Don't you hang up on me!

Couldn't think of more creative titles. Any suggestions?

***

Tonight marks one of the best nights I've had working as a student caller. Even though I only had 2 proper conversations out of 3 hours, ONE particular call made my night/day.

***

My first conversation was with this lovely lady who wanted to hang up on me the moment I said I was calling from Imperial. Yeah... she did sound quite mean and scary at the start when she said,

"I don't have the time to talk to you and I don't wish to contribute anything. Bye now....." 

and I went

"NO! WAIT! I really really wanted to talk to you because you did Biochemistry too! And I wanted to know what people with a biochemistry degree do after they graduate! I'm a biochem student too! We don't have to talk about money at all! So PLEASE talk to me!" 

*awkward silence*

I suppose I did sound pretty desperate there. But I just spent a whole hour dialling numbers to no avail and I was pretty desperate.

Well, she was very pleased to give me advice on choosing careers and told me that I could call her back anytime to talk about careers which was pretty damn awesome :)

***

My second call was rather strange.....

I spoke to this guy who did materials engineering and told me he hated it and he was pretty sure he hated it by the time he did his second year which made him choose the insurance sector which he totally loves and has no regrets!

He highly encouraged me to ditch the sciences as well for something that pays better. He said,

"You don't want to be stuck in a laboratory all day, Amy! Go out and see the world!"

Also, he sounded pretty high. (explains why he called me Amy?!?!?!?!?)

So he was just generally really fun to talk to :)
P.S. we bitched about Imperial school fees and the difficult education system. I'd daresay we were BFFs by the end of the call.

***

Last but not least, this final call that really really made my day. I wish that everyone could get the chance to hear it. I just literally burst out laughing so hard and spent the whole night grinning because of this one phone call - which I called thrice.

What I describe here cannot possible match up to what I heard.

It was a recorded voicemail. Yes, I never even got the chance to speak with the actual guy. Though I really wish I did!!!!! But the voicemail was the most EPIC voicemail of all time! It was personalised and recorded by him! It starts with....

*Star Wars theme music plays* 

"WELCOME, TO THE DARK SIDEEEE.... I AM CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLEEEE... BUT I WILL BE SURE TO CALL YOUUUU BACK WHEN THE FORCE IS STRONGGGG..."

I WISH I RECORDED THAT!!!!!!! The voice! He made this really rustic voice trying to sound all darth vader-ish!

Yeahhhh... I'll leave you to imagine me spazzing out right after I heard that voicemail. :)))))

C'est la vie

I used to look at these pictures in a different light. It used to make me feel like "Wow. There are really kind people in this world! Faith in humanity restored! People should do this more often." I just sat behind a desk staring at these pictures via the internet. Just looked and them, feel sorry, feel glad that there are people helping, and just simply commenting.

When I look at pictures of food being distributed to the poor, people buying a hot drink or offering a sandwich to a homeless guy, helping the elderly across the street, down the stairs, stopping to control traffic, helping to carry groceries - all that, I can do, too - and I have.

Not so hopeless anymore, eh? ;)

Soup Run.

I am fortunate enough to have the experience of being one of those people in the pictures. Being the one that restores "faith in humanity".

What we do - a group of us travels in a mini van to Lincoln's Inn to distribute food to the homeless. When we arrived, a group of people just huddled around the van (some were even pushing) - to get to the front. I admit, being brought up in an environment where I was sheltered and warned not to eat street food, this was quite a terrifying experience to me (at first). 

I was never one who would approach or liked the idea of homeless people. I'm one who is afraid to eat at night markets, sit on dirty stools, touch table surfaces or even use cutlery lying on the table without wiping it down first for fear of contracting diseases and food poisoning. (Yeah, I know - can be quite a nuisance) So, you pretty much get the idea of how I try to avoid a lot of things.

Hanging out with my friends, I learned to be more laid back and just sit by the roadside/drain to enjoy a burger. (But i still do try to cover the stool with tissue before sitting if i'm wearing shorts - my bad!) Little by little gaining exposure - learning not to be afraid. 

The soup run definitely helped made me realise that my perception of the homeless was wrong. They're not bad people that should be avoided. They need help or perhaps a platform to motivate them or boost them to get back on their feet. In fact, I realised a lot of them were really old. They looked like they should be taken care of - by a family member, their children or grandchildren.

But anyway, my point is - everyone can be the person who helps. It reeeeeally doesn't take too much effort! I must say, that I really enjoyed myself making new friends as well (besides the liberating feeling of putting a smile on someone's face and seeing how thankful they are for your help). Win-win situation! So get off that lazy ass and sign up for a cause - anything, just help someone, make a life better. :)

And I will volunteer and help whenever I can - because I know, I can.