Today I went to Subordinate courts for a series of test (pre-selection for interpreter's job) and it was from 9am to 3pm!! Drained me. This is the first time I've been there, there were a lot of people walking around the whole place and it wasn't as grand as what I've seen on TV (maybe I didn't get to go into the courtrooms, of course) but the series of steps outside were very familiar, always shown on the chinese drama!! =P Most of the people were in suits, both men and women. I think even if I stand in the middle of Shenton Way, won't find that many dressing like that, since the weather here is not very friendly to put on too many layers. The place where I had the test was a nice room on the 9th floor, and there were two papers and one oral test. In between all that papers I went down to the ground floor for the vending machine and the lift system there is badddd.. I think HDB flats in Sembawang is much better. Another complaint I had is the NE MRT line.. was quite anxious to find the place as the test was held very early in the morning and I don't exactly know where it is (I usually have problems with finding directions, so have to get there early). It was definitely the rush hours in the morning, I changed to NE line at Dhoby Ghaut as I'm supposed to alight at Clarke Quay. There was a big crowd getting out of the train when the train arrived, and I was so glad that it's still quite early.. But before any of the many commuters on the platform could wait on the train, the doors of the MRT closed and it just went off with the cabins half-empty. *jaw dropped all the way to the floor* Everyone there was so stunned and stared helplessly as the train disappeared, and the next train was only 10 minutes later!! (really tough luck, I think just traveling in the morning can make one's mood very bad) Luckily I stepped into the room just in time.. but after the whole of today I can really understand the woes of people who are working in the central district. I've experienced wholesale what it was like if I'm working in an office there, had to drag myself up early and stand throughout the journey from Sembawang to my destination. After the tests, I went for tuition and happened to meet with the peak hours crowd at the end of it. The bus was crowded and moving slowly, traffic is heavy and just a day like this made me so exhausted. Now I understand .. Monday blues.. sometimes people are cursing and swearing. Even though I have lots of patience, still can feel it in me. The feeling is not good..face the world man!

Anyway back to the test, the first paper was translation from English to Chinese (it was about some punishment laws) and the second one was vice versa (about NDP). I just went there without any preparation but I saw people with thick stacks of notes and the dictionary. Luckily they also provided us with dictionaries and I hogged a thick and good one. *sheepish grin* That was my first trial with translation, didn't take the course in Arts but I found it quite easy.. finished the paper quite fast, and the rest were still working furiously while I copied out everything again. It's either because I'm an amateur and missed out lots of stuff, or I haven't lost my language abilities. I think translation from Chinese to English was certainly much easier..only used half the time given and went off for lunch, my stomach was growling! But I totally flopped during the oral test, none of us knew that we were supposed to do translations in dialects. And the worst thing is, I don't know any local dialects. Only can understand my mother's family dialect, but nobody else in the world share the same language. Sigh..quite sad, this is certainly a defect of birth, but the person told me that aN interpreter is supposed to acquire at least one or two of them. It's rather funny, just imagine somebody pass you a passage in English and expect you to tell them in Hokkien/ Cantonese, when you are not born into that dialect. Crazy world..