My Love-Hate Relationship with the Zoo
We have a small zoo in Jaipur. It's not huge, you can walk the whole thing in less than an hour. And that's even taking time to enjoy ALL the exhibits. : ) But, the animals they have there are pretty neat, and we have gotten to know some of them, because, well, there are just a few. We love the Himalayan sloth bear. We LOVE the noisy lion they have. And the white tiger is always a favorite. The crocodiles with the pointy snouts, and the giant pelicans. Oddly enough, there are no monkeys, elephants or camels in the zoo. Guess we see plenty of those every day anyway. ; )
I love taking the kids to the zoo because we really enjoy those animals, there is a lot of pretty shady paths and trees, and a few little grassy areas we can stop and have a snack. It's a really quaint little place. But I hate going to the zoo because even on a Thursday morning at 9 a.m., it's crammed with other people who seem to think WE'RE one of the exhibits.
Last week we were trying to exhaust all the fun stuff in Jaipur before we started school, so we made a trip to the zoo. It was unusually crowded, and my blood pressure started rising the minute we walked in the door and a guy with a super zoom camera started clicking pictures of us. I told him, no, and as we walked by, told him to delete them. He said, "I'm for newspaper." I said, "Even more, take them off." : ) We battled the camera phones all day, people asking for pictures, and had our first encounter with people trying to tell me I could NOT possibly be Meryn's mother. These other three were obviously my kids, they are white, but she's black, so who's her mother? Argh.....
So, just so my kids will know one day: This is how much I love you. I brave the stares and cameras and uncomfortable conversations at the zoo, because I know you're oblivious to it, and I know you love it. : )
I love taking the kids to the zoo because we really enjoy those animals, there is a lot of pretty shady paths and trees, and a few little grassy areas we can stop and have a snack. It's a really quaint little place. But I hate going to the zoo because even on a Thursday morning at 9 a.m., it's crammed with other people who seem to think WE'RE one of the exhibits.
Last week we were trying to exhaust all the fun stuff in Jaipur before we started school, so we made a trip to the zoo. It was unusually crowded, and my blood pressure started rising the minute we walked in the door and a guy with a super zoom camera started clicking pictures of us. I told him, no, and as we walked by, told him to delete them. He said, "I'm for newspaper." I said, "Even more, take them off." : ) We battled the camera phones all day, people asking for pictures, and had our first encounter with people trying to tell me I could NOT possibly be Meryn's mother. These other three were obviously my kids, they are white, but she's black, so who's her mother? Argh.....
So, just so my kids will know one day: This is how much I love you. I brave the stares and cameras and uncomfortable conversations at the zoo, because I know you're oblivious to it, and I know you love it. : )
Our friend the white tiger. Levi enjoyed roaring at him. : )
First time I decided to take pictures of the people staring at us.
Luke found a stick and pretended to be a deer.
Then everyone else had to do it...
Our friend the tiger. The lion was not out, but we heard him roaring all morning!
Levi was straggling with all the people pinching his cheeks....
Second time I decided to take a picture of the people staring at us.
Third. : ) Such is life as a foreigner sometimes....
You're a good mama. I know you don't really even like the zoo (or at least you didn't used to)!
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