Sharing some reflexions and feelings

Today I thought posting a brief heads-up 

since I was not able to post in more then a week.

It was a busy week, new job related, and I wasn't able to sew

or do anything else crafts related.

The cravings however were huge,

and this morning I've been sewing and sewing,

working on a new hexagon table runner.

Anyway...

I thought I would share a little bit how I feel

about the new job experience.

 I think I've told you that this is a part-time job,

8 hours per day, 2 days per week,

as an over-the-phone interpreter.

As some of you might recall I am originally from Portugal,
so my language target for interpretation is Portuguese.

Portugal

is situated in Europe,

the most western country in Europe.

Like Great Britain and Spain,
 Portugal was once a big colonial empire.

The Portuguese colonies would go
from South America (Brazil),
to Africa (Guine-Bissau, S. Tome e Principe, Cabo Verde, Angola e Mozambique),
Indonesia East Timor),
China (Macau)
and India (Goa, Damao e Diu).

It's understandable why Brazilians speak Portuguese, right?, as all of the former Portuguese colonies speak Portuguese also.

 The Portuguese language,

which derived from Latin and is classified as a "romanica language"

(along with French, Italian and Spanish), 

gave birth to all those Portuguese speaking branches all over the world, which have different accents, regionalisms and influences that absolutely differ from the original European Portuguese Language.

If I was able to spike your curiosity about this beautiful European country of mine, you can check out here for more information.
Coming back to my new job thoughts/reflexions...

Since the employer does not make the distinction
between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese,

both Portuguese and Brazilian languages are interpreted

either by Portuguese or Brazilian Interpreters,

randomly.
And sometimes it's not that easy,

not only the accent is so much different as also

there are conceptual and cultural differences in both languages.

 Well... to put it all on one word: it's a very stressful job!

Very demanding and stressful,
since one doesn't know what about the next call will be,
and it can be about anything.

Literally anything:
medical, insurance, emergency services, legal, technical, federal or state services, court, legal...
... and one has to be ready
to quickly remember specific terminology types,
to be able to deliver a good, accurate rendition,
to be able to remember different customer services protocols
and so on and so on...
Overall... it's a field far away
from my professional special education background,

most customer service related,

with some nice and others not so nice CS representatives.

It's really demanding and stressful.

Will I keep on?
I can't honestly answer that question yet,

but it definitely leaves me with a nostalgic feeling on my soul,

from my days of teaching, and the contact with people in presence,

 real presence,

not just voices over the phone.

I hope to meet you all here again shortly.
Till then, you all take care.

New Yellow Hexagon Table Center

I want to start posting in 2011 

by hoping all of you are having a pretty good New Year!

New Year resolutions..?, sure! Don't we all...?

But I've learned quite a while ago

I need to take one step at a time, and that's what I've been doing.

I did finish my latest project,

another hexagon table center.

This one's a bit different

from the ones I had made for Christmas gifts.

I have just been playing with whatever I can do with hexies,

experimenting new finishings, backgrounds, backings, 

colors, final composition and so on.

For the runners and table centers backings I have been using felt, for the simple reason it gives it a good, sturdy and "clean" finish,

and plus felt backing it's just perfect for a table.

Also I've been using applique stitches

to secure and at the same time quilt the top to the backing.

It's snowing again today

and believe me,

it's not very normal here in East Tennessee to have this much snow and this often, specially so early in Winter.

The beauty of it is only overcome by the hazard it brings,

because
our area is not as well equipped

for this kind of weather

as for instance the area where my son lives, in Canada.

I've also been busy getting ready for my new job,

lots of studying and updating on specific industry terminology in both languages (English and Portuguese).

As you might remember,

 I took an over-the-phone interpreter job

and will start working next weekend.

I have been on training and will finish it early coming week.

Still feel a bit nervous and anxious,

it's definitely a completely different professional field from my special education teaching career,

but hopefully everything will be alright.

And for today this will be it.

I'll see you all soon!

The Day After Christmas

On Sunday morning

we woke up

to this beautiful Winter Wonderland here in East Tennessee.

The perfect Christmas landscape,

which is not very common to happen here during Christmas season.

The reverse of the coin is that it's really cold!

The snow has started to melt yesterday,

but the shade spots are really icy now,

and it makes it an hazard just to try to go out on the deck.

I hope you all had a very merry time,

and I also wish you a wonderful New Year for 2011.

As for me,  it was a bitter-sweet time,

with my mind drifting most of the time

into more happy times

and also into very very sad moments.

As some of you know,

J passed way last August  and my mind and heart

kept going to places where I wish I never had to be.

I did do my best, I even cooked a little bit,

and it was nice the girls coming over and sharing gifts.

And of course it was very nice

to talk to my sweet aunts back in Europe.

Since both my parents have also passed years ago,

it feels good to hear them say

"We miss and love you very much".

And of course, my son and my sister and brothers also called,

and it was a very nice Christmas gift from all of them.

This New Year for me is looking in fact like a new year.

I've been dealing, since August,  with all kinds of situations

as you all can understand.

But so far everything seems to be getting along,

and I'll be starting a job the very first of the year.

It will be very new to me

(different from my teaching career that's for sure)

and I'm excited and truly nervous about it.

It will be only for the weekends,

but the best part is that I'll do it from home.

As you can see bellow,

these will be my job tools:

a secure phone land line,

a pair of headsets,

note pads, pencils and pens,

glossaries,

 and of course the computer.

I'll be starting my training January 2nd

and my effective first day on the job will be January 15.

As you might have guessed

I'll be an over-the-phone-interpreter

for a prestigious language services company here in the USA.

These are auspicious news for the starting of the new year

and I'm glad to share it with you.

Stay safe and warm and try to enjoy the beauty of the white stuff,

tough so many people are now having a real bad time

dealing with all the negatives of this so now called a huge blizzard,

specially in the Northeast of the country. 

I'll see you all shortly!