This Year's Letter - 2015

Jacki with King Sejong, inventor of Hangul, The Korean Alphabet

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Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Clients:

Happy Year of the Goat! I started writing this 20th annual epistle at a hospital in San Francisco where my husband Rob had cervical spine surgery on December 23rd. We spent two nights (58 hours) including Christmas Eve at the hospital. Yes, I certainly had quality time with Rob. Thanks to the surgeon’s capable hands and many of your thoughts and prayers, Rob’s surgery was a success and he has been recovering quite well. Spending Christmas at the hospital surrounded by various noises coming from all the medical devices and alarms made us long for our last year’s Christmas when we disappeared from civilization and spent the holiday in Mendocino County.

 

 

On a very uncomfortable, tiny cot next to Rob’s hospital bed, I took out my laptop and reflected on the past 12 months. The first thing that came to mind was a quote about friendship by Christy Evans. “Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them. But you know they are always there.”
While I have been "Nurse Jacki" for Rob, cards, flowers, fruits, chocolates, and other goodies have been arriving at our doorstep. Thank you, my star friends and star clients! I don’t get to see you much due to my frequent work-related trips and translation projects but I will never forget how important a part of my life you truly are. For your continued love, friendship, understanding, support, and confidence in my work, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Now, let me get on to the most frequently asked question.

“Where have you been, Jacki?”

As with in years past, I started 2014 with a hike up Mount Tamalpais’ East Peak on January 1st to enjoy the panoramic view of the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. I ended my year with a walk along Lagunitas Creek in West Marin County to view spawning Coho salmon late in December. The number of returning salmon was the best in years.

For the first time in my life I ate food grown by my husband and me in our garden, (We call our Garden of Eatin'). For a lifelong apartment dweller and city girl like myself, this was nothing short of miraculous. While I have always enjoyed traveling for business as well as for pleasure, I am finding a new appreciation for coming home.

 

 

I love every minute spent at our home in San Rafael - the trees, the birds the hawks, the owls, the squirrels

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the frogs, the peace and serenity.

 

 

Some of my favorite hikes this year were Great Falls National Park in Virginia, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in Monterey County, Lovers Point Park and Wilder Ranch State Park.

 

 

Please share some of your favorite trails with me.

 

 

 

In addition to my business related travel around California, the United States and overseas, I got to be a regular tourist in Korea. Rob and I had our 3rd honeymoon with an "Around Korea" tour. This was Rob's first trip to Asia and my first trip strictly as a tourist.

 

 

 

As I said, it was our 3rd honeymoon. We see no reason not to add to that number and continue to explore planet Earth together.

 

For those interested, here are some of the places I got to work professionally:

Around California and the United States -

 

I traveled to 11 states: Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont (my first visit to this beautiful state),

 

 

 

 

Virginia and Washington.

 

 

 

The following overseas trips added lots of miles to my frequent Flyer Card: Canada, Guatemala, Singapore, South Korea – six small towns (in addition to our honeymoon) and Spain.

 

My 2014 professional activities included Conferences, California State Court, United States District Court, depositions, and voice recording. I also worked as a translator, editor, proofreader, and written translation test evaluator.

 

This year I was very fortunate to interpret at a number of conferences with topics that I am very passionate about and have a particular interest in such as almonds and agriculture, automobiles (Mercedes Benz), ginseng, green plum, ice cream, information technology (IT), organic food, pasta, potatoes and salmon. Other topics included innovation, marketing, military, pharmaceutical, politics, real estate, social media, success building, video game, and wealth management. These eclectic topics challenged me to explore unfamiliar territories and enticed me to get outside of my comfort zone.

Whenever I could find breathing room, I tried to take full advantage of some of exciting diverse cultural events that the San Francisco Bay Area has to offer. Some of the more memorable cultural activities were:

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
“Feisty Old Jew” performed by Charlie Varon
A Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit at The de Young Museum
Peter Brook’s “The Suit” and
Celebrating Charlie Haden, Jazz Legend.

In November, I hosted a party for members of Northern California Translators Association at my San Rafael home which I call “Paradise”. It was a great fun with scintillating conversations and wonderful food.

 

 

One of the most exciting and memorable happenings of 2014 has to be the birth of Joshua Hong on November 18th to my nephew Peter and his wife Justina. That made me the happiest great-aunt in the world.

 

 

 

 

For those of you who share my enthusiasm for literature, here is my list of books that stood out in 2014:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee
The Joy of X, A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity by Steven Strogatz
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
What on earth School is for! (My English translation of the Korean title - the book has not been translated into English) by Lee Sang-Seok
The Palace of Dreams by Ismail Kadare and
Without You, There Is No Us, My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite, A Memoir by Suki Kim

And for you movie buffs:

Alexander Payne’s Nebraska
Stephen Frears’ Philomena
Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street
David O. Russell’s American Hustle
Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox
John Favreau’s Chef
Kim Seong-hun’s A Hard Day
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and
Laura Poitras’ Citizenfour

Please let me know about your favorites.

"That's it, folks! Thanks for reading. HERE'S WISHING YOU VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"

With warmest regards,

Jacki Noh

www.transkorean.com
(510) 914-7596 Phone
(415) 295-4123 Fax
550 N. San Pedro Rd.
San Rafael, CA 94903 USA