Here’s what happened this week:
Weather report:
Weather report:
Monday Kevin had a final exam which took most of the morning then stayed on campus all day to study for his other exam on Wednesday. That was good for me because I was able to stay home and do nothing, uh, I mean clean and put away more things. I’m still tripping over boxes but I’m getting there. During our move, three of the four legs on my armoire broke and I was just able to repair them yesterday (Monday 12/15) so now I am able to unpack things to put in and on it and just get more done in general. I hate living out of boxes and not knowing where things are but I haven’t felt motivated to change that fact. That’s not entirely true. I usually want to start doing things about ten o’clock at night which wouldn’t be a bad thing except I don’t live in my own house anymore. We live in a duplex and I am just short of being able to hear my neighbor breathe. I try to do things that won’t make a lot of noise and he hasn’t complained yet so I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing until I know otherwise.
Tuesday I ventured out on my own—no plan, no map—just drove around so I could get a feel for the town and to make my own mental map. I was actually gone for two hours and besides the street grid I was mentally building, the only new things I found were Walmart and Lowes. Oh, and I now know where a 5th McDonald’s restaurant is. Isn’t there more to life than McDonald’s? I actually ventured into Walmart because we were in need of some toiletries but that is the first and hopefully the last time I go there. That must be the only store within a 100 mile radius because *that* many people were there and all with a disregard for drivers. Scary. Plus it’s the holiday season which made it worse. I know back in St. Louis I wouldn’t go into a store after Thanksgiving Day until after the first of the year unless it was dire. I just happened to run out of toilet paper at a bad time. ;)
Wednesday was another exam for Kevin and more time on campus which meant another day of playing Tetris for me.
I don’t think Thursday yielded much of anything except an inch and a quarter of rain. It was cloudy all week and just felt like staying home on the couch curled up in a blanket watching an old movie kind of weather except that it was 70 degrees. I’m still having difficulty with it being mid-December and warm. I just think if I’m hearing Christmas music, I should be wearing a hat, scarf, gloves and a big, thick coat. It was at this time last year when I was sitting in my own house bundled up with all of that garb and layers of clothes. It’s just not right!
Friday was my first day back interpreting after nearly three weeks without seeing a single sign and I’m happy to report that it went very well. The office was very easy to find and it’s in a nice, safe neighborhood so I don’t feel concerned about working my late night shifts. It feels “Chesterfieldy” for those who would like a comparison. After entering the building, I was walking toward the office at which point I met another interpreter who took me inside the office and introduced me to my new manager. I went to shake her hand but she waved me off and gave me a big hug instead. Well! I guess people in the south really are nice! So that intro went well and then she took me around the entire facility to show me their recent expansion and she introduced me to EVERYone. I am sorry to say I can only remember a few of their names but I guess that’s to be expected although I would have liked to have remembered more of their names. I also met several other interpreters with “the gift.” To which gift am I referring? The blessed migraine. Most of these poor girls, however, suffer longer than I. My manager informed me that there is an interpreter currently going on her eighth week out due to a migraine. EIGHT WEEKS! I’m thankful mine only last a few days at most. I can’t imagine trying to suffer that long with that intense pain! These poor, poor girls. But on the other hand, I am thankful that I have something in common with someone already. I’m just sorry that migraines are the common factor. So, my shift went well and I was apparently the talk of the town. One gal even told me I was popular to which I responded, “Awesome! I’ve never been popular before:” that was a new experience for me. :) But everything really went well and everyone was very nice to me and helpful which has also assisted in the smoothness of this transition. I think it’s safe to say I even have new friends at work already. Yay!
That was the daytime portion; I still have to talk about the evening.
Friday evening Kevin and I went to the Carolina Ale House for dinner with 12 other people most of whom were his classmates. I actually met most of them before and was very proud of myself when I discovered I remembered many of their names especially since the last time I saw most of them was in March. Now, for those who really know me, you’ll appreciate how impressive that is! Dinner was good, conversation was good and having new friends was good. By the end of the night we were all hugging each other goodbye and talking about when we could all meet again. However, there is still a tale to be told. During dinner, one of the conversations led to skydiving (don’t ask because I’m not really sure how). One of the guys, Thomas, was trying to convince his fiancée to skydive with him. Several people around the table had already experienced it or wanted to which helped Thomas make a strong case. I wonder why anyone wants to jump out of a perfectly good plane myself; it just doesn’t seem right. As Thomas and Dani were asking opinions around the table, they got to Kevin and his response was, “eh.” But the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he should try it. He’s even thinking of having one of their next get-togethers be a skydiving event. WHAT!? My husband wants to plummet to his death at a heart-stopping rate? And this is by choice? I told him I wanted to make sure we had a life insurance policy for him before he goes. Ha! Yeah, I don’t know about that… But I did learn more about him but I’m not sure it’s something that I really wanted to know. Then I wonder, what else is he not sharing with me? Yikes.
And can anyone explain this to me? In high school (1989-1992), I was taking Spanish as my foreign language and I quite enjoyed it. Did you do the math? That was some time ago, okay? Keep that in mind. Now, after high school I went to college (where I did NOT take any Spanish but learned sign language instead) and graduated then got a job working in a local high school for Special School District. In 1998, I had a student who wanted to take German as her foreign language and it was at this point that I started to learn to speak German. I was with this student for three years in German class before she transferred schools. I wanted to continue my learning and with the graciousness of the teacher, I was allowed to do that for another 3-4 months before having to remove myself from class due to other responsibilities. Even though I was not able to continue my education in the classrooom that year, I still studied my notes and reviewed my worksheets in order to keep my knowledge fresh. I believe it was in 2001 that we had a second student taking German and I think that’s partly because my first student and I had such a fabulous time in class (and in Germany!) that we talked about it all the time. I did not interpret for this other student but I would try to help her if she had a question she didn’t understand or go with her to the teacher for questions if her regular interpreter wasn’t available. At this same time I was also working with the interpreter helping her with pronunciation, grammar, etc. In the years to come, I believe we had at least one student taking some form of German during every year except one. What that means is basically since 1998 I have in some way been exposed to and practiced the German language. Even today I walk around the house saying things to my husband (who is now translating written German texts). Okay, so with the past ten years of exposure to the German language, why is it that every time I meet David or Alexandra (both from Germany) I want to speak Spanish? Just Friday evening we went to pick up David for dinner and he got in the car and said, “good evening.” Why are the first words that immediately pop into my head, “buenos noches?” And even that’s not right but it’s still the wrong language which is my point. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I was just interpreting German six months ago. Shouldn’t that be more fresh in my mind? It took a long time until I could think to say, “guten abend.” It was so long in fact that I didn’t say it because it would have seemed out of place. We had moved on to a third conversation by that point. Crazy. Your thoughts?
Okay, moving on. Saturday was just another day at the office except I met a couple new people. I went in and picked out my station not realizing I was sitting next to a Spanish speaking interpreter. It rather threw me for a loop. It was awesome. But that really doesn’t help me with my German predicament! Either way, everyone at work has been nice and two of the girls I met on Friday sat in stations that were near mine. It’s nice to have friends already. They can never, ever replace my St. Louis peeps—you will always have a special place in my heart and my life. It’s just nice to know I’m not going to be lonely here.
Love, hugs and kisses until next week!
Tuesday I ventured out on my own—no plan, no map—just drove around so I could get a feel for the town and to make my own mental map. I was actually gone for two hours and besides the street grid I was mentally building, the only new things I found were Walmart and Lowes. Oh, and I now know where a 5th McDonald’s restaurant is. Isn’t there more to life than McDonald’s? I actually ventured into Walmart because we were in need of some toiletries but that is the first and hopefully the last time I go there. That must be the only store within a 100 mile radius because *that* many people were there and all with a disregard for drivers. Scary. Plus it’s the holiday season which made it worse. I know back in St. Louis I wouldn’t go into a store after Thanksgiving Day until after the first of the year unless it was dire. I just happened to run out of toilet paper at a bad time. ;)
Wednesday was another exam for Kevin and more time on campus which meant another day of playing Tetris for me.
I don’t think Thursday yielded much of anything except an inch and a quarter of rain. It was cloudy all week and just felt like staying home on the couch curled up in a blanket watching an old movie kind of weather except that it was 70 degrees. I’m still having difficulty with it being mid-December and warm. I just think if I’m hearing Christmas music, I should be wearing a hat, scarf, gloves and a big, thick coat. It was at this time last year when I was sitting in my own house bundled up with all of that garb and layers of clothes. It’s just not right!
Friday was my first day back interpreting after nearly three weeks without seeing a single sign and I’m happy to report that it went very well. The office was very easy to find and it’s in a nice, safe neighborhood so I don’t feel concerned about working my late night shifts. It feels “Chesterfieldy” for those who would like a comparison. After entering the building, I was walking toward the office at which point I met another interpreter who took me inside the office and introduced me to my new manager. I went to shake her hand but she waved me off and gave me a big hug instead. Well! I guess people in the south really are nice! So that intro went well and then she took me around the entire facility to show me their recent expansion and she introduced me to EVERYone. I am sorry to say I can only remember a few of their names but I guess that’s to be expected although I would have liked to have remembered more of their names. I also met several other interpreters with “the gift.” To which gift am I referring? The blessed migraine. Most of these poor girls, however, suffer longer than I. My manager informed me that there is an interpreter currently going on her eighth week out due to a migraine. EIGHT WEEKS! I’m thankful mine only last a few days at most. I can’t imagine trying to suffer that long with that intense pain! These poor, poor girls. But on the other hand, I am thankful that I have something in common with someone already. I’m just sorry that migraines are the common factor. So, my shift went well and I was apparently the talk of the town. One gal even told me I was popular to which I responded, “Awesome! I’ve never been popular before:” that was a new experience for me. :) But everything really went well and everyone was very nice to me and helpful which has also assisted in the smoothness of this transition. I think it’s safe to say I even have new friends at work already. Yay!
That was the daytime portion; I still have to talk about the evening.
Friday evening Kevin and I went to the Carolina Ale House for dinner with 12 other people most of whom were his classmates. I actually met most of them before and was very proud of myself when I discovered I remembered many of their names especially since the last time I saw most of them was in March. Now, for those who really know me, you’ll appreciate how impressive that is! Dinner was good, conversation was good and having new friends was good. By the end of the night we were all hugging each other goodbye and talking about when we could all meet again. However, there is still a tale to be told. During dinner, one of the conversations led to skydiving (don’t ask because I’m not really sure how). One of the guys, Thomas, was trying to convince his fiancée to skydive with him. Several people around the table had already experienced it or wanted to which helped Thomas make a strong case. I wonder why anyone wants to jump out of a perfectly good plane myself; it just doesn’t seem right. As Thomas and Dani were asking opinions around the table, they got to Kevin and his response was, “eh.” But the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he should try it. He’s even thinking of having one of their next get-togethers be a skydiving event. WHAT!? My husband wants to plummet to his death at a heart-stopping rate? And this is by choice? I told him I wanted to make sure we had a life insurance policy for him before he goes. Ha! Yeah, I don’t know about that… But I did learn more about him but I’m not sure it’s something that I really wanted to know. Then I wonder, what else is he not sharing with me? Yikes.
And can anyone explain this to me? In high school (1989-1992), I was taking Spanish as my foreign language and I quite enjoyed it. Did you do the math? That was some time ago, okay? Keep that in mind. Now, after high school I went to college (where I did NOT take any Spanish but learned sign language instead) and graduated then got a job working in a local high school for Special School District. In 1998, I had a student who wanted to take German as her foreign language and it was at this point that I started to learn to speak German. I was with this student for three years in German class before she transferred schools. I wanted to continue my learning and with the graciousness of the teacher, I was allowed to do that for another 3-4 months before having to remove myself from class due to other responsibilities. Even though I was not able to continue my education in the classrooom that year, I still studied my notes and reviewed my worksheets in order to keep my knowledge fresh. I believe it was in 2001 that we had a second student taking German and I think that’s partly because my first student and I had such a fabulous time in class (and in Germany!) that we talked about it all the time. I did not interpret for this other student but I would try to help her if she had a question she didn’t understand or go with her to the teacher for questions if her regular interpreter wasn’t available. At this same time I was also working with the interpreter helping her with pronunciation, grammar, etc. In the years to come, I believe we had at least one student taking some form of German during every year except one. What that means is basically since 1998 I have in some way been exposed to and practiced the German language. Even today I walk around the house saying things to my husband (who is now translating written German texts). Okay, so with the past ten years of exposure to the German language, why is it that every time I meet David or Alexandra (both from Germany) I want to speak Spanish? Just Friday evening we went to pick up David for dinner and he got in the car and said, “good evening.” Why are the first words that immediately pop into my head, “buenos noches?” And even that’s not right but it’s still the wrong language which is my point. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I was just interpreting German six months ago. Shouldn’t that be more fresh in my mind? It took a long time until I could think to say, “guten abend.” It was so long in fact that I didn’t say it because it would have seemed out of place. We had moved on to a third conversation by that point. Crazy. Your thoughts?
Okay, moving on. Saturday was just another day at the office except I met a couple new people. I went in and picked out my station not realizing I was sitting next to a Spanish speaking interpreter. It rather threw me for a loop. It was awesome. But that really doesn’t help me with my German predicament! Either way, everyone at work has been nice and two of the girls I met on Friday sat in stations that were near mine. It’s nice to have friends already. They can never, ever replace my St. Louis peeps—you will always have a special place in my heart and my life. It’s just nice to know I’m not going to be lonely here.
Love, hugs and kisses until next week!
1 comment:
Holla!
Post a Comment