…of Nelson Navarro
Tuesday
8:00 Wake up
8:10 Wake up
8:20 WAKE UP
8:30 Breakfast (toast, avocados, cheese, jam, espresso…)
8:45 Finish reading glossaries, articles, chapters in preparation for Ksenia’s speech on stem cell research
9:30 Shower
9:45 Bike to class
10:00 Two-hour timed translation (English into Russian) on Mexican hurricanes
12:00 Swing by Trader Joe’s. Salad for lunch.
12:30 Read more on adult stem cells (stvolovyt kletki vzroslykh), in vitro fertilization (ekstrakorporalnoe oplodotvoreniye), umbilical cord blood (pupovinnaya krov’), induced pluripotent stem cells (indutsírovannye plyuripotentnye stvolovye kletki) red bone marrow (krasnyy kostnyy mozg)…
14:00 Interpret on stem cell research for two hours.
16:00 Farmer’s market for 15 minutes
16:15 Simultaneous interpreting practice in the booths for two hours
18:00 Stop by Trader Joe’s. Bread, bananas, avocados, milk…
18:30 Dinner at Masha’s.
19:30 Study session at Anya’s (aka Hanna): Prepare speech for Friday’s interpreting session (La deforestación en Latinoamérica).
20:30 Read on Kazakhstan’s former soviet biological weapons facilities in preparation for tomorrow’s two-hour timed translation (RU>EN)
22:00 Prepare for my presentation on 3D printing
23:00 Kazakhstani bioweapon facilities
00:00 Go home
00:15 stretch
00:30 zzzzzzzzz
Most of my time is spent with the Russian T&I group. On any given day we speak more Russian than we do English. What is the Russian T&I group like, you ask? It’s me and six women, whose native language is Russian (they’re not all from Russia; we have a Belarusian and a Ukrainian in our midst). When a group of mostly female, Slavic twentysomethings (and one thirtysomething) spends a lot of time together, whether it be in class, at practice sessions, studying, eating together, at parties (yes, contrary to popular belief, we sometimes find time to have fun), things can get intense, especially in a group as diverse and eccentric as our own. Just like any group of friends, we have our ups and downs (our weeks are filled with them), several nervous breakdowns, heated squabbles, tight embraces, messed up declensions (mostly on my part), missing definite and/or indefinite articles (mostly on their part), intense discussions on ethics, gender roles, Russian-American relations, amongst other things…
So there you have it, my life revolves around translation and interpreting (surprise, surprise!). I’ve gotten used to being constantly surrounded by a cloud of (lovely, refined, intelligent, etc.) Slavic women, and although it can get quite hectic at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
