러시아 여자들

Fun lettering

Over the years I've met people from different countries and formed some stereotypes. One positive stereotype is that Russian women are cool and, yes, beautiful. I can't exactly put a finger on what it is that they have but one of the best and deepest friendships I had with non-Koreans was with a Russian friend, Olga, when I first came to NY. Even my English teacher noticed we hit it off right away on the first day we met in class. I still remember having pizza with her at a place near Grand Central on that day. We were able to bond quickly due to the fact that we were about the same age and in a similar situation where we had a boyfriend we felt ambivalent about for different reasons. Besides these, she was so smart, funny, caring and insightful. 

 

I am bringing this up because in my training cohort is one Ukranian coworker and she reminds me so much of Olga. She speaks both Ukranian and Russian and is the one who participates in class most. HAHA. I sometimes chime in if I feel bad when nobody else is talking and she is the only one responding to the trainer. I wish I could be friends with her but this company doesn't allow us to exchange personal contact information.

 

I'm grateful for:

1. My cohort of about 15 people in the interpreter training

In this diverse group, we all speak different languages: French, Russian, Albanian, Creol, Ukranian, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean. I've learned something from everyone. This is our last week. I hope to see them again some time, maybe at a different training.

 

2. My successful first day of interpreting

I took calls for 1 hour and they went pretty well. First of all, their conversations weren't that hard to interpret. Second, the clients and Koreans were all pretty chill. Most of the calls were from hospitals so I got to use some medical terms. It looks like I will help a lot of elderly Koreans at hospitals. This is what I wanted to do when I saw the grandma on her deathbed 7 months ago.