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.