A giant tree stands firm at the central turf of the Olympic Stadium to set the stage for the opening ceremony of the 12th Paralymic Games five days away in the Greek capital city.

With images of the vigorous closing ceremony still vivid in the minds of many, a performance stage is being constructed in a hurry with the giant flame cauldron as the background in the stadium.

And the press operation will begin in an all-around way on Monday, Joanna Mouliou, press rate card manager of the Paralympic Games' organizing committee, told Xinhua on Sunday.

Workers and technicians of the Greek national telecommunications company OTE are setting up and testing facilities in the September 17-28 games' main press center and some of the services are already in place.

A graduate majoring in finance, Joanna quit her job as a department manager of the Euro Bank to seek being part of the Olympic Games in Greece.

"We had being working 13 hours per day, sometimes even 18 hours and I had only a weekend off before the new job for the Paralympics," she said.

"It's quite a challenge but I enjoyed it. I am very proud and quite happy about my experience in the games here," she said. "It's not just myself, it's a teamwork, excellent one."

"As we had never worked for such a big games, we worked under great stress (during the Olympic Games).

"But the success of Olympics has boosted our confidence for a good jog done for the Paralympic Games," she added.

Xinhua News Agency boasts 18 journalists and photographers from Beijing and one reporter from the Athens bureau for the 12-day event. It is the agency's largest ever Paralympic Games group. A nine-member first group arrived here early Sunday morning.

Xinhua's Asian colleagues Kyodo News of Japan has seven reporters and photographers from its Tokyo headquarters and one journalist from its Athens bureau.

Source: Xinhua