interpreting

Existential Choices

Hi again! Long time, no see, I hope you’re all doing well! Today I feel like writing, so I’ll grant you my thoughts. 😉

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been in and out of a state of existential anxiety. The one that has to do with my choices in life, my studies and my career. Or the lack of the latter, the arbitrariness of it all, the fact that working as an interpreter is only a way of making money, that it doesn’t lead anywhere. Not that I need a fancy title and an office, but it would be nice to get some acknowledgement. It is an important work and a difficult one, too and the unpredictability of it is both a burden and a blessing. I know I’ve been writing this stuff for the past 6 years, but bear with me. Now it feels different on account of the Corona pandemic and Madeleine. I feel I need to “get my shit together” once and for all.

Alina tran 46

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February

I don’t know about you, but I loathe February. It’s grey, dark, windy, neither real winter, nor spring and on top of that full of storms. At least this year it has been. And it’s only the 11th. This picture is from last year, don’t let it fool you.

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Writing

At night, words are bubbling up from the depths of my conscience and they won’t let me sleep. I could write a whole novel in one breath, yet I feel paralyzed by the fear that I’ll lose “a good night’s sleep” and ruin my next day, so I keep struggling, one foot out of the duvet at a time, stretching my muscles, I’m so tense one would think I was carrying rocks on my back all day long, not interpreting.

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Bucharest part II

I was a bit disappointed to hear that F was teased at work since he’d caught a cold and stayed home for a couple of days right after our trip: “Did you get food poisoning in Bucharest?” a French buddy said. “I hear you were in Bucharest”, a Czech colleague added, “it must have been wild!” And I know it was all a joke to them, but I have to admit it hurt. Here we are in 2018, traveling like never before and still harboring the same stereotype views of the world. Book a trip, I blurted out! We decided to invite them and serve them Romanian wine the same quality and price range as the French ones, hiding the label to see their reaction. ‘Cause it’s easy to classify persons as “ignorants”, but the thing is many decent people probably feel the same way, but don’t say it out loud and so nobody ever corrects them. Anyways, rant of the day.

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Almost July

Hey, folks, what have you been doing lately? I was in Bergen last week and although the weather was crappy and the trial drove me nuts- both the defendant, the lack of professional curtesy from the judge and the acoustics- it was good to see friends and catch up a bit.

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Now I’m back home, counting my blessings, doing a bit of work, walking Sammy in the woods every day and eating strawberries for lunch. 😉  I have a tough time in store, with moving out of my apartment on the 1st of August and needing to sell/give away/throw away lots of stuff and then find a storage for the remainder of my things. I can’t even begin to think about it, it makes me sick to my stomach.

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I’m starting to get restless about my job again, I’m working with so many twats (lawyers, prosecutors, judges and defendants) that I sometimes lose faith that I’ll ever be able to get the respect I need to feel professionally fulfilled. But then I usually work 20h/week, instead of 40-50, as many of my friends do and at least I have no boss, neither any reports to fill inn, so I shouldn’t complain. Still, it gets to me every time. Few people care about quality, everybody wants you to jump out of bed at any time of the day when they need you and as soon as you don’t, they trade you for a hungrier colleague. And I can’t live like that.

But first things first, we’re going to France on the 9th and I can’t wait. I just need some sun, a beach, French food and Mediterranean vibes. Walking hand in hand with my love on a cobblestone street, making plans about our new home, sipping coffee on a terrace, reading a good novel in the shade, need I say more?

I’ll be sure to take my camera with me!

xxx, Alina

Kristiansand II

I came home yesterday evening and I’m still drawing my breath. Interpreting is very demanding as it is, but when your colleague is entirely useless and you end up working hours on end because she can’t fix the job she gets paid for, it leaves you dead tired. I really liked her, though, so nothing personal. But as in every other line of work, you need to be qualified, interested and invested to do a good job. Needless to say the system is flawed when you order an “interpreter” for the sole reason that she lives nearby and not her qualifications. So I see myself forced to write a complaint these days. And it’s arghhh, ’cause I don’t like being perceived as a jerk, but then again it’s my job we’re talking about and I take it very seriously._mg_0310 Continue reading →

Stavanger in Winter Clothes

The second half of this year I’ve spend working my ass off, billing and paying debts and I’m still miles away. 😦 Luckily I’ve had a couple days out of town here and there, so I used each opportunity to have a short city break. And Stavanger was no exception. I was there in court with a good friend of mine for two days and we had a blast. Heroines by day, superwomen by night. Haha! I’m exaggerating, of course, all we did was have a late dinner on the first evening and an early one the second one. But it felt so good catching up, no kids to tend to, no dog to walk, lots of time to buy the last Xmas gifts (for her) and to get a Xmas haircut (for me)._mg_0053 Continue reading →

Stavanger

A couple of weeks ago I received a mail about interpreting during a two-days case in Stavanger and although I answered within an hour, they´d already found someone else. I have to admit I was a bit beat up about it, not that much for the money itself, but for the opportunity to travel. Besides, what made me really upset was that the trial is in November, but an interpreter is not seen as worth more than a couple of minutes’ waiting, if you’re not available, someone else will be. So when I got a call on Friday afternoon about traveling there yesterday for work, I immediately said yes, although it took a couple of arrangements to make it. _MG_9366.jpg Continue reading →

Rainy Bergen

One of the good things about being a freelancer, besides taking a nap and baking cupcakes at noon once in a blue moon, is that I get to travel to places I haven´t been before or, even better, places I love already! ❤IMG_8073.jpg Continue reading →

Saturday thoughts

This week has been a good one, both professionally and weather-wise. Sommer returned for a couple of days and brought a smile upon everybody´s face and a strong desire to live. We went to the Botanical Garden, had lunch and coffee breaks outdoors and a picnic in the park. Unfortunately V was stuck by a needle, so we ended up at the Emergency Room yesterday evening, to take a blood test. I tried to comfort him while he had a rant about drug addicts and how they ruin a perfectly good park where lots of children play all the time. The rest is not suitable for a public blog. We were advised not to dramatise the situation, since only an infinitesimal amount of people end up being infected. But it´s a horrible situation to be in none the less. Continue reading →