As I mentioned yesterday, we’re planning to move three miles from where we live now. But I’ve lived in this area my entire life, and I do think about moving elsewhere. I think if I could live anywhere in the world, right now it would be Montreal. I’ve been there a couple of times and there are so many things I love about the city. Aside from the fact that it’s in Canada, which allows gay marriage, there’s also the appeal of brushing up on my French skills - which have gone untouched since college - and yet still being able to get around in English if I wanted to. I assume there are cheap mortgages available in Canada, so there wouldn’t be the scary prospect of buying a home in a country whose real estate market operates in a way Americans wouldn’t be familiar with. Finding the best mortgage deals might be difficult - does one’s credit and so forth transfer when one emigrates to a different country? But anyway, I also find Montreal’s underground shopping network very appealing - I like the idea that you can enter the subway, and go all over town without having to go back outside! If I could find the cheapest mortgage possible, I would definitely consider moving to Montreal, even if it meant I couldn’t work as an interpreter anymore (because most of the city’s deaf population is francophone).

Today was hectic. I woke up late (11am, but only because we regained an hour overnight by leaving the Alaska time zone) and ran upstairs to the Lido deck to catch my favorite muesli before it was taken away. Afterward I came back to the room, where J was still sleeping, and took a brief nap. I noticed the disembarkation talk was at 1:00, so I set a wakeup call for 12:40. When the call came, J was gone, and I went to the talk.

To make a long and whiny story short, I worked for the next three hours. The interpreter coordinator was there for most of it and became keenly aware that J was slacking off. Later in the day, I was involved in conversations that included the words “no professional boundaries.” I was told that my interpreting was fine but not great, and I received an apology for a lack of specific feedback.

Anyway, I ended up going to Victoria with a bunch of deaf passengers and M, my co-terp. I actually had a rather nice time walking around and shopping; I bought a few things, mostly for myself. I was supposed to meet up with someone, but I had no money for a pay phone and I couldn’t find one anyway that wasn’t occupied by ship crew members calling home. We had extra time before going back to the ship but we were done so we just caught the bus back. There was a little social gathering of the deaf passengers around 1am but I realized I was not one of the cool people so I walked away sadly without saying goodbye.

It was a positive experience overall, but I’m glad the cruise is over. I’m tired.