A few days back, I was assigned to make a PowerPoint presentation about FORGE and its programs for some visitors who are community organizers and urban poor leaders of Thailand. They are having an exposure visit in the country to find out the difference in the situation of the Philippine's urban poor and that of Thailand. Also, they want to know about demolitions and evictions---How does government usually conduct demolitions and evictions? How do urban poor communities respond?
This morning, I came in the office early to do last-minute corrections of my presentation. Then, my supervisor texted and requested me to facilitate the morning's activity (the discussion and all) because his wife is in the hospital. I didn't have a choice, did I? So, I said yes and instantly, I became the overall in-charge.
I went downstairs supposedly to set-up the LCD projector, but alas, it wasn't there! I was told by Tatay Elmer, our Admin Assistant, that the projector and the laptop were borrowed by another project (RESCUE), and were not yet returned! I was tempted to panic and freak out, but the Thais arrived. I was forced to stay calm and to entertain the visitors, who do not speak and understand (even a little) English. I had to talk to their interpreter in English, then paused to give him time to translate what I said in Thai, then waited a little longer to give him time to translate to me in English the visitors' responses.
Oh, then I remembered we did not have an LCD projector and a laptop, so I had to excuse myself. I went in the office and called people...pressuring my other teammates to solve the problem. Finally, Toning was able to contact a RESCUE staff and talked her to return the projector and the laptop immediately. Meanwhile, having hinted that the visitors were getting bored, I started the program. While waiting for the equipment, I thought of facilitating preliminary rituals like introduction, expectation setting, etc. When the Thais started introducing themselves, I wished I didn't bother going through the introduction because I could not get what they were saying---I mean, their names were too hard to remember. But of course, I pretended that I understood them, so I kept nodding and smiling. Then came the expectation-setting...the otherwise 15-minute activity lasted almost an hour! Why? Because there were two levels of interpretations that happened. You must be confused by now, but here's the explanation...
They expressed their expectations in Thai, then the interpreter translated these expectations to English. When it was our turn to express our expectations, some FORGE staff spoke Cebuano, and so I had to translate it in English for the interpreter, who in turn, translated it to Thai! With the exchanges of ideas and questions between the two groups (i.e. FORGE staff and Thai visitors), one could expect more of that "two-level interpreting"!
And I haven't even talked about my PowerPoint presentation yet. If you really want to know? The 15-minute presentation (under normal circumstance) lasted one-and-a-half hours!
By the time I finished talking, I was extremely hungry...thirsty...and dead tired.
This morning, I came in the office early to do last-minute corrections of my presentation. Then, my supervisor texted and requested me to facilitate the morning's activity (the discussion and all) because his wife is in the hospital. I didn't have a choice, did I? So, I said yes and instantly, I became the overall in-charge.
I went downstairs supposedly to set-up the LCD projector, but alas, it wasn't there! I was told by Tatay Elmer, our Admin Assistant, that the projector and the laptop were borrowed by another project (RESCUE), and were not yet returned! I was tempted to panic and freak out, but the Thais arrived. I was forced to stay calm and to entertain the visitors, who do not speak and understand (even a little) English. I had to talk to their interpreter in English, then paused to give him time to translate what I said in Thai, then waited a little longer to give him time to translate to me in English the visitors' responses.
Oh, then I remembered we did not have an LCD projector and a laptop, so I had to excuse myself. I went in the office and called people...pressuring my other teammates to solve the problem. Finally, Toning was able to contact a RESCUE staff and talked her to return the projector and the laptop immediately. Meanwhile, having hinted that the visitors were getting bored, I started the program. While waiting for the equipment, I thought of facilitating preliminary rituals like introduction, expectation setting, etc. When the Thais started introducing themselves, I wished I didn't bother going through the introduction because I could not get what they were saying---I mean, their names were too hard to remember. But of course, I pretended that I understood them, so I kept nodding and smiling. Then came the expectation-setting...the otherwise 15-minute activity lasted almost an hour! Why? Because there were two levels of interpretations that happened. You must be confused by now, but here's the explanation...
They expressed their expectations in Thai, then the interpreter translated these expectations to English. When it was our turn to express our expectations, some FORGE staff spoke Cebuano, and so I had to translate it in English for the interpreter, who in turn, translated it to Thai! With the exchanges of ideas and questions between the two groups (i.e. FORGE staff and Thai visitors), one could expect more of that "two-level interpreting"!
And I haven't even talked about my PowerPoint presentation yet. If you really want to know? The 15-minute presentation (under normal circumstance) lasted one-and-a-half hours!
By the time I finished talking, I was extremely hungry...thirsty...and dead tired.
