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A hectic day...
Feb. 5th, 2005 12:45 pmMost of the few shots I took during yesterday's banquet are fairly mundane grip-n-grins of people looking into the camera. Aside from Valdimir V. dancing like a man possessed with all the ladies in attendance, some of the really interesting action was actually going on outside the banquet hall. For example, when I went out into the hotel lobby to get a breath of air, I noticed an expression of strained tolerance on the face of the the house cat, who had just settled down in one of the lobby chairs, only to be interrupted by the intruding posterior of one of the banquet celebrants:
I managed to sleep well, but either didn't set my alarm properly or managed to oversleep for the first time this campaign (and thank goodness it occurred on the morning everyone else was Most Likely To Be Hungover™). I got to the полтинник at 9 am, and stepped into what one might describe as an "anthill" environment, what with everyone running around the place like crazy, carrying cases of water, computer monitors, boxes of various stuff, and so on.
Not surprisingly, today has been a very hectic day for me, as I am the only interpreter at the полтинник, which (as you can probably tell from the above) is being mothballed today until the next campaign. Of necessity, I have delegated a bunch of stuff to other people, which has worked out well, but the job today still has not been a cakewalk.
Among the things that needed attending was a recipe for roast beef (Russians insist on cooking all their meat to the "well done" stage; this recipe seeks to prepare some imported roast beef to suit the non-Russian palate, for dinner tonight). Also, letters expressing appreciation to various departments (food service, hotel) needed translation. Those tasks were delegated while I proofread some documents that had been translated into Russian late yesterday by not-necessarily-completely-sober native Russian-speakers. I also helped address some issues involving inspection of the premises prior to their transfer back to Russian control, as well as some questions regarding the locations of files on the server, cables that had been inadvertently packed, etc.
All the while, the infrastructure for doing work - computers, printers, etc. - was being dismantled before my eyes as I was working and being stowed in boxes. I'm working on my VAIO at the moment, with no printers on the network and only one 3.5-inch diskette (and my own floppy drive) with which to transfer files. I frankly expect the network to stop functioning any minute.
* * * Changing my ticket home will cost $200, assuming there is a seat available for my itinerary. If I do choose to stay and visit with my sister-in-law, I'll have to leave the country by the 11th to stay on the legal side of the law. If my current itinerary stands, I'll be arriving at the Marriott tomorrow at around 8 pm and will have to be at the airport 9 hours later (at 5 am) to clear customs and check into my flight to Frankfurt. (Seeing as how I'll be supporting the loading of the Antonov cargo plane tomorrow, it'll probably be a good idea to get my stuff packed tonight.)
On the one hand, it'd be nice to relax for a couple of days and maybe go out and meet some folks in Moscow (maybe even some folks whose LJs I read); on the other, I miss being home and there is that $200 to think about. Frankly, assuming I can transfer some items to my sister-in-law tomorrow night, I'm leaning toward flying home with the least possible delay.
Cheers...
I managed to sleep well, but either didn't set my alarm properly or managed to oversleep for the first time this campaign (and thank goodness it occurred on the morning everyone else was Most Likely To Be Hungover™). I got to the полтинник at 9 am, and stepped into what one might describe as an "anthill" environment, what with everyone running around the place like crazy, carrying cases of water, computer monitors, boxes of various stuff, and so on.
Not surprisingly, today has been a very hectic day for me, as I am the only interpreter at the полтинник, which (as you can probably tell from the above) is being mothballed today until the next campaign. Of necessity, I have delegated a bunch of stuff to other people, which has worked out well, but the job today still has not been a cakewalk.
Among the things that needed attending was a recipe for roast beef (Russians insist on cooking all their meat to the "well done" stage; this recipe seeks to prepare some imported roast beef to suit the non-Russian palate, for dinner tonight). Also, letters expressing appreciation to various departments (food service, hotel) needed translation. Those tasks were delegated while I proofread some documents that had been translated into Russian late yesterday by not-necessarily-completely-sober native Russian-speakers. I also helped address some issues involving inspection of the premises prior to their transfer back to Russian control, as well as some questions regarding the locations of files on the server, cables that had been inadvertently packed, etc.
All the while, the infrastructure for doing work - computers, printers, etc. - was being dismantled before my eyes as I was working and being stowed in boxes. I'm working on my VAIO at the moment, with no printers on the network and only one 3.5-inch diskette (and my own floppy drive) with which to transfer files. I frankly expect the network to stop functioning any minute.
On the one hand, it'd be nice to relax for a couple of days and maybe go out and meet some folks in Moscow (maybe even some folks whose LJs I read); on the other, I miss being home and there is that $200 to think about. Frankly, assuming I can transfer some items to my sister-in-law tomorrow night, I'm leaning toward flying home with the least possible delay.
Cheers...
