A Wonderful Day in India

Well tonight I am typing after a very confusing day.

As Mad Dogs Trust is a newer organization and has not had volunteers that long, there is not really a system in place. It is very confusing not to know what is expected of you, when you will be done, what needs to be done first etc...and also uncomfortable to feel like you are being judged when you are sitting and doing nothing.

Now it would be one thing if I was employed, getting paid for doing what I am doing, but I am not, it is purely because I want to help. But let's say that as a volunteer, I am expected to treat it like a job, then I need to have hours. Can you imagine if you lived at your workplace? If you never got to leave and your boss lived there also? Even sitting and watching TV, at anytime you could be asked to go back to work, sounds like fun huh? It is simply because she knows there is so much to do, but if volunteers are to be kept and used efficiently it must be changed. So that is a big challenge here and caused a lot of drama today.

I'll give the short version because I hate to gossip abut Penny as she is a very nice and thoughtful lady, but stories must be told. This morning we woke to dog pee and poop in the house. Because we have a young puppy who isn't housetrained yet, and have just moved to a new place, the dogs have decided that they are going to un-housebreak themselves. Not fun!!!
Needless to say, Karl and I decided that there would be no dogs in the house last night, except for the ones in our rooms and thus the house would stay clean. But Penny let the dogs in and they pooped all over, so from the moment I got up, I was given tasks to do "Bree the dogs went in the house, I had just cleaned the floor, can you do it this time?"

a) it wasn't my fault but I said I would do it as soon as I finished the conversation I was having on facebook and b) It was 7:30 in the morning!

So Karl got up and asked if I wanted to go to breakfast. Well HELL YEA! Not just toast and coffee for breakfast, eggs or pancakes or even better? Count me in!

Unfortunately, Penny was especially tense and giving out tasks because a vet was coming to see if he wanted to work here. Thus she wanted us here and essentially forced us to stay and clean the clinic saying that she would make us breakfast here. (sidenote: Karl and I don't like eating here because the silverware is out on the counter and there are cats on the counter and ew! We have very strong views on the subject). It was especially frustrating because the cleaning woman was there and it took us an hour to clean properly when she is being paid to do just that! So then we ate here, did some work with the vet, and around one decided to go out to lunch.

We got lunch and milkshakes, then went to a coffee shop for a coffee, and then stayed out till 3:30 because we stopped at the A1 Bar and Karl got a beer and i had some water. We needed the time to vent and discuss and Karl really tries to make sure I get out and get to see some of Kochin while I am here.

Only to come back and have it made to seem as if we were being slow and shirking our duties. Which is definitely not the case, we just do not have structure at all and we are in India! We want to have time to see India! We even worked yesterday, and it was Sunday! I really do love it here, but this must be sorted out or I think Karl will leave and I really could not stand that.

On top of todays drama, which Karl and I think would make a very funny and engaging Animal Planet reality TV show, Sonia called today and said that Knuckles passed on during the night. I was almost relieved because he had been in so much pain but I can't help thinking that if he had been en to the veterinary hospital they would have known if he could have been saved and perhaps put him down earlier so we could have saved time and saved him much pain with all the pokes and such. Such a sad story, but I really feel I did what I could.

On the brighter side of the day, got cortizone cream for my rash AND had 2 strawberry milkshakes which were surprisingly awesome.

Planning to shop sometime this week, I need more clothes and I think I want to buy some things for my room to make it more homey.

Speaking of home, did I mention we don't have toilet paper at all here, anywhere?

...

yea think that over and I'll explain it tomorrow :-)