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

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