocks from the arial shot at timecode 19:17:00 on CBC 2004 Summer Olympic games tape GRE90582 is where we have been living for the past 20 days--make that sleeping. The last runner came in about an hour after the first runner. The Japanese got their 3 people in the the top 15. A USA women came in third which was unexpected. The favorite and world record holding British women hacked and coughed and sat down about 3/4 of the way through the marathon. I have to say the audio for the shot was better than I expected it would be. Doesn't that sound rather insensitive?

I mailed some more postcards today. The lady gave me three stamps instead of one which forced me to cover up some of my words on one of the cards. It was annoying, but that meant it had more one-time only Olympic stamps on it. I wonder how many of my postcards will actually make it to America.

Other highlights of tonight were Sam hitting me with her nails when USA completed an attempt in track and field. I was the innocent bystander standing behind her talking to my boss about the marathon I logged. Another highlight is that I didn't have to come in until 5:00pm. Our bus route was cancelled for four hours this evening due to the marathon, so I came in early. Joel and I ate at the Olympic McDonald's. It wasn't anything special. It was fast, but they have twice as many workers and half as many items, so it makes sense that it would be faster.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Sunday, August 22, 2004

So it's currently 2:22am Athens time. I am sitting next to my pal, Joel Claes, while he logging by hand the tennis match that started at 11:00pm. The reason my friend Joel is logging this almost four hour match by hand is because the Canadian database is currently down. We are in the fifth set right now of the Gold Medal Match for men's doubles. Last night, the last game of the night lasted 4 hours and tonight's game will probably last that long if not more.

Joel and I have amused ourselves with quotes from Auqateen Hunger Force. He can finish every line I start when I read the transcript of the Mooninites' episode. Everyone except Trina, Joel, and I got a ride home at 1:30. Trina is required to stay. I'm just here to keep Joel from going insane. He says that it is helping a little bit, but not a lot. We are on our third tape now. Each team really wants that Gold. Do you think we could buy one of the teams off? Probably not on our daily rate.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Friday, August 20 2004 - Cemeteries, Club Sandwiches and Peloponnesian Planning

I’d just really like to see some trees. One Greek told me that Athens was as ugly as any other city and that I needed to get into the countryside to really see how beautiful Greece is. So Joel and I have spent part of today and yesterday today trying to figure out how to get to Olympia. The travel agency lady, Erini, said that she could get us a double at the Olympia Asty for 87 euro. She said it was a great deal. I looked into on the Internet. The only thing I could find was a Best Western for 115 euro that Dr. Owens recommended. I did find pictures of the Olympia Asty and it looked just as nice as the Best Western. So I went back today and asked to make a reservation. Catalana said that the hotel was not within their network. I said that Erini had given me the quote. They figured it out and explained that it had been through a local travel agent and that the local agent could get special prices and said to come back on Monday, because they probably could not contact the agent until Monday due to it being a weekend. The agency doesn’t charge any money to make reservations, which is great. I do have to say that they weren’t very helpful in trying to find the Athens-Peloponnese bus station. They knew were it was, but couldn’t find a map that had it on it. We do know how to get to Olympia by train though. Currently, Jon said he wanted a day trip, which Joel and I know, isn’t possible. Chris didn’t want to go. Sarah said the she would probably wanted to if Vanessa wanted to. Vanessa said that she wanted to. I found out today that if I am not spending the night at the seminary then I don’t have to pay for the room there, which makes staying in Olympia practically free and even less if others come along.

Yesterday, Joel and I went to the Temple of Zeus. We also another gate built by Hadrian. We got to take pictures of the Acropolis from the Temple of Zues (well, the columns that are left of it. Joel said that it was the best thing besides the Acropolis that he had seen so far. After the Temple of Zeus, Joel and I walked about 10 blocks to the Athens Cemetery. It was pretty creepy. It’s all aboveground and very ornate. There are even giant arches when you come in. Some of the mausoleums were mini-chapels. It’s kind of eerie to walk underground and realize there are 10 dead people around you. We walked about 6 blocks to the east and figured out where the metro is. Joel keeps commenting that he likes hanging around with me, because I have an itinerary planned and I know where we are or at least can find it. We both usually have camera with each other, too, so we stop at random spots and take a photo. So once we found the metro, I wanted to see what Goody’s was like. It’s a Mediterranean fast food restaurant. Joel didn’t want to go, but I persuaded him. We both bought club sandwiches and fries. He got a can of coke, too. Joel hates mayonnaise. We figured out that if we said no white sauce we could get it.
Epiphany of the day: I just realized that I have Art Survey 1 when I get back. This class only covers art before the middle ages. I am in Greece. I can imagine myself in class watching slideshow and saying to myself smugly “I’ve been there.”

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Thursday, August 19, 2004 - Questions and the Cleaning Lady

If I only had a little more time to think and consider the cleaning lady that wanted to trade pins with me. I was reprimanding myself for not having my pins on me after one of the workers at the IBC wanted to trade pins with me. Why did she ask me? Of all the thousands of people in the building, she asked me when I exited the CBC. The one chance I get to not be selfish with pins; I do not have them available, so I have started carrying one around in my pocket. It is an emergency pin, in case someone wants a CBC pin.

Why do I despise the pins? Why do I like it when the music distorts on my laptop? Why do I hate beach volleyball? What is it about the popular that I loathe with all my being?

Am I afraid that I will trade pins badly? Is it that I do not want to participate in something I know nothing about? Is it that I have to be all or nothing in my concentration? Was I made this way or is this a result of the fall? Is it holy hatred or a jealously? Am I just scared to follow? Is it that I will lose control?

“Help me tell the truth. All I want to do is tell the truth. I am not that shy. This is not goodbye and later on I will not know how. . . .Always coming around too late. I am always coming around too late. “ – Over The Rhine

The great thing about apathy is that it’s easy to sacrifice.

I am getting old enough that I am beginning to believe my own deductions and inductions. Do I have messed up beliefs on beauty? Am I depraved because of the fall and think that the unique is beautiful? Is it that bad that I forget to look in the mirror at least once a day? Is it evil? Is it un-beautiful? Am I not beautiful in the morning with morning breadth, bed head hair, and eye crust? Because I know that everyone else is seems to be in my opinion, and if everyone else is surely, surely I am, too. I hope I am. I have to be.

Do I need to come to Athens to shoot the man on the street? Sure no one plays backgammon in the Bluegrass, but they do play checkers. Will I always look away from the spotlight and spot the girl in the corner and want to corner her with love? Will I always disdain the excitement and prefer the placid yet peculiar? If the urge to be famous is not kindled, why urge the famous to kindle a relationship with me?

When pleasure and sacrifice balance on a scale,
obedience can only tip me off to the future
awaiting the dreamer.

When the thought outweighs the action
and the dream highlights the day,
the only purpose is be the pincushion of the competitive.

Every candle blows out and leaves a smell:
Be happy and take your portrait pictures
I’m reloading my words every time I see you smile,
because that is you and this is me
and my lighting is a little dim,
but the night isn’t bright and trite like this line.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Thursday, August 19, 2004 - Looking at "ugly" people?

Sometimes I think I am the only person that enjoys looking at ugly people. I am currently logging female weightlifting and table tennis. I am annoyed at all the jokes like “so you figured out whether these are men or women?” and you can read my rant about table tennis in the former “daily” posting. Like all females are supposed to be feminine or something?! I recently got an email asking if I had gone to a swimming event. I haven’t, but some of my friends have one or two of them. They got the tickets for free somehow. They were given them. They were over $100 tickets, I believe. They were very excited. I am very irked. Not because I wanted to go, but because everyone wants to go to swimming. My heart just goes out to the one Cameroon fan in the stands at the Women's 69kg Weightlifting.

Listening to the anthems is one of my favorite parts of the Olympics. It’s good instrumental music. I just don’t care much for the ones that sound like patriotic marches though. I just noticed today when they accidentally showed some of the workers that raise and lower the flags. They are very formal which makes sense, because they are handling flags, but they never show the workers that are most likely volunteers. Seems like everyone outside the media here is working for free.

I apologize for those reading this log that want to know what we are doing in Athens instead of what I am thinking about what we are doing in Athens. My priorities aren't in that order. The only thing better than the act is thinking about the act. :-)

I do need to write on the tennis matches I attended and the magazine quality photo that I took. The problem is that it is of someone no one has ever heard of and she lost the match

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Sometimes I think I'm the only guy that doesn't like to watch Women's beach volleyball. My guess is because it's popular, not because of the danger of objectification. I've gotten over the cheerleaders. You can just ignore them like music video girls. I think it's the whole party culture--that and the look people give me when I tell them I despise beach volleyball. The fans look like they are drunk. It's kind of sad that I get sad when other people get excited especially over sports. I mean there are people here who stand outside my place of work and want to trade pins with people and that's the main reason they are here in Athens. I actually did get a free pin today. GRE, I mean a Greece station was giving them out. So I have one other besides he five CBC pins that I came with. I actually told the two people I was with that I didn't want to pin, because that would mean that I was trading pins, but I gave in and walked up and got a free pin anyway. It just makes me so mad when other people get excited. One guy got really excited the first night of his work when he came back with a pin. When I get excited I am always worried about other people that are sad and I don't want them to feel left out, so I try not to get excited because I don't want people feeling left out. Anyway that was a long rant on hedonistic tendencies. Well, swimming is over for tonight, so I am going to have to go find something else to do. I guess people should get excited when they win, but I observed that the female on the USA swimming time are very smiley and giggly- more so than other countries at least.

Maybe I'll talk about table tennis some more, some other time. It's funny. I actually have gotten a little worked up while watching ping pong today. Last night, one of my fellow Asburians was making fun of it and said it shouldn't be an Olympic sport. Maybe I should just move to China. :-)

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Tuesday, Augest 17, 2004

I apologize for not typing much in the last two days. My hands are actually very tired right now. Today, I saw Round 2 Tennis. I took a bunch of pictures. One guy thought that I was an official photographer and gave me a free 20oz. Coke. Joel and I had souflaki for dinner, and I'm listing swimming and beach volleyball tonight. Oh, and I also got to take a picture of the small trashcans upstairs at the Carrefour! It's kind of like a Walmart here.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Sunday Augest 15, 2004

I made a great breakthough today. The silly InfoCenter machines outside that we are suppose to use for printing out names of athletes was so slow today, so I got the idea to check the internet to see the list of athletes and it is the same information. I know copy and paste names over from teh website which not only is faster but increases accuracy. It's helps me so much I am know writing this entry while I am logginf the night session swimming. So far it's been some Aussies, one American, and I think the other was from NED (Netherlands).

We are getting a meal now which is nice. It's the stuff here in the building you can get. So it's nice but I'm two days in and it's getting old. We got a block of feta (by it's self!). Like I'm going to eat that. Maybe if it was cheddar. Which I found out is actually called Irish cheese over here.

I sent off the news section of the Asbury MediaComm website tonight when I got in. I sent a link this time to Jonathan, since the last time I sent it the Asbury mail server deleted it because it was a .zip file. Then, when I lost all that 4GB worth of files I lost the 5 hours of work I put into the news page. I needed to change it from the CSS absolute positioning that Jonathan Falk had designed the page in. People should avoid absolute positioning if all possible. It may look nice, but it's harder to update. It's kind of like having an absolute point size for your font, so people can't make it bigger. What are we artists here or designers?!



~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Saturday, August 14, 2004 - First day of full day of sports

It’s kinda funny. The girl beside me has been shoplisting for the past 13 hours. She probably got some breaks, but I don’t think there were many. It’s like you got to keep reminding the people above you that you don’t have anything to do. So they say you will get something, but you don’t for a half hour. Am I supposed to annoy them until I get something to do? There are so many technical problems with this being the first days at some venues that my supervisors have their hands to full to worry about me.

When I got in I asked 3 people for something to do before I got something. I copied verbatim an ENG log of beauty shots of the Acropolis from the field. After that I bought some ice cream and then started logging swimming. There was a fair amount of emotion especially in the women. I saw three world records and one Olympic record broken.

It’s like everyone over me is getting chewed out. I guess it’s because I don’t know what’s going on.

I also gave a small apple croissant pie thing to a complete stranger in records. She seemed very grateful and wondered why I was giving it to her. She introduced herself. I can’t really remember whether I said my name.

And if I see one more single butt shot of a female beach volleyball player and her fingers informing the other of type of serve, I’m going to be very annoyed. Oh there is! I mean you can see the butt crack and all. Then there are the goofy cheerleaders that are around the game and during breaks they cheer. Olympic cheerleaders, oh please! Are the athletic figures of the actual female volleyball players not good enough for the male audience members to leer at that we need cheerleaders?!


~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Friday, August 13, 2004 - Friday the 13th - Opening ceremony

I hope you don't read this before the ceremony. It will spoil it.

This is an example of my job, shotlisting or logging. I wasn't the main shotlister or I would have been a little more serious and descriptive.
Enjoy.
I know I certainly did.
Stephen :-)

20:43:30 Finish of scenic shots
20:45:03 End of countdown
20:46:02 drummers drumming
20:46:10 strummers strumming mandolin?
20:48:45 tv drum mirror pounding
20:48:50 lots of fire (on water) in Olympic rings
20:50:40 fireworks
20:50:50 oragami boat with cute kid
20:51:24 brass band
20:51:36 cute kid waves Greek flag
20:53:13 font IOC president
20:53:19 font ATHOC president
20:54:30 president of Greece
20:56:46 Greek Anthem
20:57:38 static in bad audio
20:59:14 I woke up with this marble head in my hand.
21:00:00 centuar light javelin thing
21:02:00 wideshot of head pulling pulled apart
21:03:08 body parts floating in space
21:03:51 man on cube
21:06:02 man with winds and women screaming
21:06:25 man chasing women in erotic prance underneath cupid
21:07:16 painted mythological characters in line
21:09:05 vegetable people
21:09:20 yellow and black door people
21:10:08 people with headsets that aren't supposed to be in the shot
21:11:08 theatre passes
21:12:16 people putting on concrete clothes
21:13:58 pop up book looking painting
21:14:31 Renaissance period begans
21:15:02 envones gaurds
21:15:52 fencers
21:16:06 parallel bars
21:16:10 shotputt
21:16:25 marathon
21:16:46 marienets and puppets
21:17:24 pregnant woman walks down
21:17:52 blurry picture of women
21:18:20 womb glowing
21:20:04 light specticle with bars
21:20:53 double helix of DNA
21:22:15 drum people return
21:22:45 structure returns to middle of stadium
21:23:54 olive tree of lights rises in center
21:26:19 ATHLETES START TO ENTER
~ ~ ~
23:14:28 Greece - lots of crowd shots, really spread out
23:20:45 Lots of jib shots
23:22:23 above stadium shot
23:23:47 flags of the world
23:26:17 Bjork singing
23:31:00 Modern Olympic history
23:33:53 End of runner naming of cities
23:35:32 olympics presidents at tree in center
23:35:52 ATHOC president welcome
23:41:19 IOC president welcome
23:46:19 president of greece ?
23:46:30 bell ringing
23:48:12 olympic flag job shot
23:49:11 Greek atheletes with flag - names
23:53:52 Olympic flag raising , singing
23:56:23 fireworks
23:56:47 Olympic oath - athelete
23:57:58 Olympic oath - official
23:58:40 Flying (walking) women with torches , weird globe in center
00:00:03 olympic flame enters stadium
00:01:11 passes torch once
00:01:40 passes torch twice
00:02:25 passes torch third
00:03:00 passes torch fourth
00:03:40 passes torch fifth
00:03:57 running up ramp
00:04:32 steps to slings shot
00:05:09 sling / flame lit
00:06:10 stationary flame / singing
00:06:38 fireworks
00:08:03 flame and fireworks
00:10:15 it's a rave jib shot
00:10:54 flame iso
00:11:13 end of ceremony
00:11:52 flame push
00:12:23 animation
00:12:53 end of transmission

There's a lot more - like all 203 names of countries that I typed, but I figured you weren't interested in that part.


~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Tuesday, August 11, 2004 - Entering the Grind

I woke up around noon. I originally set my alarm for 9:00 but that didn’t happen. Helena came in the dining room and posted a Metro map. I already had it and had looked at it, but she suggested that we should use the Suburban Railway station in Pallini. I had seen the station multiples times from the 314 and 315 buses and wondered what it was. So Joel and I tried the railway and took it up to Kifissias Ave. We then walked a block and got on the 550 and road past the IBC. We got off less than a block from it. We beat the people that took the Media bus by 15 minutes. Tomorrow we will try it again because new AOB people have showed up that don’t have their credentials and therefore can’t ride the media bus from the Pallini Media Village. The Joels (Foster and and I and Helena picked figs today from the neighbors yard. She said that if the figs were on our side we could have them. I logged my first soccer much for real today. It was easier than I thought it would be. I worry that I am not descriptive enough. Nicole is beside me logging and she seem to be recording more I do, but maybe she has a more interesting game. Tonight was BRA vs AUS 3-1 and GRE vs. KOR that was 2-2. We found out that we could browse the Internet when we are not working. So I figure I will start a blog sometime. It’s better than sending out a journal to 15 people that may not even want to read it. The CBC arranged transportation for us tonight, all eight of us. Georgio Yurros is the drivers name I believe. He is defiantly laid back. He was playing a video game on his cell phone on a break today.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Wednesday, August 12, 2004 - 2nd Day of Work - 1st Day of Problems

I originally was not going to write tonight, because I was planning on waking up early to wash clothes. Well, actually it is to find the girl with the tokens that go to the washing machine because I only had a 20 to give her today and assumed it was not the Greek way to pay with a twenty unless it was at a large place that works like the States. The reason that I am writing is that some issues came up that I am not sure if everyone is aware of. The issue is how the night shift will get home. It was said that all the buses would run 24 hours. Then, it was said that only the buses on the main roads would run. Most doubt that we are included on these main roads, because we are out of Athens so far. It is rather funny that we are considered to be far out since we can get from the IBC to Pikermi in less than 15 min in a car. I am somewhat alarmed that there has not been any talk of contracts. I talked to one of the non-Asbury shotlisters and she said that she had not seen any contract either. I mean are we supposed to go on some verbal contract and it isn’t even really that. I think it is more of an email sent over eight months ago. I guess I am a slave to the system right now. I don’t really mind. I just like to know when I am. Some are annoyed that the shotlisters are being referred to as “kids” by some of the CBC staff. I mean if you are half someone’s age, I guess you should be able to take that. I was also told there was some condescending talking going on, too. Some people are worked up. I feel the worst for Tommy though. He is getting paid the same as us, and he is doing much, much more work. He is pulling a 12-hour shift at least, and it sounds like it might become 13 hours. The issue of transportation is the main problem right now. There was no mention of it before. I assume we are responsible to find our own transportation. I figure if there are eight of us. It would be two cabs at 10 euro or less for 19 days. That is 190 euro. 190 divided by four is 57 euros a person. 57 times 1.2 the dollar exchange rate is 68.4 That isn’t ridiculous. Did people expect they would be making money? I am very surprised that there were over 400 applicants for the shotlister positions (this was according to Nicole). It’s hard for me to believe that 400 people would want to make no money for a month. The idea I assume is that they will get to know someone in the industry. Of course, since I have no plans of being in broadcasting in the future. This isn’t an issue. Although I do write down the names of people I meet in my Palm Pilot. On the same issue, I am sure that many others would say that I was crazy for doing all the projects for the Creative Group this summer, but I was actually making something that I could place in portfolio. It would be more like being a camera operator or a writer not a shotlister machine. It was on the creative side. I mean anyone could do this job if they had enough focus and knew the rules of the game. Either of which I would say that I have mastered. I have made it to work on time all three days, which is good. Tonight, I logged, er, shotlisted, PAR and JPN. The Japanese fans that had their faces painted like their flag looked really funny. The looked like clowns. They incessantly played drums for the whole came. It was very annoying. They started the drums during their national anthem. Joel told me that there were tickets left for a Round Two tennis match for 20 euros at 10am on either Sunday or Tuesday. He wants someone to go with him, and I’ll know tennis enough to enjoy watching it. I’ll probably end up going.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - First day of work

The plan was to get there earlier than most of the CBC people, but I just missed the bus and waited for the next and by that time all the CBC people had showed up at 7:00am. We got off the 315 and walked the several blocks down Marathonou to the media village for the media bus. We waited about 20 minutes for the media bus. The actually ride took less than 10 minutes. We waited in the lobby till 8:45. The word was that we were supposed to show up around 9:00am. That’s what Peter told Joel, Vanessa, and I last week. Karen and Shaheer (sp?) introduced themselves. They hadn’t arrived yet when I was there before. We divided into two groups. I told Karen that I wanted to work days but that I was willing to work nights. I know from past jobs that I work better at night, but I don’t always want my best time spent at work you know. Karen said to come back at 11:30, so we walked around the IBC some. When we came back, Peter told us to come back at 2:30, or sorry 14:30, since they operate on the 24-hour clock. He director us toward the Carrefour that is like a Wal-Mart. I still haven’t been in the shopping section of one. I met Mary and Nicole who are part Greek. Mary has dual nationality with Greece and Canada. I also met Sarah who’s father has worked for IBS (which is AOB here in Ahtens) as a venue manager since Atlanta in 1996. Her whole family had moved with him to each place two years ahead of the games. As we talked I discovered there were 400 people that had applied for the six non-Asbury positions and that Sarah and Nicole had called back many, many times and it sounded like they had worked their butt off to get the positions and I had just been handed mine. After all, I’m not even that interested in sports or in broadcasting. All three girls had worked freelance for the CBC and I think two of them had worked as an employee for a short while. I followed them around the shops around the Carrefour. We finally ended up eating at Sbarro’s. I got pizza and they got salads. Sarah wanted to eat outside and Nicole and I gave her a look of disdain. We went outside and were undisturbed for about 10 minutes when a bee decided to visit. Nicole freaked out about the bee, so after about 5 minutes of swatting by me at it and Nicole gasping and half screaming, we moved inside. I saw that all the Asbury people were eating together. I also have a heart for people that might not feel accepted as part of the group. I guess that is because I never really have. That is why I move between so many cliques and have to talk to so many people in one day. Otherwise, I can’t meet all my social needs by just one type of person. Even the taxi drivers, I want to talk to, but alas, I can’t speak Greek. People don’t care what you know until they know you care. We came back to wait some more. The five or six of us finally got started on the Program Content Database System. I think it propriety. I looks built from scratch. We practiced shot listing. The main concern is discretion. What is worthy of writing down? It seems that everyone else is more descriptive than me. Peter said that the former group asked many more questions than we did. The database went down and he got called away, so he told us to come back in a half hour at 5:00. We did and that was when the safety meeting was. We went up to it and when we got halfway through the room of tables. The lady in the front said that we didn’t need to be there. I think it was only for employees and not freelancers. We left and went to wait for the media bus for about a half hour outside the IBC. Even though we had been there the longest, others got on before us and we got off because we were standing. We waited for the second one that was about 10 minutes more. We got to Pallini and walked a few blocks and waited for a public bus. We waited there for about a half hour. All in all I think it took two hours to get back to the seminary. Sam Wear and I had talked about making dinner together. She said she had ravioli looking things and so I offered to bring a sauce some fruit. We got the Champion supermarket and she pointed them out. They were pigs in a blanket, basically, so I said that I would make my own dinner. I found the closest noodles to elbow macaroni that was a lot like small penne regatta. The noodles were only 27 cent. The closest cheese to cheddar I could find was Gouda, so I got it. I made macaroni and cheese that night. There were five other people that wanted to know how to make macaroni and cheese. They had never made it from scratch. I was flabbergasted because I had never made the mix. Overall the cheese, of course, had a different flavor, but it was for the most part good. The grapes were a little sour that I bought. They were not seedless either. I had a few and put them away. Sam wanted to watch a movie, so I brought my laptop down and about 10 of us watched Ocean’s Eleven. About 10pm some started falling asleep. We were in the lounge that was four girls’ bedroom. We asked if any of them minded. They didn’t say anything. Marilyn Walker came down about 10:30 and asked if anyone wanted to go to asleep. No one answered. Vanessa had already fallen asleep. About 11pm, Dr. Walker came and asked whose laptop it was. I said it was mine. He said that I needed to move it, so I did. Sarah Williams had come in and fallen asleep in the mean time. If these girls were so sleepy, why didn’t they tell us to leave? I guess they are two nice to step on some toes. I wasn’t even wanted to watch a movie in the first place. I was sacrificing my journal writing time for Sam, so it didn’t make a difference to me. Sam and I watched the last 10 minutes in the lunchroom. She went to bed and I stayed up a little to talk to those that showed up from the guy’s chapel sleeping room. I then headed to bed.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Monday, August 09, 2004 - Cape Sounio - Photo - Orchestra

Today, we are headed to Cape Sounio at 10:00. We have to catch a bus from downtown Athens to get there. This was a last minute trip that Joel and I planned the night before to fill most of the day. We needed to be at the IBC at 7:30 for the Asbury group photo. We asked Vanessa if she wanted to come along. She did as long as she could visit an Internet café.

The plan was to go to Mavromateon Terminal to get on a one and a half hour bus to Cape Sounio at around 1:00, get there at 2:30 and arrive back by 6:30. I looked in Lonely Planet and found an internet café. Joel and walked Vanessa down to it from Victorias station on the Green line. We then walked back up to the station, took it down one stop and walked about five or more blocks looking for the Hellenic Festival Central Box Office to buy tickets for the 9:00pm playing of the London Symphony Orchestra. It took a little while to walk it and a little while to find and in the mean time we discovered the Metro station right next to it. We waited in line for 15 min. and bought tickets for 17.50. Joel kept saying his brother, who was a music major in college, would kill him when he arrived home, because we were going to here at the London Symphony Orchestra at the Acropolis (more precisely the Herodes Atticus). We got back at 1:30 just in time to miss the 1:30, but we had to get Vanessa and eat. On the way to the internet café, I saw a tent and camping supplies in a store window. I wanted a carabineer to attach my Nalgene bottle to my belt. I walked in and said carabineer and was met with a confused Greek face. I curved by index fingers and thumbs to make a loop and moved my thumb. The light went on and he took me to the padlocks. I said no. I did not want a lock. I then looped my fingers again and hooked them on my belt. He got another idea and pointed to the hooks above his counter. I am assuming they were leash hooks for big animals. The place was more of a pet supplies store than a camping store. He told me to go down two shops to the store with the blue tents (awnings). We walked down and entered a trendy clothing store. In about 20 seconds, I discovered the carabineers on the counter. The first few were marked 13 and 10 euros. I did not want to pay that much. The simpler ones were closer to seven. The cashier told me it was five, so I happily paid five for it. We ate ham and cheese pitas (more like croissants). They had feta cheese in them (or course). We finally caught the 2:30 bus to Sounio after waiting a few more minutes. We also used the bus stop’s restroom that I thought was cleaner than most gas stations. It was a private bus company I guess. It was a beautiful drive down there. On the way, we saw four or five Olympics venues from a distance. Joel and I guessed what event was there. It took about 2 hours to get there which made us arrive at 5:00. We walked around the Temple Of Poseidon for about 20 minutes. It was really the only thing there. There was a BBC remote team shooting B-roll of the temple and its still standing 16 columns. We bought some postcards at the gift shop and we got on the same bus route again. It seemed like we had just gotten off. I guess we had. It was a shorter ride back, I think I almost dosed off. Taking pictures of locations we passed kept me busy though. I took more than of the Temple we had “gone to see.” We passed the sailing, cycling, volleyball, and two multi-event stadiums.

We got on the railway at Victorias and made it to Irini. We when rode the inner loop bus to the front of Olympic Stadium and got out when we found out it didn’t go in front of the IBC where our Asbury friends were waiting. We entered security and discovered we were in front of the stadium. The place we had wanted to go for a week. It was one of the only places we wanted to be, but just not at that moment. We exited the grounds and went security again for the IBC. We walked down the whole IBC to the lobby. Most were waiting for us. They wanted to use my camera to take it. Dr. Walker and I scoped out a place that the stadium would be in the background, but it was too silhouetted with the setting sun. We ended up in front of the IBC. We had taken five or six photographs when five or six more Asburians showed up so we took some more. Joel needed to change his pants, so he went back through security and into the IBC. I added my zip-ons and changed my shirt outside (with an undershirt still on). I waited for a 10 minutes for Joel and gave my camera bag to the Walkers to take back to the seminary. We were walking toward Irini when we saw the same bus pass us that we got on before. We need it must go in a loop, so we got on. It was the same bus with the same driver. I found a mobile phone (by vodafone) in my seat with oriental characters on the menus. I put it back in the seat. It did take us to Irini. We still hadn’t eaten dinner, but is was 8:15 and we still needed to make it to the Acropolis by 9:00. We made it there about 5 minutes into the first movement. There was a violin soloist. During intermission, Joel and I purchased water bottles and turkey sandwiches. We decided to go back and get two more when the second half started. I put the sandwiches in my cargo pockets for afterwards. It was good. I really couldn’t follow much and I didn’t know what was being played. The second movement was shaky. I even heard some off notes.

We caught a cab home from Ethniki Amyna. The driver as a happy old man with a cigarette and a giant no smoking sign on the dash. He didn’t seem to know where Pikermi was when I told I wanted to go toward Marathonas his face lit up and we hit the road. Every five miles or so he would slow down and ask if the town was Pikermi. It was only 8 euros. Joel and I were surprised. We asked him to let us off on the main road and walked the few hundred feet. The vacation was over. Tomorrow meant starting training for work.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Sunday, August 08, 2004 - Day of Rest

I woke up at noon when Joel asked what I was doing today. We then found out what everyone else was doing. Some were going to the Walkers to the beach in Rafini at 3:00pm. Joel and I walked to the bakery down the street across from the bus station. I asked if the girl knew English. She said a little with her unbalanced hand. We asked what were inside the croissant-looking items. She said cheese. We both bought one for a Euro. It was a tyropita (filo bread with feta inside). We met Phil brooks on the way back and told him what to get. We ate at the seminary in the cafeteria. Joel went to Rafina and I journaled about our day at Hydra. After that I hung around and talked and finally went to McDonald’s with four other people. We got on a bus about 8:00 and made it back around 10:30pm. We saw one the way to the one we stopped at. I didn’t particularly want the food, but I didn’t want to venture off alone. It pretty much was the same except you could taste some olive on the fries and the sandwich. Sam told me that a big group is headed to the CBC on Tuesday at 7:00am to be there by 9:00am. I wonder if I could beat them and pick my shift first or something like that. Joel and I then sat around and made plans for tomorrow. We wanted to go one place Eleusis and stop by a monastery on the way both were closed on Mondays though we read. The other choice was Cape Sounion with the Temple of Poseidon overlooking the see from a 65m cliff. It’s really not that interesting to go one and half hours to see, but we didn’t see anything closer that we wanted. We also hope that it will be a scenic bus ride since it will be along the coast. We’ll see.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Saturday, August 07, 2004 - Acropolis with Joel

I wanted to go with Joel because we often think alike and he is a photographer and can read my mind sometimes and know when I want to get a picture. Basically, we tolerate each other when one is photographing something. We caught the bus to Ethniki Amyna and then the metro to Acropoli. We accidentally went the wrong way on the red line toward Sepolia. We caught there and were walking towards Mars Hill when I saw there was a gate next to the metro station. We walked in and they looked at our credentials. We got to the first amphitheatre, the theatre of Dionysus, and started snapping away. There were railings around the import things like the stage, but one could walk on the benches. After that, we walked through and looked at some ruins of the Asclepion, which was built around a sacred healing spring, and a stoa that was basically a preparation area for the performers in the theatre. We then looked at the Theatre of Herodes Atticus which you can’t get into unless there is a concert happening. Tomorrow night the London Orchestra is playing there. We then made our way to the top. There were guides speaking Spanish, French, English, and an Oriental language on the steps. We looked for angles of the Parthenon that had the least scaffolding. There were two or three angles that only a few bars. Then, we entered the museum, mainly because it was noon and we wanted shade. Most of the up close monument pictures I have are inside this. These are the originals while the ones outside on the structure are actually replicas. After the museum, we took a few more pictures of the Parthenon and of the Erechtheion (the one with the four female statues). We exited towards Mars Hill and we were both hungry. We were lured in by strawberry ices (icee-like drink) for 4.50 and a luncheon meat sandwich (1 piece) for 3. We then went over Mars hill and I got some pictures of Athens. I did not have my camera with me the other night on the last visit. We walked past some cafes and modern art that we made fun of. We entered the Ancient Agora ruins. The first was the Temple Hephaestus. I wonder how much of it was original. I looked pretty much all there. We walked past a statue of Hadrian (headless of course) and the statues at the front of the almost totally missing ancient agora. We headed over to the Stoa of Attalos that was totally rebuilt. I snapped some good column pictures. We saw more dogs lying around—although two of the three had tags. I filled up my water bottle and we got out a map to see what to do next. We heading for an Orthodox church suggested by Lonely Planet. We walked through Plaka past the Roman Forum and Temple of the Winds remains. Plaka is the main shopping district and also a good place to find an ATM. I withdrew money from an ATM for the first time anywhere. I got 40. Unfortunately, the one suggested was under renovation and was closed, but we did enter and look around the Athens Cathedral. Ahead of time I knew that we were not suppose to enter with shorts, I put on the bottom legs of my zip-off pants on the steps the cathedral. It was a weird feeling almost like dressing outside. We did we see people enter with shorts even though there was a sign clearly stating not to enter with shorts on. Inside, many members kissed glass windows over icons. We saw a twenty year old pray and also a whole family with three children light candles. There were hundreds of lip marks on the glass. It was smaller than I thought it would be for a cathedral. People lit candles and set them on a rotating candle holder. Every so often, a nun after sitting in the corner praying out loud would come by and blow the candles out and throw in a box. They were not even halfway gone. Apparently, they are lit for certain saints that are associated with the problem the person needs help with. Like Catholicism many members did the sign of the cross multiple times. I wanted so much to take a candle with me. It was very dark also. Only candlelight and maybe one light upfront illuminated the place. The next item on the list was for Joel. We wanted to catch the tram to Planathenaic Stadium or at least near it but we couldn’t find a bus that had any names we could recognize. We decided to walk across Syntagma square again. He bought a water and I bought a maroon velvet hat with a long gold tassle that I think is supposed to be like the evzones’ hats I assume. It was 4.50 and that was more than it was worth, but it’s goofy enough that I will love wearing it around campus this fall. We walked through the National Gardens that was a bunch of trees. Then, we walked in front of the heavily guarded Zappeio (and I am still not sure what it currently is). We saw Planathenaic Stadium through the trees. We couldn’t get closer than a few hundred feet from the stadium entrance. There were many people waiting in line for tickets and we saw a CBC film crew. We then walked over ten blocks to the nearest subway station. Lonely Planet said to walk south of the intersection were at past the War Museum and Byzantine Museum, but the map was incorrect. I’ll have to write them. We finally got to the Evangelismos metro station after asking an Athens Information stand. From there we made it home from Ethniki Amyna via Subway and on bus to Pikermi. I stayed up journaling about the first full day that night till 2:40am.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Friday, August 06, 2004 - Greek Island of Hydra (that’s eedra)

After all my urging to wake and take the earliest ferry to Hydra, I must have turned off my alarm and gone back today. Sarah came knocking at 8:15 am, and I leaned up to answer without a shirt on. Jon was not awake. I told I would be out in 10 min. It was more like 15 min as all my camera equipment was spread out. I was apologetic and we caught the 8:40 am bus. We arrived at Pireus at 10:00am. Our boat left at 10:00 while we were wondering around the port looking for tickets. The ferry companies and the travel agencies they are connected with will only tell you their times, so we bought a fast boat ticket from Blue Dolphin. It took us about 20 minutes to find the place to buy a ticket. The next one left at noon. We walked around the port for an hour and a half. I bought a pastry that tasted like it had cream cheese and coconut in the center. Some people withdrew money from the ATM and some bought souvenirs. I almost bought a Ferrari hat for my brother. We got yelled for taking picture of the port by one of the workers dressed in a captain’s uniform. We found out we couldn’t take pictures of the train station either, because a worker there yelled at us, too. It kind of looked like the station in Harry Potter. The there was uneventful. Everyone fell asleep except me for at least 10 min. When we stopped in Poros, I went out on the back of the boat and took some pictures. There was an active little boy, maybe three-years-old, on board that ran all over the place. We later saw him at the Acropolis museum on top of the hill. We got off at Hydra and were very hungry. There were many restaurants to choose from by the water, but I wanted to go up into town a little more to eat at a restaurant with a view. We found the place Lonely Planet recommended and it had a wonderful view. It was even on a postcard that I bought later (the same exact view). I had the saganaki (fried cheese) with covered in cinnamon and apples with a spot of black currant jelly on top. Joel also had saganaki. Most of the others had a pasta dish that they thought tasted just like it does in the States. The appetizer was toasted bread with a butter spread and an olive spread. We went through only three bottle of water this time. We left and went down the port. They asked me were to go for the beaches and I said right, but they saw people in wet bathing suits coming from the left, so we walked to the left. There were no beaches but small rocky inlets. The other changed while I talked with a man dressed like a pirate who offered to take my picture. He said that he was native of the island and drew ink drawings of the island vistas. Some were from his studio across the harbor. He asked if photography was my professional. I said it was a hobby and he said that one’s hobby should be his work. Then it will never be work. He said that he a dinosaur and that he had no telephone or computer. He complained that people relied too much on computers. I didn’t tell me why I was there other than I was working for the Olympics. After I took a picture of him, I rejoined my group and went down to the shore ledges. I watched them swim, and Jon, Chris, and Vanessa dived into the water from a 20-foot cliff nearby. Afterwards we split up, Joel and I walked slower than Jon and Chris, so we ended up separate. We walked through Kalimi. We saw a few people writing donkeys, because there was no motor transportation on the island. One man was talking on his cell phone while riding on his. We turned back to Hydra Town and bought some water. They do not like it here in Greece if you do not have exact change. Joel and I walked to the North side of Hydra Town and ran into Jon and Chris who had walked around the outskirts and to the closest resort with a beach. Joel and I took pictures of the harbor. Jon, Vanessa, and I split a pizza for dinner. We were told we could only catch the 9:30 ferry back when we arrived. We waited for a catamaran from Sardonic Dolphin Ferry Lines. On the way back, we watched Mr. Bean. I got the giggles (well, more of a laughs) every time someone smiled at me. I was slaphappy tired. We think we may have caught the last train out of Pireus, but we aren’t sure. It was a 15 min. wait after we got on until it left. We rode switched at Manasteraki and rode to Ethiniki Amyna and hailed another taxi. We arrived here at 12:40pm. The driver with Vannessa, Chris and I was very particular about closing his car doors and didn’t speak English. He was hesitant about reading the card with directions to our place. He asked if we wanted to go to the Pikermi Hotel. I shook my head. He got out his glasses and figured it out. It was rate 2, due to us being picked up after midnight. Joel and I decided to move back the time of departure for the Acropolis to 9:00am.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Thursday, August 5, 2004 - Searching for Owens

This morning we sat around talked until everyone was ready. Some of us were going to leave early, but didn’t want to leave others behind and we got on a private bus line and had to pay fare, but we don’t have to on public bus lines. We told the lady where we were going Kifisia and we got to Kifisia Ave. We were more than 20 blocks away from the IBC, my place of work. We asked someone on the street and he told us to take the bus up the street. We did. Some ran the risk of a 40 E fine for not having their credential on. We got to the place and went to get other people’s credentials. Then we tried to find Dr. Owens who was back form lunch over two hours over what his secretary expected. He didn’t know we were coming at that time. We sat in an office on the floor for a half hour. This was after we spent an hour looking for the NBC taverna where she said he would be. We got the lay of the land of our work building that is a few football fields in length. He gave us a tour. The AOB workers went to eat and the CBC (including me) went and found our boss over our boss. He gave us a short tour and told us some of what we would be doing—entering info on what we are watching into a database. The tree of us then went to it. It was 4:40 by then. We asked about island hopping at the travel agency and where the subway was after we ate. We walked toward the Olympic Stadium, but most us couldn’t get in, so we walked around which was a 10 min walk. We got on the railway (not the subway) and met a woman from Corfu who spoke English. She told us where to get off and switch to go to the Acropolis. We got there no problem. We walked around. There was an orchestra playing at the amphitheatre there. The Acropolis closed a half hour before. We got to see a vista of Athens though. One of us asked what the crowd of people that we had just walked through were protesting. He said it had to due with Hiroshimo. Another guy explained it was an anti American peace really—then corrected himself saying that is was an anti-American government rally. I got a picture of one coordinator taking down one of the banners on Joel’s camera. We could here the word “Bush” in the protest chants. After that we walked around the front and say the Agora buildings from a distance and watched the sunset. We stopped at a restaurant right under the Acropolis. We could see the tip of it in the night sky. The owner showed us a picture of himself on page A1 of USA Today. He said his wife was Canadian. I ate cheese filled lamb with potatoes and rice. Everything is soaked in cheese and olives. We had a pork steak, a beef casserole (Mousuka), fried calamari, whole giant shrimp, and souflaki. He offered us a free bottle of wine and two or three declined, so he promised ice cream. We ate for about 8 E to 15 E each. We had to pay for water. It was an adventure getting home, but most could speak English and we asked. We got to the right place, but the last bus had apparently run, so we took a taxi the last 10 mi. The cab driver told us to go clubbing and visit the party like Madonna and Harrison Ford (or as he said “Arisone Fod”). I feel comfortable getting around now. I am scared of jumping in a taxi with a non-English speaking taxi, but otherwise I feel well about getting places.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 - First flight

On my first flight—ever, we had a miscommunication between the ground and the cockpit over the baggage doors, so they shut down the plane’s power for a little while saying that the plane’s generator wasn’t working. They were referring to the baggage compartment doors not anything used in flying. We circled around JFK for an extra 45 min. and ran through JFK to our gate. We were about 10 min short of missing the flight. On arriving in Rome, we had to go through regular security again because the way the Airport is set up. We made it to the door with about another 10 min. to spare. Every time we turned the corner in Rome we found another hallway and at the end was our gate.

I got to meet Susanna Jaruzzi. I’m not sure what the spelling is. I saw her reaching her hand into a box on the floor 10 min into the flight and clicking her tongue. I thought maybe she had a gerbil or pet rat stored, but it was a mangcoon cat. We talked about cats and Greece and Greek cooking and Horatio Hornblower (she was reading a historical fiction novel). Turns out that she has taught Greek cooking and gave me some dishes she thought I should try. I keep on hearing about this fried cheese that I need to check out. Anyway, she brought her cat out for about 3 hours near the end. He, Mr Bailey, acted well and only mewed twice.

When we flew from Italy to Greece a friend of mine began telling a French joke and I stopped him mid-sentence and said, “Ummm, we are in Europe.” We had problems with what those who had their creditionel had to do at the airport. Then, an AOB volunteer helped us with talking with others in Greek. Her name was Fiffee (I think) and she was there to practice her English since she has head of a English speech and doable club. We didn’t even go though customs. We had a hard time with the taxi driving around in circles in the neighborhood her. Today we went to Rafina, a port city on the east coast. It is the closest way to the Aegean Sea from Pikermi, which is where I am staying.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/

I normally would program this myself

I normally would program this myself, but since I am Athens and I do not have a php server available to test my code on. I thought I'd give into the blog craze.

~ Stephen

site: http://www.smjdesign.com/
writing: http://www.tpkpoetry.com/
photography: http://www.smjdesign.com/photo/