A translator’s life for me

Time for another update from a wet and snowy Virginia.

This has been a busy last week for us all. Firstly, just after I last wrote to you, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a beautifully prepared - if we do say so ourselves ;-) - turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It was a nice to have a day where the three of us could just hang out and enjoy each other’s company.

Then came my birthday, which will now be a public holiday for me most years because it falls on or around Thanksgiving. No complaints here! The highlights were the delights of reheated Thanksgiving dinner (with none of the effort!) and a trip to the DIY/garden centre to choose a Christmas tree (the Cloutiers have a tradition of putting up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving).

I was particularly excited because I’ve never had a real tree in my house before. The downsides are the weight of an eight (!) foot tree and the sap all over your hands and clothes, but hey – it’s a learning process :-)

After the weekend, it seems like the rest of this week has been devoted to various conversations over Skype with people from Tetras Translations. It’s been a challenge for us to connect, as Slovakia is six hours later than here, so we only ever have the end of the working day left to talk in.

Anyway, I’m very proud to say that I’ve been given the job – YAY :-)  I start in the New Year. One thing I haven’t mentioned is that I will spend the first two months training in Slovakia, before returning to Washington to assume my ordinary duties!

Karen of course will be coming along, which is a blessing only made possible by her being self employed. We’re very much looking forward to an earlier-than-anticipated return to Europe, if not the UK.

I hope this letter finds you all well and looking forward to the joys of the season – ONLY THREE WEEKS NOW!!

Mark