For those interested, here is a little glimpse into J's daily life at work.
J. heads to work, with a big wave to his wife.
Walking down our street, Borgo Degli Albizi. Usually this street is much busier, but this was later in the afternoon during the heat of the day, so most people took refuge in the air conditioning.
Every day J. walks by the beautiful Duomo. In the summer this has become more of an obstacle course dodging tour groups and lost tourists. You can see he is wearing his headphones, he does this so the gypsy beggars leave him alone.
Waiting at the bus stop for bus number 17. It usually comes every 10 minutes, but Italy is notorious for having unpredictable public transportation. Once J was waiting and waiting for the bus only to find out that the buses were all on strike. Apparently they strike fairly often, even just for a couple hours.
On the bus. This trip takes "about" 17 minutes. J usually has to stand because he gives his seat up for the old Italian women. The buses are always hot and usually very crowded. Drivers don't seem to care that people are standing, they start and stop suddenly and try to hit every bump in the road - you must hold on or you get seriously hurt.
J gets off the bus and walks for about 5 minutes to the Fiorentina stadium. Right across from the stadium (straight ahead) there is a little bar that is referred to as "the university." Old Italian men gather here and talk Fiorentina calcio every day, all day. But when J walks by, they stop talking and stare at him, wondering why this white haired kid goes to the stadium every day.
J pushes a doorbell to be let in. There is tight security at the stadium and there are ALWAYS fans waiting outside the gates to see players and get autographs and pictures. They also look at J strangely and some even ask for is autograph, just because.
Once in the stadium, J is required to change into his work clothes. He is number 53 and everything is laid out for him each day - everything from his jersey to his underwear!
This is J in his treatment area. This is where he treats all the players. He tests each player at least every four days to make sure they are in balance and after every game. He treats the injured players every day. Right now there is only one injured player, and it is a new player that the team bought 2 days ago. This player came injured. So the team is very happy with the results J is having and the players are getting very attached to having him there to fix them.
This is a picture of Mauro. He is a trainer for the team and helps J do ARP treatments on the players. Sometimes J has to treat 30 players in 1.5 hours!
Then J got really busy at work... so he was not able to take pictures during that time.
After all the treatments, he enters all his treatment notes into the computer to keep track of the progress for the team medical Doctor and also for statistical purposes.
J has to be to work two hours before practice until the end of practice. Sometimes during practice, J has free time to exercise or study Italian. Other times he will treat staff members and a few family members - he is in pretty high demand here!
On Wednesdays, the team practices two times. This makes for a long day for J taking the trip to and from the stadium twice. These days he comes home very tired and sore.
This is J at the end of his day, leaving the room... with a big smile on his face! The door in the background is J's private locker-room with a shower, bathroom and TV.
Leaving the stadium. The grass in the background is the field (the pitch) where all the matches take place.
Back on the bus.
Walking back down our street.
Key #1 - the outside door.
Key #2 - main gate to our building
Bypass key #3 by riding the elevator (key #3 takes you up the stairs).
Key #4 - gate for our floor
Key #5 - door to our apartment - the deadbolt locks on all sides of the door (sides, top, bottom). There is no way someone could "sneak" into our building.
And J is home where his wife is eagerly awaiting his arrival!
No comments:
Post a Comment