And the waiting begins....

Thanks for your prayers!! I went to my test really calm. On the drive over I listened to some worship music and spoke to my family. After I got to the building, I walked around to stretch and work out any nerves. I saw my mentor Clay and got encouragement from him too.

I choose to do the ethical interview first since that's what I was most concerned about. It went fine. It wasn't a breeze but I feel like I was able to show that I have critical thinking and judgement skills which is the point. I thought it would all be downhill from there.......and it seemed like it was but not in the way I had hoped. It's all taped so the timeframe is set, unlike a real situation where I can control the time I have to interpret. There was some overlapping speech/sign but I had experienced that during my practice so I tried to not let it fluster me. The first two segments weren't too bad but the third was a doozey!! I really struggled to understand the ASL and be able to put out something coherent. It was a long section too! There are breaks in between all five of the performance sections so I tried to gather myself and psych up for the last two. I had trouble fingerspelling simple words and I'm sure it was because I felt awful about the previous section. So I decided to use a sign rather than fingerspell that word and then there was another word that I had to fingerspell and it came out well.....I actually thought as I was doing it that I hoped it came up again so I could spell it to show I do know how to fingerspell! The last segment was a little struggle too.....some signs I didn't recognize but I think I got the main points across although I did mess up a time marker and put something in a different tense in English.

Honestly, I was quite disappointed in myself when I left. I really didn't stress that it was a test and sometimes I think I might have done other things good enough to show I know enough/have enough skill to be certified and that I'll pass. But really regardless of whether or not I pass, I didn't feel it was my best performance and I was disappointed that I didn't do better. There were some interns there playing volleyball when I got done and the test administrator wanted me to go join them but I just needed some time to be alone. So I left and had a good cry.....I think some of it was just stress relief and some was just sadness that I've been doing so well and then didn't feel like I exhibited that on the test.

Later I had conversations with my roommates and found out they all struggled with the same piece I did. So that was encouraging and makes me think maybe it was the overly difficult piece that was added to see what we can do and how we handle it. I also realized that I didn't understand the topic of that piece, which really just makes it very difficult, almost impossible to interpret. So I'm a little encouraged that even though it didn't make sense to me, maybe what I put out made more sense to someone who understands the topic. (If that makes any sense to you!)

I do feel like I kept my composure during the test and didn't show that I was struggling or disappointed. Now I just wait and see. It will probably be 3-4 months before I get the results. Regardless of whether or not I pass, I will still be able to work and have been getting calls this week for jobs on my return. I have time to take the test again if necessary and still meet my deadline of being certified before June 2012. I've learned tons and improved so much so my time here has still been worthwhile.

Today is "graduation." Not sure what to expect as they have been pretty secretive about it. Then tomorrow I FLY HOME!!!!! I can't wait!!!! I haven't seen Amanda, Mom, Beth & her family, any of my friends, or my sweet doggies since I left!

Less than 24 hours!

This time tomorrow I will be in the home stretch of taking my exam! I can't believe it's almost time!! My biggest concern is still the ethical interview. I've been practicing it a lot and trying to come up with creative ways to help me remember various aspects of it. I will work on it some more tomorrow before the exam as I don't think it will hurt and it certainly could help. That's what I did for my mentor appointment with Clay last night. We talked some of it through and then I signed them with the five minute time limit like I will have to do in the text. He felt like my reasoning was solid, presentation good, and I stayed within the time limit. Today though I felt like I struggled more. I don't know if it was more pressure (in a good way) having him there watch me or if the situations were easier for me to think through that caused last night to be better.

So please pray:
     -- I would think through the situations from various perspectives and not get stuck in just one perspective. I will lose points if I have a "rigid" viewpoint.
      --I will be able to stay within the time limit
     --I'll remember all the related information. I can't take anything in with me but I can start making notes as soon as I'm in the room. I have the practice DVD and am going to watch the instructions on that tomorrow before I go to the test. That way I don't have to pay attention to that during the test and can make notes.

I've had a good, relaxing day here at the apt. I was going to go for a walk but it rained. So I've stayed in and gotten many things done.....renewing my interpreting license, purchasing insurance for my interpreting, studying, catching up with friends.....I didn't even get dressed until 2:30! ;P Some are going over to Clay's house for some fun in an hour. I can't decide if I should go or not...I'd love to but don't know when we'd get back and want to be wise about my sleep. I can sleep in tomorrow though.....hmmm....decisions, decisions!

Thanks for being on this journey with me and for all your prayers as everything comes to a close. It has been an awesome experience and I've learned so much professionally and personally. I'm excited to come home!! I've had some calls about working once I'm home so I hope I get to put my skills to work soon!

Phenomenal!

Today I finished up my internship hours. It ended on a great note! I was able to interpret part of two conference calls via VP (video phone). It was a lot of stats so difficult but I managed through the first one. I also picked up a bunch of city signs I didn't know and was able to incorporate them. Inside I felt really harried and overwhelmed but kept my composure so the client didn't know. The terp I was working with said that he felt that too because it was very fast paced speaking and that he was happy to have a team so he got a break! :)

Deana & Dustin,

Sorenson Executive Interpreters

Then the second meeting lasted about 45 minutes. I watched for about 15 and then got in the hot seat. I felt much more comfortable with this one. Through both meetings the terp fed me signs when needed and consistently offered positive feedback by saying "good job," "awesome," or similar things. During the second one, he asked a couple times if I was okay or if I needed to switch. I would always ask him if I was doing okay and when he said, "yes," I would continue. So I got to do the last 30 minutes of the meeting. When it was over, he said, "Phenomenal!" He was just amazed at my work. He said it was a really tough meeting similar to the first. I said that I thought the speaker was slower so that made it easier but he thought she was faster. So who knows....maybe experiencing it the first time and then having him be so encouraging made the second time better. But it was great to have him speak so highly of my work...he actually used the word several times. I couldn't help but smile and say, "Yay, me!" :) During lunch he told one of the other terps what I did, and she was surprised because she's done that meeting before and found it challenging too. (See their pic above.)

This afternoon we went to a really technical meeting. I was going to take a turn but didn't feel like I could do it justice because I didn't understand anything and they were mumbling on top of that! So I let the two terps handle it and I just observed. I also wanted to end on a good note and couldn't think of anything better than "phenomenal!" But just to clarify, that does NOT mean I have arrived as the radio told us yesterday when we reached Antelope Island. It was two meetings today and even in those two meetings, there were things I could improve and do better. Learning another language is a lifelong process and there's always room for improvement. I'm pleased with the improvement I've made in the last 13.5 weeks and thrilled to hear encouraging words and share them with you but want you to know it's all relative. Don't expect to see me interpreting in Charlotte and be blown away.....I have improved but I haven't arrived (and won't ever). 

Buffalo!

This morning I got to have a VP chat with my former professors, Keith & James. It was really good to see them! Then I did some more ethical scenarios and other practice. I feel like I improved on my ethical scenarios some today but still have room to improve even more. So keep praying about that! I forgot to mention that they gave each apt a rental car on Friday. We get to keep it all week! :) So this afternoon three of us took advantage of that.

We drove to Antelope Island in hopes of seeing buffalo.....yes, I know one would expect to see antelope there or have the island called Buffalo Island. We saw LOTS of buffalo! It was so much fun to get out and see some nature. 

Tonight I had my last mentor meeting with Trenton, which went really well. I showed him the recording I did yesterday that was so ridiculously hard. He confirmed that what I did put out was coherent and understandable and that my composure was good. Inside I felt like I was harried but thankfully that didn't show. I hope I can do that on my test! He also mentioned that my fingerspelling was very good, which he found a little surprising due to how much there was and how rapid the message was. 

After my meeting, I joined two friends in the apartment complex movie theater and watched "Letters to Juliet."  They even had popcorn! It was a cute movie and nice to just "veg." I came home thinking I'd upload my pictures from the day and hit the hay early. But a friend saw me on Facebook and began chatting. He really needed to talk about some really difficult things going on in his life right now so we chatted for over and hour and then talked on the phone for 20 minutes. I'm thankful I had the time available tonight to be there for him. Would you say a pray for him? I know you don't know who he is or what is going on but God does. 

So it's midnight and I'm going to bed. My first job is 10am tomorrow. It's my last day of internship. I'm looking forward to teaming with Dustin in some unique and challenging situations. Then I'll have my very last mentor meeting {tear :( }. Then I'm completely free until my test Thursday evening.

More pictures of the day can be seen here. 

Winding down

Classes are over, homework is over, language mentor program is over, deaf events are over, internship is almost over, testing is ov----oh, wait....that's still coming! Monday my day is completely open aside from a mentor meeting in the evening with Trenton. Tuesday I'm scheduled for my last internship hours and my last mentor appointment with Clay. Wednesday is completely open and Thursday before my test is open. Friday we have graduation and lunch and that ends the program! Wow! I can hardly believe it's here!

Today I spent some time working on my responses to ethical scenarios and interpreting some random presentations I found on the web. There was one presentation I did that was on the NIC practice DVD. It was ridiculously hard! As I interpreted it, I felt like it was awful but I kept going and tried my best. However, during the interpretation I couldn't help but think that I hope there's not something like that on the test because it would cause me to fail. But when I watched the recording, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was! I did drop some details and struggle with it because the subject matter was difficult, required a lot of fingerspelling, and the speaker spoke 200 mph! But, what I did put out was coherent and the missing information wasn't vital, so I think I would still get a pass! I'm glad that happened actually because it will help me when I encounter something challenging on the test. I can have confidence that what I'm putting out will be better than how I'm feeling in the moment.

Prayer requests:
1. There's a huge fire on the mountain south of SLC. Several people from the church I've been attending have had to evacuate their houses. Over 1200 homes have been evacuated! Several have burned already. Please pray for those effected by this.

2. My biggest concern at this point is the ethical scenarios I worked on today. I'm going to do some every day to try to get a better handle on it. Not sure if I mentioned what I have to do so forgive me if I have.....I watch someone sign an ethical situation, get to read it in English, and then the timer starts counting down from 5 minutes. In that five minutes I have to formulate an answer and sign my response. I do have a framework to make sure I cover everything that needs to be included in my answer and I can come up with it all but my problem is the time limit. I'm a slow processor and I like to have the best answer. I'm having to get over the best answer and just go with a reasonable answer but it's still difficult to do it so quickly and with confidence. So please pray that I will be able to respond quickly, thoroughly, and confidently to these situations. There will be five of them on the test.

Test results....

So Thursday morning I had a meeting with the rater who analyzed my assessment from Sorenson's Professional Development department. I was a little concerned about getting results a week before my certification exam. Remember I said I didn't feel like it was my best work, so my expectations weren't high. I was pleasantly surprised, however. If I did that well on a bad day, I'd like to see a good day! :) Hopefully this Thursday will be that good day!

The rater didn't see any major problems with my interpreting and said that my strengths are in the knowledge rich areas (more complex parts of ASL) and my weaknesses are in the knowledge lean areas (easier to fix). She also said that my ASL to English skills were better than my English to ASL, which I found very interesting because I thought it was the other way around! She pointed out that by being able to take ASL and put it into my native tongue, it shows that I have a good understanding of sign language and that my ability to produce it will become more fluent with time and practice.

So the results actually help me feel more confident going into my test Thursday. :)

A Day in the Life....

So today I was scheduled for a full day of internship. There were only two meetings so we (the interpreter and I) were able to have lots of discussion of all things interpreting and watch some of my work to discuss. This was not an assignment I was looking forward to, however, I am working with an AWESOME interpreter who is a great team/coach/encourager. :) For one meeting we tandem interpreted which means we sat side-by-side to interpret. He started and I got a feel for the meeting, its terminology and signs, and then he let me interpret. If I didn't understand or hear something, he would take over until that concept was done and then he'd let me take over again. It was really quite a smooth transition. He has a good sense of when I needed help, and would just jump right in but never when I didn't need him. It was quite a technical meeting, and I really had no clue what I was interpreting but when we walked out of the meeting, he looked at me and said, "Well, check YOU out!" I was surprised he felt as good about it as he did. It seemed to go semi-ok for me as I noticed the client smiling and laughing when others did, so I figured my message was being understood but since I didn't understand the topic, it was harder for me to realize how well I was doing.

For the other meeting, he let me interpret the whole thing....about 30 minutes. It was interactive (meaning both hearing and deaf spoke so I had to interpret both ways). Again, he was a great team and would feed me signs if I was struggling or would jump in and voice something I didn't quite get. I felt pretty good about the meeting myself, and got positive feedback from him about this one as well. Plus when we watched my work, we watched part of the NIC practice DVD I did last week, and he confirmed that I got all the information out in my interpretation. I left feeling like I rock! :)

After "work" I caught a cab to go downtown for a manicure and pedicure, walked through downtown Salt Lake City in dress clothes, barefoot, shoes in hand so my toes could dry, caught their light rail system, the Trax, and dined on the patio at a nice Italian place for dinner. Then caught another cab back to my apartment for a language mentor meeting which also went very well. I got a shower, bathed myself in lotion, lit my Bath & Body Works candle and decided to update my blog. I feel like someone who just stepped out of a movie! A life of luxury and pampering....no regard for money! Ha! Seriously? You know I'm the queen of saving money and getting deals! That might be what you SEE but here's the real skinny.....you know I love to tell about my deals.....First of all, I've been working myself like crazy! Easily 16 hour days counting homework and all meetings too, so I needed (well at least felt like I deserved) some "me" time.  Secondly, I don't pay for the cabs, I bought a Groupon for the nails $20 for a $50 value, walking is free, I have a monthly pass for the bus/Trax that is provided to me, and I got a coupon on my receipt from lunch with Clay that gave me a free calzone for doing a survey! So for $32 I did all that (tips, freshly made strawberry lemonade and all! :)