Providence Animal Rescue League is a wonderful place to volunteer. The atmosphere is laid back and relaxed, the workers don’t seem to judge you, and you’re surrounded by lovable animals; what more could you want? I love it now. I was nervous at first, but I personally love animals, so it makes it all worth it. I’m able to say all of this now because I’m comfortable at PARL. This second experience has made me feel at ease there.
First of all, when I first got there and felt extremely lost, a worker boosted my confidence. When I was floating around awkwardly not knowing how to start my shift, she came in and saw me. After I told her I was there for the second time she said “Oh so you know what you’re doing! Just go right in!” This made me feel a lot better because she treated me as if I was a veteran. Second of all, I wasn’t the newest volunteer there anymore. A new volunteer, a young adult named Allejondro, volunteered for the first time that day. This made me feel relaxed because I technically had more seniority than him; I was there longer; I had more experience.
I surprised myself with how confident I felt. Yes, it was my second time and I was no longer the new kid, but I still hadn’t been there long at all. I acted like I did though. I felt so much more calm the second time, especially dealing with the animals. I wasn’t afraid to go into the kittens’ cages at all, and I wasn’t afraid to go into the large cats’ cages either. The kittens obviously weren’t as intimidating as the cats I dealt with on my first day, but the large cats in the central room of PARL were! They were in the central room because they were big cats and they needed big cages, though I wasn’t afraid. The dramatic rise in my fearlessness was definitely a surprise to me.
I’m intrigued by the fact that I still haven’t seen all of PARL though I’ve been there twice. The first time I volunteered they only showed me the rooms pertaining to the cats, where I would be working. In addition to that I saw the garage because I needed to get the litter boxes. My second time I was exposed to a couple more rooms. I saw the hallway leading up to the laundry room, the laundry room itself, “the dog room” briefly, and a storage room. The hallway leading to the laundry room was through a door off the garage. Off of this hallway were two or three rooms that I didn’t go in, but glanced at. One room looked like a cat room that might be for sick cats. There was another room with larger cages that probably was the dog equivalent. I barely saw “the dog room” because the storage room was right at the beginning. “The dog room” contained many different dog cubby-cell things. There were dogs inside it, I assumed, but didn’t see personally. Unfortunately I wasn’t lead through that area. And obviously the laundry room kept laundry and the storage room kept food and water bowls and other storage. Keeping this in mind, it’s intriguing that I haven’t seen the entire shelter yet. It’s as if they don’t find full tours necessary because volunteers only deal with certain parts of the shelter. It’s interesting to think there’s a lot more I have yet to see at PARL.
I was pretty disgusted by the smell my second time. Sam and Kristin commented on how I didn’t mention the smells a lot in my verbal snapshot so, on my second trip to PARL I focused on the scents. I concluded the smell of cat litter is disgusting. I gagged a few times. I mean, I guess it’s sanitary that we change their litter every day, but it still smells horrid. The kittens smelled worse, at least in my opinion. But by the time I got to the large cats my nose might have already adjusted to the smell of cat. Other than that, it’s kind of hard to be disgusted in a place filled with innocent and adorable animals.
Overall, I had a great time volunteering my second time. Although I didn’t sign in when I first came in (because the other girls didn’t and I wasn’t instructed to so I didn’t even think about it) I worked longer than I had my first time volunteering. It didn’t feel longer though. I had more fun. I had the opportunity to play with the cats more, and wasn’t afraid to interact with them as much. Maybe the key to PARL is comfortability; maybe that’s why they don’t have formalities, because being comfortable causes the work to go by quickly and efficiently. Now that I think about it, it kind of makes sense.
Kristen,
ReplyDeleteUpon reading this excellent post (loaded with golden nuggets!!), I have two big questions, which I think could lead somewhere interesting for you:
1. Working with animals is smelly, dirty work.
It takes a special kind of person to handle this type of work.
Just like it takes a special kind of person to take care of babies. Or, to take peoples' blood. Or, to perform autopsies.
"Sam and Kristin commented on how I didn’t mention the smells a lot in my verbal snapshot so, on my second trip to PARL I focused on the scents. I concluded the smell of cat litter is disgusting. I gagged a few times. I mean, I guess it’s sanitary that we change their litter every day, but it still smells horrid. The kittens smelled worse, at least in my opinion. But by the time I got to the large cats my nose might have already adjusted to the smell of cat. Other than that, it’s kind of hard to be disgusted in a place filled with innocent and adorable animals."
I absolutely LOVE that Sam and Kristin (critical friends!!) led you to pay more attention to the olfactory senses--your nose and what it tells your brain to think--and to what PARL smells like. (I think the monkey house/aviary at the Roger Williams Zoo is impossible...I cannot go in that place and have to wait outside...the smell makes me gag, no matter what.) What does this mean, culturally?
2. The informalities at this workplace. Is there anyone there who works there full time? Who actually receives a salary for working there? Does the volunteer staff outnumber the full time staff? Give us a sense of the proportion of full time/part time. It seems to me, as a reader of fieldnotes and your blog, that no one's "running the donut shop," as they say. If someone IS, in fact, in charge, how do they keep a handle on who's doing what and when? All I keep thinking is this:
If the lack of organization here is driving Kristen (a brand new volunteer) nuts, it's got to be driving someone else nuts, too, right?
Right?
Right?
;-)
Keep going!!!!! I love this study! You're getting close to having some well-defined threads to start pursuing here...
Your fieldstudy sounds like so much fun! I would love to volunteer to work with animals. I really like how you describe the smell of the cat litter because I could kind of imagine what it smelled like, too. I guess there has to be some sort of "dirty" work involved when you get to work with adorable cats afterwards! I wonder just how big the big cats are? I'm thinking of some crazy large sized cats in my head right now.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see the rest of your fieldstudy!
In a way, I feel that it's almost better that you still haven't seen the entire shelter yet. I imagine it must give kind of a sense of mystery and anticipation as you wait to be exposed to more and more of what is clearly a large organization. That way, you're not overwhelmed by the sheer size of the shelter and all the possibilities of things to write about. I hope you feel the same way and that you can take the time to focus on each area of the shelter and pull out the valuable information you find there.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to volunteer at an animal shelter, so your fieldstudy in general really interests me. I like your sensory descriptions and I especially like how you reflect on your first time and see how, now that you're more comfortable (and more of an insider?), you see that the informal "system" they have actually works well, or at least better than you initially thought. Good job :)
ReplyDelete