getting the hang of it.

hello hello hello
i hope everyone enjoyed their memorial day with a nice pool side BBQ and sunny weather. both were severely lacking over here in the UK. i did, however, have the day off thanks to 100+ years of bank holiday tradition. that's right, ladies and gents- bankers need a day off, too. way back when- before online banking and drive thru services- when banks closed, businesses closed. and because the english love tradition, everyone gets a day off for no other reason than to celebrate the end of spring. i kid you not. (the summer bank holiday isn't until august.)

let's talk about FareShare. i like it. a lot. warehouse life is interesting, to say the least. no two days are ever the same. i'm slowly assuming more responsibilities. currently, the operations manager is out on maternity leave meaning the london branch is down a team member. i'm filling her position a couple of days a week. i take inventory, call up each of the sites for food requests, allocate what we have, sort food with the volunteers, and make sure it all gets delivered. in the afternoons, i collect deliveries from sainsbury's and marks & spencer (two of the main grocery stores over here), brakes' produce, and occasionally, nestle, kraft, and unilever.

i've been out on the trucks twice now, which is quite the experience. i'm a glorified delivery man. the UPS of food. i like seeing and interacting with each of the different agencies, however brief it might be. the sites vary- soup kitchens, senior citizen hang outs, hostels for the homeless, centers for at-risk youth, drug rehab… yesterday, i helped deliver a route through the cambden borough. three of the locations were within a half a mile radius of the FSU study center. i'm a bit ashamed at how oblivious I was to all of these services throughout my study abroad experience.

i've got interviews with a couple of the national team members this week, which will add a new perspective to my work. i'm also trying to see if i can volunteer at another depot for a week- maybe head out to bristol or the midlands… we shall see.

until next time…

(ps- hi mom. please let me know if i have any spelling or grammar errors, aside from capitalization. that's asking for a miracle.)