Well, my first interpreting jobs have gone pretty smoothly. I translated for a social worker who was visiting a woman who cares for her daughter, who is retarded and has epilepsy. Most of the visit was just him explaining about various programs the borough is doing to help carers. I guess they are trying to give a lot of support to carers, by giving them a break, money for a vacation, and other nice things. So, it was quite productive and good.

My second interpreting job was helping a charity worker who is looking at Brixton's Social Education Center. The borough wants to close it down, and she was tasked with interviewing everyone who attending the center, so as to evaluate what the best way to meet their needs would be once the center is gone. By total coincidence, the disabled person who I was interpreting for happened to be the woman whose mother I had talked to the day before. This was very fortunate, because I knew a lot about her situation, likes and dislikes, etc. Unfortunately, the client either had a hard time understanding me, or a hard time forming answers to the questions the social worker was asking, and was not very responsive on her own. However, since I had talked with her mother the day before, I filled in some of the information for her. It was not as rewarding an experience, though the woman did seem to enjoy hearing someone speak Spanish, since no one at the center knows any Spanish, and her English ability is quite limited.

The third interpreting job was actually this morning. A woman had a biopsy done on a lump and the doctor had made an appointment to discuss the results. The bad news is that she has cancer, which isn't a very nice thing to have to translate. It's the second time she has had breast cancer, so she has beaten it before. Luckily, it is still early and small, and they should be able to treat it with a minimal amount of surgery and radiation. She will be going to the doctor again next week for an MRI (which I have no idea how to say in Spanish, but I explained it), and the next week for another consultation. I don't know if I will be the person going with her during these times. She has lived her for sixteen years, so she knows a good deal of English. However, I guess most of her friends speak Spanish, so she hasn't practiced enough.

Next week I am actually a little bit busy. I have two interviews, one on Monday and one on Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed. I am also doing another housing clinic interpretation on Wednesday.

Last weekend we went to Peterborough, which is not that significant in itself. However, Victoria's friends Alex and Will (who we stayed with in Kyoto, and later Paul and Edward met Will in Kyoto) live there. They had a small dinner/party that we were invited to. We spent the night there, and it was lots of fun. Unfortunately, Victoria has been sick for a bit, so she was not feeling her best.

Speaking of Victoria, the tube has broken down and she just finished walking a mile or two to the next bus station due to overcrowded lines at Kennington. I better go meet her with some food at Clapham.

Well, my first day of work went pretty well. I was translating for a housing surgery at the charity. Note, the British use the word "surgery" about the same as the American "clinic." Doctor's offices are called surgeries, and in this case, this was a consultation/clinic about housing issues, hence a housing surgery.

The British woman who came represents an organization called Shelter. I actually applied for a job with them a little while ago. They are an advocacy group for basic housing issues around the UK. The local councils have a duty to provide housing for the most vulnerable or at risk people, decided by a series of points. Shelter tends to take the side of people who have applied for this basic housing and either the process is stalled, they were rejected, or they have some other problem with housing. The charity I work for helps disabled Spanish and Portugeuse speakers in the UK, "disabled" being used broadly to include physical, mental, and other disabilities such as learning and sight disabilities. Many of the people the charity helps are refugees or immigrants from Latin America, or Europeans from Spain and Portugal. Depending on their type of visa, they may or may not be allowed to claim public benefits (just as I can't) like job seeker's allowance and housing support.

The UK is particularly generous with giving out job seeker's benefits and housing support to individuals, I think. For example, any non-student over the age of 16 can claim job seeker's benefits of 80-100 dollars a week, even if they quit their job or are not really looking for a job. This can go on indefinitely, since there is no time limit on how long you can claim these benefits.

Though Europeans can move freely between countries and work in any EU country, they are technically not supposed to be getting benefits (housing, job seeker's benefits) besides medical care from foreign countries unless they are "economically active," a term that is apparently open to interpretation. When Victoria took a TEFL course last fall, one of the students in the class was Spanish and was receiving income support, a housing benefit, and another housing benefit since she changed apartments and they kept sending her two housing benefits. You can't help feeling that they need to keep better tabs on who they are giving their money to.

Back to my job, I have also been enlisted to solve various computer problems that the organization has, which will be good experience for my resume. I will be doing two onsite translation gigs this coming week, one on Tuesday and one on Wednesday. Those should be interesting. On Monday I have a strange task. Some of our friends, Chris and Gisella, have recently bought a new computer from Dell. I have volunteered to sit in their house on Monday to sign for it when it is delivered, because they have to go to work. I will bring a good book and my computer to do job applications, I guess. They have offered to make us dinner that night as repayment. Really, I should be making the dinner since I will be at their home all day long. I hope the computer comes early, because I can leave then. I will probably try to go by the charity afterwards because they live about half a block from it.

Hmmm... other news. I forgot to mention that the fireworks in London on New Year's were really cool. The centerpiece of the fireworks was the London Eye. They shot a bunch of fireworks off of the Eye itself. We didn't have the best angle of the Eye, but it still looked impressive.

As a correction to my last post, it was actually Victoria's eldest sister, Fiona, who gave us the London Eye tickets, not Gillian (who gave us a set of wine glasses). I have corrected that post as well.

The charity contacted me on Monday and asked me to come in and talk to them today. I did so, and they would like for me to start out by helping interpret for housing issues on Wednesday afternoons. A group of housing officials come to the center every week to meet with clients about housing needs. Since the charity helps disabled people, many of the clients have special housing needs and/or need financial help. If all goes well, they will try to put me to use as an interpreter in other situations outside of the office as well. I'm excited, and I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

My first week back in the U.K. has flown right by. I am having a little bit of trouble adjusting to the new sleep schedule still. I keep going to bed at 8:30 or 9, and then waking up at 6am. at least I am getting a lot of sleep. Last time, in September, the transition was really bad, and I kept waking up halfway through the night at 3am really hungry. This is much better than that.

I went by the charity on Tuesday, to discover it was closed. I guess I should have called first. I called again today, but there was no response. I imagine they are still closed for the holidays. If I remember my high school Spanish classes well, the twelve days after Christmas are just as important as Christmas itself in some countries, so I guess they've taken an extended break. Unfortunately, their office is inside another building with a locked door, so I couldn't look at the office to see if there is any info about when they might reopen. I think I will try on Monday, as that seems the most likely.

The weather is much colder here right now than at home (where it was in the 60s and 70s, strangely). I lit up the heater for the first time a couple of days ago, though I suspect we should have been using it earlier, as well.

Victoria is doing fine, and is really excited about all her new presents. She wears her new clothes all the time, and loves her new bags as well. Plus she has a zillion scarves to wear. Victoria's parents gave me a scarf for Christmas as well, so I have another scarf, too. Victoria also got me a leather wallet, a cooking apron with sheep wearing rubber boots on it, an ergonomic peeler, and a book about Britain. Victoria's sister Fiona got us both tickets on the London Eye, which is basically a giant ferris wheel in downtown London. We just have to go to their website and book a timeslot.

Victoria started up work (sort of) again on Tuesday. She is not actually going to her office, but instead to a first aid course at a place like the Red Cross, called St. John's Ambulance. She is training to be a first aider, which apparently gives you a small wage increase at work. Since it's also a practical skill to have, and they pay for the training, she figured it would be a good idea. She is also the fire warden for her floor, another role she will hopefully never have to use.

Meanwhile, I am taking the time to search out more jobs and apply for them. Hopefully I can get some more interviews. I read that UK unemployment is reaching a record low for current history, so that is some positive news for me. I just hope all the continental Europeans stay in their own countries.