I think i had mentioned to most people, that my aunt trudy was hired by NBC to drive around important people in Athens during the olympics. trudy is one of the most facinating people you will ever meet. i wish i could be like her, and do the things she’s done, and that whole thing…

but anyway….if anyone is interested in reading her experience at the olympics, continue…

Hi Walt, hi Laura, hi Sara.

Hi all – long time, no hear, no access to computer. Just got back the other day and must now clear up tons of stuff on the computer along with other piled up jobs. But what I really want to do is lay back for a while.

Did you watch much of the Olympics? Thought you might want an update on my time there so here goes.

My experience at the Olympics was interesting from many perspectives. It was of course, fun to be a part of it all especially since it all went so well surprising everybody, foreigners and Greeks alike. Just minor glitches like a few busses arriving late in the beginning and the head of NBC security whom I was driving around once told me nothing of import had occurred. It was overkill all the way across – too many security people, too many volunteers, too many drivers (never had a job where I was paid to watch TV). They left absolutely nothing to
chance. I could not believe that the metro came every two-three minutes, the special events busses every two minutes and they were mostly empty, a sign all got to their venues on time. Took only 20 minutes to let everyone in for the opening ceremony which was fantastic. I watched the fireworks from a balcony of a friend who was just across from the stadium. Incredibly the Greeks honored (for the most part) the Olympic fast lanes reserved for Olympic traffic and it was weird to see a lane without a car for several kilometers in the middle of Athens – no doubt the drivers squeezed into the other two lanes were cursing under their breath. When the Olympics are finished end of September they will use those lanes only for cars with more than one person in them.
I went to only two events to get the feel of the whole place – it was fabulous, specially at night. Once I went to a tennis match and on the next court was playing a Greek female player who had courageously defeated her opponent the day before despite having obtained a serious leg injury falling down twice and screaming in pain several times. You would have thought there was a football match on the way the spectators roared every time she made a point as if a goal had been made for Greece. This match, despite all that psychological support, she lost to a Russian, however. The Greeks did incredibly well in the medals department – the best for countries that size. It was great to see them win with all that enthousiastic support.
Athens was unbelievably clean, efficiently run, dispersing information everywhere (new maps etc.), festive, music and performances on every street corner, beautifully lit up specially the Acropolis and Thission temple. I took advantage of the fact that my accreditation card allowed me free entrance to all the museums, galleries, archeological sites, and special exhibits and I visited everything after work, even one trip to Epidavros for an ancient tragedy performed in an ancient amphitheatre – just the bus trip there was fantastic. I usually take advantage of all opportunities that present. I even talked Kiriakos into coming to see the new Athens for a couple of days as we had both become disenchanted with that city.
It was also good for me personally, as I learned a lot. I am totally confident now about driving around Athens, even on the highways. It was great for my ego to be the oldest female hired – we had mostly young folks just finished or finishing their degrees. Sadly, most of these fine young folks will be looking for jobs shortly. It was nice to be accepted by them as well. I had some stress in the beginning trying to learn the new and difficult routes – stressed because the training was totally inadequate to the point that after a week I had to speak to
the higher supervisor and tell her I would like to support her in her task but because I was getting no proper training I would be unable to. She corrected it right away. The Greeks, too, were having difficulty but refused to speak up even telling me to go talk to our American Supervisor, so because I did speak up I had some difficulty from the immediate Supervisor, a British gal. But that was also a learning experience, that is the way I am looking at all challenges. Met some interesting people, both fellow drivers and passengers. Dan Hicks, a sports newscaster at NBC, head of security, couple of producers, a three times gold winner athlete in the field of archery, to name a few. And I made a few bucks, too. All in all, it was a positive experience.

What did you think of the Olympics? Wasn’t the opening ceremony great? But I think the Chinese will put on a real extravaganza – enjoyed their part in the closing ceremony. We got a pretty good salary for Greece from NBC – no tips, just doing our job.

I’m at the crossroads right now in my life wanting to do something constructive but balancing it with time for myself. That’s even tougher with less money these days. Many thoughts float through my head. Example, I was at the Goulandris Natural History Museum recently and I had a thought – all these wonderful things to look at but the small little village schools on the islands have no chance to see them. I thought maybe I should get together a traveling, very small museum in my Motorhome and entertain/educate the children along with my animal awareness program all around the islands. Would take a lot of organizing but I am used to that. We shall see. My immediate goal, however, has to be simplifying my life, getting rid of all kinds of things I don’t need anymore. I must remember KISS – keep it simple, stupid.