Much of the same...

Hi everyone!

I haven't checked in for a while - mainly because life's been much of what I wrote below: crazy but interesting hours at work, houseguests (who left on Sunday but will be back next week for standard check-ups at the hospital) and, well, a *lot* of multi-tasking! Had no idea I could simultaneously clean the toilet, cook dinner, proofread a translation and dye my hair...well, yes I did, it's just been a while since I've had to!

Life is still on the good side, which is a relief after all the gloom and doom. I'm still really tired and seemingly will never get used to working full time again!

That's about it...oh, besides this adorable picture of Gaia and Alice leaving for their house on Sunday. Gaia is the one flailing with one hand up her sister's nose. Don't worry, Alice fought back - word from their father is that Gaia had a swollen eyelid (sisterly nudge, surely) by the time they got home.

Life, lately.

Wow, this is the first time I've actually been able to sit down and think about everything that's been going on. In just one short week my life has done a complete and total 180, and I'm still reeling from it.

Work is good, but hard. I like the challenge of it and the nerdy part of me is really enjoying learning about how weird machines work and loves finding the perfectly translated sentence! I don't know how long the rush of all that will last, but it feels good right now. I am exhausted almost all the time - but the exhaustion of it makes me feel energized, if that makes any sense at all.

Our houseguests are good. The doctors originally told them that the babies had another 2 weeks in the hospital, but all of a sudden yesterday they said "ok, you can bring them home tomorrow" and they freaked out. Partially because the babies aren't big enough to be released yet (according to their pediatrician back home), and partially because they thought they had 2 more weeks before they were fully and completely responsible for those two tiny little souls! There was pure PANIC on Antonello's face last night when he told us. So, we told them that they should stay here for a week after the babies get out! That way they will be close to the hospital just in case (their house is near a hospital that doesn't have a baby ICU unit, which is why they came here for the birth in the first place), and they will have 2 more people to help out. So, looks like Auntie Jodi is going to have a week of babyness in the house! I'm so excited to finally meet them!!

Andrea's good. He's exhausted himself, working hard for an upcoming exam and taking care of me! He is really happy for me that I was able to do what I put my mind to, and I hope that I've inspired him to have a bit more faith in himself.

So...all in all, life is good.

Employment

So I am exhausted and a little in shock - what I thought was going to be my translation 'test' yesterday actually turned out to be my first official day of work! I will never understand this country. Anyway, so I am swamped. And tired. No, tired doesn't describe it. I hurt.

I have a short-term trial contract which, if all goes well on both sides, should turn into an interim contract which should then turn into a real-life contract in a year (didya follow that!?). Whatever, I'm not looking that far ahead, I'm just trying to get through the extremely technical translation they've given me, all 100 pages of which are due next Friday. Did I mention it's about plate heat exchangers? What are those, you ask? Well, please don't ask!

Anyway. Am I happy with the job? Yes, I think so, though it's hard to tell as there is so much work and I wasn't expecting to have a job when I walked in their door yesterday. So it's going to take some adjusting. I work full time, which means 8 hours but luckily I'm out by 6. The money sucks (900 Euros a month, for intense 40 hour weeks) but compared to a lot of other jobs, it's downright decent.

I sit next to a French girl, Cecil, who is really nice, which is a plus. The office is cramped and my desk is pea-sized and plastic with an equally uncomfortable and equally plastic orange chair - but sometime within the next few months they plan on moving (they've already signed for the new place) and it'll be much bigger, so hopefully that means I will at least have a comfortable chair to sit on for 8 hours! The coffee's free (though they were awaiting their coffee shipment this week which decreased my production by a good 30%), it's only 10 minutes by car from home so I can eat lunch with Andrea (and Novella and Antonello for now!). And, well, I'm doing what I wanted to be doing, which makes me feel proud of myself, and thankful to everyone who told me I would get there, eventually.

TGI freakin F!

Kickin' it disillusioned style.

UPDATE: The translation people called this morning; they want me to come in tomorrow morning to do a sample translation as a test. Fair enough. Bring it on!

It's getting harder and harder for me to muster up the energy.

Let me catch you up a bit on the back story: the Barbanera (calendar) people have yet to get back to me. Last I heard we were supposed to meet up right after the new year. I contacted them twice, asking what the deal was, and I received a vague we'll have our people call your people response. Yes, there's still a chance that they're figuring things out, but I'm also thinking it's entirely likely that they took my ideas and research (which I was never paid for) and decided to run with them on their own. Time will tell I guess, but Disappointment #1.

Disappointment #2 is that I had another job interview yesterday - an interesting one, basically it's a translation company based here in Perugia (5 minutes from home) that's looking for full-time translators. I thought the interview went really well and they practically offered me the job on the spot. At the very end of our meeting, they said they would call me by the end of the day to set up an appointment for when I should come and sign the contract and, basically, start working. So I was excited. Well, I got their phonecall yesterday and they very vaguely said that all of their current translations are too technical for me and that I should come in on Tuesday or Wednesday to see if they have something more 'adapted to my abilities.'

What the hell? Ok, so YES, it is still possible, in both situations, that I am overreacting. Sure, I may get there on Tuesday and find a contract waiting on 'my' desk for me to sign. Sure. But I am tired. I feel like I am in this painful tug-of-war power game that I just don't have the stamina for. I'm not built for these kinds of schemes. I'm American, dammit: if you want me to work for you, tell me. If not, tell me. This psychological pull-release playground is just becoming too much for me to handle. Walking in stiletto heels through quicksand.

Update to follow.

Camouflage

Pajamas = slippers = sheets. Andrea said it's a good thing these pajamas didn't come with a hood or he might not have been able to find me!

Moby Dick

Last night we went to see the latest Teatro Morlacchi production in the 2007/08 show subscription. At the beginning of the year, we chose 5 shows we wanted to see, then the sixth one was mandatory, and this was it.

Quite frankly, I was *not* looking forward to it. I despised "Moby Dick" when I read excerpts of it in high school, and I despised it again when I was forced to painstakingly make my way through it in my 19th Century American Literature course in college. And so I was pleasantly surprised last night, I'm happy to report.

Despite a stand-in reader for the role of Ishmael (befor the show, they announced that the main actor had been in a car accident!), the actors were very good. The adaptation ingeniously filled the spots of Melville's minute descriptions with sign language: the actors recounted many of the tales of the 'Pequod' and its crew with elegant hand gestures and quiet whistles and music. The stage was stark and the only mark of color was the blood red velvet coat of Captain Ahab and the Captain of the 'Rachel' and the red wine the mates drink on board.

Overall, I'll give it one and a half thumbs up. After all, it's not their fault that I hated the book!

Side note: I totally never knew that "Starbucks" got its name from the first mate of the 'Pequod.' I kept being pulled back to reality, every time they mentioned his name on-stage.

Rain, rain, g...get the hell outta here already!

Deeeeepressing! All these days of doom and gloom rain are the cause for some serious blechiness on this end. Am trying to occupy my mind with thoughts of sunshine and puppies and rainbows, but that's actually just making me want to throw rocks at my copy of the Dalai Lama's "The Art of Happiness" currently sitting on my coffee table. Ah, the irony.