First Day Volunteering

I was at The Cat Museum yesterday for my first day as a volunteer. Being on a LTVP here in Singapore I am not allowed to work, but I can volunteer. Thus I searched for options and found this well-known shelter. I grew up with two cats and spent some time at a shelter where I grew up, helping out in a similar way I was instructed to at TCM.

I had little to do that day so, being supposed to be at the shelter by quarter to four, I went a bit earlier. Thought I could help out even outside of the given hours. Might be a bit too enthusiastic about it, but how can anyone think it is a bad thing? All I want to do is help out.

When I arrived at the door it was a small staircase leading up to a short corridor. Several shoe-lockers were at the end, but I stored my shoes where I took them off. Later, when I left in the evening, I discovered they had been moved to the top of the lockers. Need to remember that, I do not want them to be in the way of the visitors. There were two doors there with no clear sign as to where I should go. I pressed a button, heard a sound and the other door opened. A man asked who I was, I explained, and was allowed entrance. First room was an office, rather messy in my opinion, but the woman who runs the place was very kind. Jessica sat by a computer when I came in but rose to shake my hand. There were two other men in there, long-time volunteers as I soon learned.

One of them gave me a quick tour, showed the different rooms and their purposes. Though all floors had distinctive layouts, I found it difficult to keep track of them. There were smaller rooms which held the kitties in a secure environment and then the larger, older cats roamed in the hallways. All in all, there are ∼sixty five cats at the TCM! Some are permanent residents, others are desperate for a permanent home. While I was there, they had so many visitors between four and seven in the evening. I know one kitty was adopted, perhaps more.

At seven we started closing down. Visitors were asked to leave and the volunteers cleaned up after the storm. Kindergarten was messy with toys everywhere, food on the floor, poop in the litter-boxes and so on. It only took a few minutes of cleaning while casually chatting about the ways of the shelter. I was not the only new volunteer there, a couple of other girls had just started as well. I hope to see them again, they were nice!

I left the building at almost half past seven, being very hungry since I had not eaten yet. Nobody from the shelter could have dinner, so I walked towards Bugis station and tried to find anything to eat. I am not very keen on eating alone, so I never found a place. Tried to meet a friend, but she was busy and so I headed home. At the train I started feeling a bit sick and two stations from my destination I got off the train. I decided to walk home. By the time John walked in through the door, I still had not eaten. He made me breadcrumbs and cheese-sticks, which was about what I could get down at the time. While he slept through the night, I was awake and had trouble relaxing. Eventually though, with some sleeping aid, I too could get some rest.