Man! What a day...

So today was supposed to be a regular wednesday. Or so I thought. One agency had an interpreter out sick, called DCS and they said they could use me. So off I went, in the morning to interpret a college class. Then returned to DCS and went with our CDI to interpret a CPS interview. OMG! That was emotionally draining, so I was really glad that I was not the only interpreter there and my team is so good at remaining neutral and calm. Then went back to the office. Another agency had called and needed an interpreter to go out to the hospital. Well it was 4 and all the staff interpreters leave at 4:30 so nobody was willing to go. I was already committed to a job at 6:15, so I told the coordinator that I could go for a bit and at least interpret for an hour before I would have to leave. She is thrilled and sends me on my way. I get to the hospital and is a deaf couple, one is yelling at the nurse, the other is trying to explain the situation and neither is able to communicate what they need to the nurse. So I immediately just begin interpreting, I don't even introduce myself. It was a very quick job, they only needed me for a half an hour. They didn't have medical insurance and wanted to released from the hospital because they couldn't afford to pay the bill. Then they apologized to the nurse and explained that they were just frustrated due to the inability to communicate with her. And I'm off again to my next job. Interpreting a class, and the student was falling asleep. I kept watching my team to see what he was doing when the student fell asleep. He just kept interpreting like normal. It was hard, but I was able to do that. Then I ran out to the grocery store, bought food to make dinner tomorrow. Went home for about 20 minutes then I was off again, to interpret a monthly meeting. This is one of those meetings where people talked over each other, some were teasing each other in the background. One deaf person and I let him and the manager control the conversation. They did, to make it easier on me, but after speaking with my mentor, she said that was the right thing to do. It gives the power to the deaf client instead of me taking it away. Woohoo! I did it right. Now I have just made it home, and I am ready to fall asleep. But I guess this is all in a day's work for an interpreter. My introduction to what my life will be like when I start working. It was really fun, even if it was taxing in some places.