The one where I worked at the BBC

I am in my second week of a four-week holiday from classes right now. In England, most universities have a month long vacation for Easter, which is ironic because this country is very much a post-Christian society, but "celebrating" Easter seems to be a big deal here. I think they just really like the long break from work.

I spent the first week of my break in London doing part of my Fulbright internship with the BBC. I worked in the radio current affairs department and got to learn about radio editing and helped put together the piece for their weekly "Profile" programme. This week, we profiled Simba Makoni, who is challenging Robert Mugabe in the presidential elections in Zimbabwe next weekend. I had to find people who could tell personal stories about him and be interviewed for the radio, so I basically had to google stalk Makoni and call every name I could that came up as a friend, co-worker or relative. Yes, I made calls to South Africa and Zimbabwe and talked to all the politically active Zimbabwean ex-pats in Britain. It's amazing how much information someone will give you when you call them and say you work for the BBC. If you are interested in hearing the program I worked on, it's at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/profile/pip/djghq/. It was neat to get to see how a program comes together, and I had fun learning about radio journalism and made some good contacts.

For those of you who have studied or lived in England, you will appreciate this next part. On my first day of work at the BBC, I met the people I was going to be working with and then was immediately given a health and safety course. I was introduced to the fire wardens for the department, shown where all the fire exits and first aid kits were, where to go during a fire drill, and was instructed to dial "treble six" if I needed to contact an ambulance from inside the building. The British are obsessed with health and safety to the point of it bordering on absurd. There is a joke in England that you can't do anything without it being a health or safety violation. Also, my boss having only met me 5 minutes prior to this was too polite to tell me to dial six-six-six, hence the treble six instructions. The English are nothing if not polite. It was so fun to be in a British office for the week. I wish I could properly convey to you the hilarity of British social rules and culture. Every hour someone would sigh and say something like, "Blimey, I need a cuppa tea," and then go around taking orders for a tea run. These people drank like seven cups of tea every day and yet I never saw any of them leave their desk to use the loo. How do they do it? I had to drink at least two cups so as not to appear rude. I still don't get the appeal of drinking a cup of hot water with very little taste.