Dear children,
try to be an LO for once, if you have a chance.
Yes. That's the advice from your mother. If you have a chance to be an LO, take it. You will meet various of people from different nations and backgrounds, you will face language difficulties, you will learn how to tolerate and most of all you will find your own self.
I used to be an LO for sport events and I loved the job, I even told my friends that I want to be an LO forever but of course the idea was rejected by your grand parents right away. Being an LO is a perfect job for someone who gets bored easily like me; you work with a group of people for one or two weeks and before you know it you move on and work with another group. So let me tell you, how hard and beautiful it is to work as an LO through this letter.
My first job was to be an LO for the Iranian contingent for a volleyball championship. They consist of 30ish people and most of them are good looking. It was an Asian championship and there were 12 countries all together. I was 20 that time and to be able to involved in a championship that full of good-built-hot-men is a dream come true for young lady like me (mind my language). At first, when they told me about my job, I didn't have a slight idea of who I was going to work with. I was surprised when I picked them up in the airport; they were the first contingent to arrived and I never saw people so tall and good looking before not even when I was in Perth (slightly exaggerating here). Well maybe I have, but the sport wears they wore made them look better. They went straight to the supermarket as they step out of the airport before going into the bus and take everything they see, they look like kids who go shopping. They even bought me an ice cream.
You probably imagine they're gonna be sweet and kind for the rest of the weeks but no, they were very determined and strict, they were the winning team and that's why they came so early. They basically need you every where; in the practice hall, during the game, press conference, hotel, and gym. They tried to call your hotel room in the time when you supposed to rest, they asked you to book for a hotel room in the middle of the night and drive around the city during the day, I called myself a slave. But it was understandable because you are the only one they know in the country, you are the only one that they trust to help them with their problems. It wasn't easy. I was having the hard time with my partners at work because of little misunderstanding, I was working under pressure before I get used to it.
But when I got used to it, everything seemed to be fun. At night, after they kept you awake to help them, you can treat yourself to have a warm bath and sit next to the window and watched the city sleeps. At night, after you came back from the game, you have a little time to peek how the night life just started. You started to formed a bond with your team despite the language difficulties. You started to talk about your life and country with the help of google translate. They started to give you their food, to treat you in the nearest fast food restaurant, ask you to hook them up with the prettiest girl around, to take them to highest hotel's rooftop to shoot a film and even ask you to become a sudden reporter. And for me, there's nothing better than receiving flowers from the players after they just received the winning prize when they were pretty girls lining up, asking flowers from them. Yes, you are the first one to receive the flower. That's how they respect you.
And when it's time for them to leave, they give you their clothes not just the training clothes but the uniform that they use when they have a game. That moment when you shake hand with them in the airport is the last moment to see their faces, the moment to question yourself about how you treated them and when are you gonna meet them again, that moment is a moment when you are sure that you've formed a bond with new people. Strangers have completely turned into friends.
This is probably the longest letter I've written so far but that's my story and I hope you have a chance to experience it too.
Yes. I miss them.
Love,
Your Mother
This letter comes with a photo stream in here.
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