It's all Chinese to me

I had a conversation with Hercules yesterday about how Greeks learn to speak English in school. This came up because my chain smoking roomate, Agiolos, who looks to be in his 30s, does not speak a word of english. I don't think he even understands ok, which is not a word in greek. What Herc told me is that it's incorrect to say "It's all Greek to me" (even though I actually did not say it, I guess that is a common joke around these parts). What he said is that there are 4000 words in english that came from greek, so saying it's all greek is technically incorrect. Which I guess is true. Except no one probably has any clue what even 1 of those 4000 words might be. He produced a worn article he had cut out of the newpaper written in greek and english where the author wrote the article using only words derived from greek. I didn't understand most of it and the rest was just plain boring. Anyways, Herc was very proud of that article and told me that in Greece they say "It's all Chinese to me" since that makes more sense, being as how the Chinese have a different alphabet and their language sounds like nothing else. Wait, wouldn't Greek still qualify?

Today was the first day of the Olympics and my first shift working at the Helliniko Basketball complex. I arrived at 7 am (after much internal grumbling) and met the doctor I would be working with. His name is Dory. As in the fish from Nemo. But he's not that friendly or funny. He is an orthopedic surgeon about to start a fellowship somewhere in Vancouver. He's very impressed with himself (should make a great orthopedic surgeon) and his achievements, which he is quick to point out to anyone who is not listening. I used to date a guy like him. He knows everything and he is ALWAYS right. It's tiresome. And everyone around him is stupid and he has no time for them. Except for the Greek doctors, who he has time for but are still stupid in comparison to his brilliant self. For entertainment he read the Journal of Orthopedic Surgery while everyone else was watching the women's basketball games. C'mon Dory. So far, no one but you is impressed. There is another doctor from Greece, also an orthopedic surgeon. He said the Army called him and told him he would be volunteering at the Olympics. He is charming and delightful. He told me if I watched the Chinese basketball team warm up and they saw me, they would kill me. The coordinator of the medical support is Niko. He is also a character and gave me an important quote today. He showed me how to use the TV and then said there is a quote in English that goes-"I know my chicken." I am not familiar with this quote.
The really cool thing is they have video feeds at all the venues and you can just turn on the TV and switch to watch any event going on at that time. So, here's about how my day went.
7:00: Arrive
7:30: Coffee break. Get iced greek coffee with extra frothy cigarette butts on top.
8:30: Lurk around dressing rooms of women's basketball players.
9:00: Watch first basketball game between Australia and Nigeria. Aussies won and were pretty good.
11:15: Watched second basketball game between Korea and China. No player was over 5'6" and they were all a bit scary looking. China won.
1:30: Lunch break and lurk around women's dressing rooms again waiting for Team USA to show up. The first sign of them is one of the coaches who is well over 7 ft tall.
2:30: Watch USA v New Zealand. Not really even a close match and USA didn't play that well. I kind of felt sorry for the kiwis. Mikras, the greek doctor who watched all the games with me, decided we should have better seats so we sat behind the goal. Look for me if you watch the game. I'll be the ant on the corner of the screen near where the players enter and leave the playing field. They even had tacky half time entertainment with scantily clad women doing some kind of dancing and throwing things out to the audience. Did I mention we are stationed on the playing field, in a corner, but out of view for the most part but full view of the game.
4:00: Game over. Shift over. Whew, another hard day at the factory.
Tomorrow is all men's basketball, which I hear is sold out. Rest assured I will lurking near those dressing rooms.