So here is the first of many posts throughout my internship experience.... I feel like I don't have this pat-down on how to explain what I'm doing, so here is me trying to perfect and explain to the masses (or whoever actually reads my blog) what I'm doing here in Seminole, Florida.
My goal through the next few months will be to improve my interpreting skills and learn more about the profession I will soon be involved in. This means I will be observing certified interpreters, hangin out with the Deaf community and developing myself through actual interpreting experiences. My mentor, Kerstin, will be guiding me through the process and giving me helpful feedback to show me what needs to improve and what should stay. I am working for a company called KSS Sign Language Interpreting and they are a local interpreting agency established by three woman. I've already heard great things from clients about how reliable and professional they are. They also are a company well supported by the Deaf community because two of the three owners are Deaf. Some told me "there aren't many Deaf business owners out there so we have to support them!".. and that was cool to hear.
(check out their site if you wanna...)
http://www.kss-aslinterpreting.com/
My first week of interning was interesting, challenging and exciting at most. I can't share details, simply because of confidentiality limitations, but I can tell you that I've interpreted for meetings, doctors offices and even at a therapy session. Some parts felt natural and easy and others I wanted to poop my pants because I didn't understand what to say or sign. Kerstin steps in as needed but she also allows me to work through and try to make some quick decisions. It's weird when you're in the hot-seat and you are giving actual information for an actual person that needs to hear/see it. Before it was like "interpret interpret interpret, oh crap I don't know what to do...oh ok, interpret interpret..." but now it's like "interpret interpret (crap..I HAVE to keep going) interpret..." ha, if that makes any sense.
Anyways, I hope that there are many exciting interpreting adventures up ahead and I'm currently also looking into a place to volunteer at. There are two different options: a Deaf school in Clearwater and also a Deaf Center that looked a lot like the Boys and Girls club which appealed to me. Here in Seminole I am staying with my grandparents and they are taking care of my expenses. I'm not allowed to have a paid job while I am here so that made the budget tight. I feel blessed that I have such generous grandparents that would open up their home and pockets to provide for me during this time. This part of the experience is so different, because it makes me feel like a kid! I haven't lived at "home" for 3 years now and haven't been without a job since I was 15. It's a strange feeling to be dependent on someone else but it's an interesting lesson I need to work through : )
I will continue to update this thing..possibly with random tid bits of exciting places or long-butt blogs like this about my internship. Hopefully it'll stay interesting for my readers : ) enjoy!
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