Tuesday, June 17, 2008

dusting off the resume (for a day)

Last Friday night I got a call from Kazumi, her son's friend's sister was in a bind. The interpreter that was scheduled for a job cancelled at the last minute, so would I be willing to work?

Me? An interpreter? I get nervous speaking in front of people, let alone having to translate what the person is saying.

This job was easy (so she said), a make-up artist from France was coming and they needed someone to translate what he was saying to the customer and staff and what the customer and staff was saying to him.

There are so many technical words when dealing with cosmetics or any subject for that matter. But, when someone says that they need my help, something jumps out at me, and I'm always willing to oblige.

So, yesterday, I reported for work in Kobe. The make-up artist, G.H. works for a big french cosmetics company, G. He's done many model's make-up as well as the make-up for the Opera de Paris.

He was a nice guy, we chatted when we had free time, had lunch together and also took our breaks together. I think he enjoyed the company, just to be able to talk about stuff he wanted to talk about, as he travels around the world doing makeovers for most of the year. (I wish I spoke French or German as those were his stronger languages.)

The day went by quickly, he corrected my make-up several times during the lulls and got LOTS of samples. (I think if you are looking for a husband, you may want to get a make-up artist, girls, he'll make sure you look good all the time, plus, he wasn't gay either (not that being gay is a bad thing)--G.H. is available for those of you looking!!)

The job was only for one day, but it was fun and luckily it was easy. He says that the next time he comes to Osaka/Kobe to work, he's asking for me to help him.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool. Glad you had a good time. It is handy to have ones own makeup artist around, isn't it. LOL!

Paz ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hey kat,
That sounds like such a fun day, and great perks! :)

K and S said...

Thanks Paz. I like this kind of job, when you done for the day, you are done :)

Thanks Lori, the perks were icing to the cake :)

Take care you two.
Kat

Rowena said...

The first thing that popped into my head -- a photo of the all the samples!!! Whenever I go to my fave place for body lotion, they always give me a bunch of samples and it feels like xmas. Would be cool to see makeup freebies!!

Hello Sweetie said...

Sounds like fun.

Go you!

2kamuela47 said...

What a great day! Hum a guy that makes sure you are looking your best. Glad you had fun!

bourgogne said...

i have to agree that spending afternoons (and nights!) with a french guy ain't so bad... of course, i'm married to one... ;-)

K and S said...

Darn, forgot to photograph the samples...sorry, Rowena :(

Thanks HS & Laura.

:) Bourgogne

Take care everyone.
Kat

Chibog in Chief said...

oh that must be so exciting!! i wanted to be an interpreter too when i was in japan. but i dont think its gonna be easy for as you say it sounds technical..i tried translating some japanese anime to english and french for my nieces before..it was fun but not easy at all..speaking im watching doraemon with my daughter :-) have a great day Kat

btw, about the recipe of clafouti muffin i should have mentioned on my recipe that i used a silicon muffin baking mold, thats why it was a lot easier.

K and S said...

aww Dhanggit, I used ramekins because in the recipe you said ramekins, I should have just tried it with the muffin papers :)

translating is difficult, especially when we want to make sure the other person gets the right message.

Take care.
Kat

Kathy YL Chan said...

Oh wow, that's so cool! I would have loved to have had such an opportunity...man, I'm always very impressed of those who can speak so many different languages!

K and S said...

Thanks Kathy, I'm glad I worried for nothing. It turned out to be a great day. You can speak Chinese, right? That is a language I'd like to learn!

Take care.
Kat

Martin J Frid said...

hey kat! why you hide your face ;) good luck getting lots of more jobs like this, sounds fun.

K and S said...

Thanks Martin :)

I hope I get more jobs like this too!

Take care.
Kat

nordwolke said...

Oh, wow, translating simultaneously must be very hard!!! But it's so cool that you were asked to do it. I love tranlating!
And I am not sure if I wanted to have a husband who makes sure that I look good all the time. Sometimes I just wanna relax and look like I look ... ;)

K and S said...

I didn't do translations simultaneously, Beadexplorer, I think that way would have been harder.

Take care.
Kat

nordwolke said...

Oh, then I misunderstood it. Either way, translating is not so easy. :)

K and S said...

You are right though, Beadexplorer, translating is not so easy :)

Take care.
Kat