I really need to remember to update this more often, because otherwise these posts will just get way too long! Though I guess having a lot to post about is a good thing. :)
So like I said in my last post, on Saturday I went to LaLaport with one of my coworkers and our Chinese visitor. I had just been there a week ago and I wasn't shopping for anything in particular, but I figured I might as well go since they invited me (though it did mean skipping frisbee practice). Our visitor had a whole list of things to bring back to China (presumable as gifts), so we just went around trying to find everything. I think all three of us are pretty quiet, so it wasn't a super lively time (haha), but I enjoyed myself and I got to know my co-worker a little better, which is definitely a plus. He was nice enough to treat us both to yakiniku, too!
After LaLaport I headed straight to Tokyo, to celebrate another JET's birthday. It was my first time going back to Tokyo since orientation, so that was exciting. The birthday girl was running a bit late, so I spent around 20 minutes just people-watching at Shibuya station, which is super interesting (although then I found out somebody else I'd been waiting for had also been there the whole time, haha). When everybody arrived we found a place to eat and hung out there for a while before heading to our final destination, a club called Atom! I thought it was cool because they had sections that were ladies only in case you didn't want to bothered (though maybe they do this in the US too and I just don't know because I haven't gone clubbing there, haha), and I had a good time dancing. When we left we were planning to find a manga cafe to stay in for a few hours, but they were all full and it was only an hour until the first train, so we ended up just going to McDonalds and waiting it out (which I think happens a lot).
So I took the first train home and napped for a few hours (though I had to try and find a new space for my futon because my half-assembled IKEA dresser was taking up my usual spot), before heading out to meet another Carleton alum to go the Chiba City Museum of Art! We decided to get lunch at an Indian restaurant (which was really tasty) before heading to the museum. I hadn't seen her since she graduated two years ago, so it was nice to catch up! Then we went to the museum to see the exhibit, which was pretty awesome. Afterward we also stopped by the Chiba Shrine, which I had no idea was there before (oops). For now I'll leave it at that, but I plan to write about these in more detail in another blog post - in order to increase my chances of being picked as a Chiba-kun Ambassador next year (which I want to apply for), I plan to start a separate travel blog that doesn't include all the mundane and personal details of my everyday life. I just need to come up with a name first. :P
And finally we come to today, the day of my first big job as a CIR! The Slovakian ambassador came to pay a courtesy visit to the mayor, because the Chiba City Museum of Art is hosting the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava (which is the capital of Slovakia, in case you didn't know), and we decided to make it my interpreting debut. I've spent most of the week preparing for the visit, which mostly means translating the scenario (or outline/schedule), program/seating chart, mayor's speech, etc and also researching and learning a lot more about the BIB and Slovakia than I ever imagined I would. Satou-san has also been helping me to practice a little every day, by reading through the scenario/speech with me and coming up with random things for me to interpret, which I'm really really grateful for.
And then it was time for the courtesy visit! I was really nervous (in fact I woke up this morning and instantly felt nervous, even though the courtesy visit wasn't until 2pm), and it didn't help that right before the ambassador came in they gave me another sheet of information about something that might come up in conversation. The beginning was a little nerve-wracking because Hirata-san kept telling me to stand nearby if they needed me to interpret when they exchanged business cards, but I'm pretty sure that when I went to stand near them the guests had no idea who I was and so I just kind of stood there awkwardly. I also wasn't brave enough to go talk to the other interpreter before the meeting started about who was doing what and to ask the proper pronunciation of the ambassador's name, so there was also a little bit in the beginning where the other side's interpreter did both the ambassador and the mayor's sides of the conversation, even though I was supposed to do the mayor's side.
I said earlier that we had a scenario for the courtesy visit, which is actually something they usually only make for courtesy visits that are more like ceremonies, like when the youth exchange programs visit the mayor. For normal courtesy visits like this one, that aren't a regularly occurring thing, the visitors and the mayor just chat for half an hour. But since this was my first time interpreting, the International Relations Section figured it would be easier if we made a scenario to follow and had the mayor's speech written ahead of time, which was really considerate. Except nobody bothered to tell the Slovakian ambassador that this would be happening, so we didn't really end up following the scenario at all. The mayor also cut out whole sections of his speech, but at least he didn't improvise, so I'm grateful for that (probably because they made sure to tell him that this was my interpreting debut).
Then we went straight on to the open conversation part, where they just talk about anything, aka the scariest part of any courtesy visit. I sat a little bit behind the mayor with my newly bought little notebook at the ready, and we were off! The mayor didn't say anything that came up in my practice with Satou-san (where we tried to guess what kind of things he'd say), and there were definitely times when I didn't understand what he was saying, but for the most part I think I managed to do all right! At one point he mentioned the Kasori Shell Mounds Site Museum, which I still don't have any idea how to say in Japanese, but luckily I read a bunch of sightseeing brochures when I first came to Chiba and knew enough to figure out that what he said had something to do with shell mounds, which was apparently good enough! The mayor also corrected me once when I said that Chiba City had the longest beaches in Japan, when in fact we have the longest man-made beaches in Japan, and at the end they suddenly started talking about business/economic things, which was totally random and so I'm pretty sure I messed up some interpretation there, but nobody said anything so whatever. :D And then they exchanged gifts and took some pictures and it was over! People kept telling me later that it didn't seem like it was my first time interpreting, which is either a good sign or just them being really nice (or both). :)
And then afterward Hirata-san and I went to a reception at the museum, where they had invited the ambassador and a lot of other people I didn't know, presumably from the museum. I got to listen to some rambly long-winded speeches by the museum director and the ambassador and eat some really tasty food, not to mention some sort of Slovakian alcohol that involved herbs, which actually tasted better than I expected. I also met a lot of other people, most of whom I'll probably never see again, but at the very least it was good practice in how to mingle at a reception! The best part of the night, though, was that I got to talk to the Slovakian ambassador, and even exchanged business cards (though I'm pretty sure everybody who was there did that) and shook his hand (which I don't think everybody did, so that's cool)! As he was leaving he said something to the extent of 'call me if you ever want to know more about Slovakia', and while I'm 99.9% certain he only said it to be polite, it's definitely still pretty cool to be told that by the ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Japan.
So all in all I think today was a great success! I was super super nervous about the courtesy visit, and obviously I still have a long way to go before I can really call myself an interpreter, but I didn't make any horrible mistakes and I do feel a little bit more confident. Hoping this is a good sign for the future! :D
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