What are your passions and how have they evolved with your self-perception?

During my time in pathways, I feel like I am always evaluating what my passions are. I normally go for the basics like languages, intercultural experiences, or plants.  I have talked about how lately my passion for church has been struggling but I don’t really want to talk about that in this reflection. I want to talk about my passion for interpreting. I have talked about previously that interpreting is something I have always done and that interpreting kind of found its way to me. I grew up with parents who struggled to learn English and often joke about how I had to interpret for my own birth. I was watching a film called “CODA” where a girl has 2 deaf parents and is constantly having to interpret for them. She even must interpret a doctor's appointment where the doctor is explaining the parents temporally cannot have sex.  In the movie she hates interpreting. She hates having her parents be too reliant on her. She feels like she must devote too much to them or that they take advantage of her. Growing up I can't say I felt the same as her. I do remember having to always translate for my parents whether that may phone calls, doctors' appointments, meetings, etc. I remember once I was with my friend at the roller rink and I fell and broke my wrist. My friends called my parents and didn’t know how to speak Spanish, so I had to translate while I was being treated for a broken wrist. I remember in that time being so frustrated with the language barrier. Fast forward to recent years while I have been in school for interpreting, I look at interpreting as an amazing skill and gift. I think many people can be fluent in 2 languages but not everyone can translate between two languages.  My sister recently was baptized and during her baptismal lessons the church asked if I could interpret the meetings for my parents. I sort of dread going because it's hard for me to keep up sometimes especially when me or my parents aren't in the conversations. I went and I realized that I loved it. I loved being able to analyze the words and phrases and see how I can manipulate them using a different language. At the end I would often get thank you from church members for translating and how I was able to keep up and make it so seamless. It reminded me why I love to translate. I love it because it is an involved task that helps me bridge two cultures and languages. Translating helped me to build my self-confidence. It helped me to enjoy the differences in life's and take advantage of the languages my mind thinks in. Even though I wouldn’t consider interpreting a passion I always have had I have recently gained an appreciation for it in my life. I am glad I chose this path in my studies and look forward to what experiences I will have with it in the future.  

For my artifact I added a picture of me interpreting for an archery lesson while at Deaf Camp. It was definetly stressful to make sure they understood all the safety involved.