Interpreting for Friends

I interpreted for friends from school today. They had emailed me a couple of days ago and asked if I could interpret for them for a special event, and I agreed. To be honest, I found it vaguely surreal. I’m pretty sure I was on good interpreter behavior, but at the same time, it was like – hey, I know these guys! Like, outside of an interpreting context! I can’t remember the last time I did actual interpreting for friends, other than a couple of times in a restaurant or something like that. It was cool though, I had a good time. We all went to dinner afterward, and they paid for my meal. My share was actually only about 10% of the actual check, partly because they don’t have tons of money, partly because I wanted to be on good dietary behavior, and partly because I felt like even though I donated my time, that didn’t mean I should go all out and order the most expensive thing on the menu. I was very happy with my salad but there wasn’t enough of it, so I am planning to have a snack when I get home.