September 27, 2006 - Wednesday
September 27, 2006
Today was our work projects day. I was stationed at the guest house along with Jean A, Jean Y, Cynthia, and Kerry. Everyone else was at the ARC doing projects. We started by cleaning all of the bedrooms. We quickly discovered that we lacked a powerful vacuum, so I was sent to retrieve the shop-vac from the Center to use at the house. I got a lot of weird looks as I was carrying a vacuum down the streets but hey, if I’m not used to weird looks by now…
So, I brought that back and received my first assignment: Cleaning the fans. There are several floor fans stationed throughout the rooms of the house, since it lacks central air conditioning. I started with the two fans in the room that David and I are staying in. I took each one apart, took the grills, propellers, and plastic pieces and washed them.
I started washing them in the kitchen sink but was quickly scolded so I moved down to the men’s shower downstairs. I cleaned each fan this way. They look like brand new now! I also fixed one fan that was “broken”. It just needed a good whack on the side, like all things electric do sometimes.
We cleaned the kitchen, dining room and library also, vacuuming each area and working until the room was completed. Around lunch time, Jean A and I went out to grab some stuff from the market for the fellowship dinner tonight and also some lunch to bring back. Everyone else had decided to just snack on food that we already had there.
We continued cleaning until about 3:30. I took the vacuum back to the ARC. On the way, I saw David and Erika coming home. While going up the steps to the ARC, I passed two people on the stairs that were just passed out from having just participated in some sort of illegal narcotic activity. I dropped off the vacuum and checked my email and posted some blog entries.
When I got back to the guest house, I changed clothes and got ready to go with everyone else to the McCracken house for a fellowship time to meet the newest long-term family addition, the Cotrells. We had to walk to the metro station at Monistraki, and then take a subway to Ethniki, the station closest to Scott’s house. When we got off the train, we had to wait for Paul to show up and take us the rest of the way on foot. We were a bit early, so we all just sat down in the corner of the station and waited.
It was a bit of a walk the rest of the way, but it wasn’t too bad. We took a bus for most of it, and walked through a neighborhood for the rest. We finally arrived after a few minutes of walking. We came in and were greeted by many people. There were about 25 people there altogether, with all of the other team members.
We had a potato bar for dinner. It was really good. Everyone sat around the house and talked during dinner and enjoyed fellowship. I was in a seat surrounded by other people, but all of the other people were involved in their conversations, so all I could do was listen. I would turn to one group and listen for a while, and then turn to another and listen for a while. It worked out pretty well. I was able to listen to just about every conversation in the room without having to say a word.
After dinner, we all played “two truths and a lie”. For those who have not gathered the definition of this game from the title, several people would tell two things that were true, and one thing that was not. We had to guess which one was the lie. It’s a good thing that they didn’t ask me to play. I can be extremely creative with my answers and I’m pretty good at lying with a straight face.
Before we left, Scott asked if I could handle a special project for him. Susan described it, “the reason I am here, for such a time as this”. He had some Mr. Bean dvd’s that he wanted to show at the ARC, but a few of the episodes were just not appropriate for that environment and he wanted to know if I could remove them. So, I told him that I could and thought to myself that I would figure out how to actually do that later.
When it was time to leave, instead of having to walk all of the way back to the station, Scott and Ilir drove us to the metro station. David and I, along with Nadir and his wife Ella, rode in Ilir’s vehicle, and the rest of our team rode with Scott.
We took the metro back to Omonia Square and walked the rest of the way home. When we got home, I was challenged to another game of Blokus. I lost again, continuing on with my losing streak.
Well, that just about wraps up this blog. Tomorrow is another tea house day. I know that for part of the day, I will be working on fixing a laptop that we brought with us. I have to install an operating system on it and get some stuff installed on it. That should be fun…
-Joe
Today was our work projects day. I was stationed at the guest house along with Jean A, Jean Y, Cynthia, and Kerry. Everyone else was at the ARC doing projects. We started by cleaning all of the bedrooms. We quickly discovered that we lacked a powerful vacuum, so I was sent to retrieve the shop-vac from the Center to use at the house. I got a lot of weird looks as I was carrying a vacuum down the streets but hey, if I’m not used to weird looks by now…
So, I brought that back and received my first assignment: Cleaning the fans. There are several floor fans stationed throughout the rooms of the house, since it lacks central air conditioning. I started with the two fans in the room that David and I are staying in. I took each one apart, took the grills, propellers, and plastic pieces and washed them.
I started washing them in the kitchen sink but was quickly scolded so I moved down to the men’s shower downstairs. I cleaned each fan this way. They look like brand new now! I also fixed one fan that was “broken”. It just needed a good whack on the side, like all things electric do sometimes.
We cleaned the kitchen, dining room and library also, vacuuming each area and working until the room was completed. Around lunch time, Jean A and I went out to grab some stuff from the market for the fellowship dinner tonight and also some lunch to bring back. Everyone else had decided to just snack on food that we already had there.
We continued cleaning until about 3:30. I took the vacuum back to the ARC. On the way, I saw David and Erika coming home. While going up the steps to the ARC, I passed two people on the stairs that were just passed out from having just participated in some sort of illegal narcotic activity. I dropped off the vacuum and checked my email and posted some blog entries.
When I got back to the guest house, I changed clothes and got ready to go with everyone else to the McCracken house for a fellowship time to meet the newest long-term family addition, the Cotrells. We had to walk to the metro station at Monistraki, and then take a subway to Ethniki, the station closest to Scott’s house. When we got off the train, we had to wait for Paul to show up and take us the rest of the way on foot. We were a bit early, so we all just sat down in the corner of the station and waited.
It was a bit of a walk the rest of the way, but it wasn’t too bad. We took a bus for most of it, and walked through a neighborhood for the rest. We finally arrived after a few minutes of walking. We came in and were greeted by many people. There were about 25 people there altogether, with all of the other team members.
We had a potato bar for dinner. It was really good. Everyone sat around the house and talked during dinner and enjoyed fellowship. I was in a seat surrounded by other people, but all of the other people were involved in their conversations, so all I could do was listen. I would turn to one group and listen for a while, and then turn to another and listen for a while. It worked out pretty well. I was able to listen to just about every conversation in the room without having to say a word.
After dinner, we all played “two truths and a lie”. For those who have not gathered the definition of this game from the title, several people would tell two things that were true, and one thing that was not. We had to guess which one was the lie. It’s a good thing that they didn’t ask me to play. I can be extremely creative with my answers and I’m pretty good at lying with a straight face.
Before we left, Scott asked if I could handle a special project for him. Susan described it, “the reason I am here, for such a time as this”. He had some Mr. Bean dvd’s that he wanted to show at the ARC, but a few of the episodes were just not appropriate for that environment and he wanted to know if I could remove them. So, I told him that I could and thought to myself that I would figure out how to actually do that later.
When it was time to leave, instead of having to walk all of the way back to the station, Scott and Ilir drove us to the metro station. David and I, along with Nadir and his wife Ella, rode in Ilir’s vehicle, and the rest of our team rode with Scott.
We took the metro back to Omonia Square and walked the rest of the way home. When we got home, I was challenged to another game of Blokus. I lost again, continuing on with my losing streak.
Well, that just about wraps up this blog. Tomorrow is another tea house day. I know that for part of the day, I will be working on fixing a laptop that we brought with us. I have to install an operating system on it and get some stuff installed on it. That should be fun…
-Joe
posted by Joe at 11:56 PM
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