TGIF and TILT all in one!
As I took the train to work yesterday morning I was dreading my day. Thursdays are my least favourite workday for a range of reasons, all made worse by frustration over my current project in that department - difficult and terribly tedious translations from bad photocopies of bad photocopies of 150 year-old hand written originals in a range of European languages (mostly French but also some English, Italian, and Dutch thrown in) Since I have no Italian or Dutch abilities and no dictionaries either, this is obviously a frustrating exercise.
The workday lived up to my expectations and I was both in a foul mood and struggling with a faint but annoying headache by the end of it. I wanted to cancel my haircut and go straight home but my bangs were on my eyes and I was looking generally shaggy so I set off. No sooner had I left the museum that I got a phone call from a friend. My advisor was having a dinner party at his place, could I join them. I was not feeling sociable, but agreed. A relaxing haircut (rather shorter than I had been anticipating but loving it!) later I was feeling much refreshed - the hairdresser-induced light headed bouncy-ness put a smile on my face and a spring in my step.
The ume-shu (bought especially for me by my advisor), fresh salmon nabe (hot pot), and crisp green apples replaced my light head with a very full (and VERY satisfied) stomach while spending a couple of hours with my advisor and friends cleared me of the last vestiges of my foul mood and reminded me of the importance of good friends!
(the four salmon steaks, two organic apples, and special chestnut desert (kuri mushi yokan) I was sent home with ensure that Thursday's loving will continue through the weekend!)
Wow - that sounds fantastic! Good friends are the greatest of external goods, according to Aristotle. The special chestnut dessert sounds yummy. I love everything chestnut - a lot of the fall fairs we've been to in Germany and Switzerland have Heisse Marone stands. Remember that great chestnut tea you gave me one year? Yum! Hope your weekend is relaxing. And don't let those bad photocopies ruin your eyes!
ReplyDeletelove and hugs, Cath
There's nothing like a new haircut to brighten your mood!
ReplyDeletexoxo
Jes.
Cath - my friend kept apologizing, saying the chestnut harvest this year wasn't any good, but the desert is YUMMY (and you'd love it - steamed red bean jelly sweet with chestnuts). Too bad it needs to be refrigerated and therefore can't be mailed to Europe!
ReplyDeleteJes - I'd say that hearing from an OLD friend is even better than a haircut for mood-brightening!
Red bean and chestnut - the combination is genius! I guess I'll have to visit you in Japan! Meanwhile, enjoy! love and hugs, C
ReplyDeleteDon't tell Cath about the Chestnut Pepsi because she'll never think of chestnuts in the same way after trying it :(
ReplyDeleteAgreed, old friends, haircuts, green apples and ume shu are gauranteed to cheer anyone up!
... and who is it that thinks English, French, Italian and Dutch are all the same? just because they have roman letters doesn't mean they read the same way-you should get a bonus for working in another language!
Achan - the curator I work for on Thursdays doesn't speak a foreign language so I don't think he gets it. I tried to tell him that I couldn't do it and his response was to take my time and give it my best shot. Since he supplies me with no dictionaries and will not let me use the Internet to access online dictionaries, short of me starting to take Italian lessons, I really don't think time matters at all... But trying to make him understand is like beating my head against a brick wall. So I just smile and nod and plug away at what I can do, hoping that sooner or later he'll have another project for me. In the meantime, no recognition from the curatorial staff for being able to work in three languages, but instead treated like a liability for lacking Japanese ability... sigh... Is it any wonder why Thursdays are my least favourite?!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! I also had this problem when I worked on the 911 line in Vancouver. My fellow operators would pass on to me people they said spoke 'Asian'. This meant anything that sounded Chinese, Japanese, Korean. I was the 'Asian' translator! Luckily the system was linked to an AT&T translation service, so all I had to do when I got these calls from my colleagues was hit the translator button. Of course my colleagues could have done that themselves, but trying to explain to them that I couldn't understand anything other than Chinese was like hitting a brick wall...
ReplyDeleteBoo on the curatorial staff - they're either chauvinists or probably you make them feel very insecure about their own lack of abilities...
Chestnut Pepsi? Is there chestnut Coke too?
love and hugs, Cath