First Day volunteering

So I have finished my first day volunteering and I am officially absolutely shattered!! I started off the day cooking soup for 600. As you can imagine this is not simple affaire. I turned up at the place and everyone was really nice, I got shown around and introduced to everyone. Everyone was so nice and welcoming and as more volunteers turned up during the day they made a point of saying hello to everyone and introducing themselves to me. I was put to work chopping tomatoes. There were bucket loads of them! They're tomatoes that the association has been given, a lot of them had big bad bits in them that needed cutting out or were slightly soft so they are probably the sort that aren't likely to be sold. I was encouraged to take breaks when I wanted and to help myself to the food and drink that was available. They had an upstairs area full of donated goods too; clothes, packeted/tinned food, toiletries, bedding etc etc and they had a shower in case any of the volunteers are homeless people and need somewhere to clean themselves. The attitude in the place was completely non judgemental; I was asked if I had somewhere to live and told that if I didn't I was welcome to use the shower etc. I chopped up lots of courgettes too and then we had lunch. Large quantities of couscous had been made along with a vegetable mixture and some meat. We all had cheese and bread too and lots to drink. We all sat around a large table to eat. In the afternoon I got chatting to some of the other volunteers a bit more. They all seemed really interesting. I had already said I would go and volunteer serving food with another association this evening so when they carted the 10 barrels full of soup (each barrel containing enough soup to feed 60 people) across to the 19th arrondissement I went to the 13th.

This association seemed completely different. We were given throw away aprons to wear and gloves and the food being served was some sort of soup, pasta with a sauce and a burger, bread, cheese, fruit, milk, water. I was in charge of wandering around the tables offering bread to people who wanted more. Everyone seemed really nice again and the people who came to eat were a real mixture; most of them were charming and very thankful for the services that were being provided. Some however were a little creepy; one guy seemed to take to me and every time I walked past him he asked for bread and looked at me in the creepiest way. When he asked for my number I naturally said no. Another guy gave me abuse for no reason when I offered him bread, I have no idea what he said but the next person I went to told me to take no notice of him. Some of them were very chatty and just wanted to find out about me as they hadn't seen me before. What was surprising to me though was how well dressed a lot of them were. These people didn't seem to be the people who sit in the street begging. The 2 and a half hours went quickly. There was a never ending queue of people waiting for spaces to sit down and towards the end I ran out of bread. Overall people were very thankful and charming and wished me a "bonne soirée" as they left. It was a great experience and I feel like now I'm doing something useful with my time. I'm very tired now though, it seems to me as if I've spent all day on my feet! And to top it off when I got back to the apartment the lift broke on me! The doors shut when I was in it but it didn't go anywhere (yes I did press the button!) then none of the buttons worked, not even the open door one, and I didn't want to force the doors open too hard in case I broke it even more! I pressed the emergency button and up until this point I had kept my cool, however when an extremely loud siren sounded it made me jump out of my skin!! Eventually someone came to my aid and forced the doors open but I think it's still broken now!

Right I must get to bed. The boss (as in Point Par Point) called me when I was on my way home today. He wants me in work tomorrow. I've decided I'll give him one more chance and if it just seems as if he's taking advantage of me tomorrow then I'll leave for good and concentrate on my volunteering work. Night all!