Today was Zoo Day. We had been planning on going for almost three weeks now and last night the boys were so excited that they all went to bed without even being told. Only one of them, Ajay, had been to the zoo before so it was going to be quite the treat.
We have had pretty substantial rain over the past week and I’m pretty sure I haven’t prayed for a rain free day this much since my days of track and field. I guess somebody was listening, because the day turned out absolutely perfect. Not only was today the first rain free day in a week, but the morning was nice and cloudy with temps a little cooler than normal. Perfect for traipsing through the Park. A volunteer who usually comes every weekend, Ravi, was originally going to join us with his two kids, but was called in to work on Saturday, so it was 10 boys, and 4 adults all packed into the Bolero.
As is the norm with me and groups of kids (most recent event prior that comes to mind is a certain trip to a water pack in Gulfport, MS), I somehow managed to be separated from the caretakers and our driver with 8 of the boys while they split the two youngest amongst them.
No complaints here. It was so great going from exhibit to exhibit and listening to the boys as they searched for which animal was inside and worked on getting the names right. Some of the big favorites of the day were the elephants, lions, tigers and giraffes, but the runaway winner was the gibbons. Regardless of which animal we were watching, the was a constant stream of laughter and it was really great just to listen to the boys enjoy the animals being themselves.
I also really enjoy the fact that being with a bunch of little boys means there is plenty of conversation around why a deer poops little pellets, how much pee the hippo actually peed, which bird is gonna win the fight for the fish, and just how great it would be to have a trunk like and elephant. Learning to read the zoo map was also quite entertaining and since I made them take turns trying to lead we went in circles several times.
After the zoo, we went to the India Gate for a spell to play in the park and let off a surprising amount of energy considering we had just spent a few hours in a zoo. Then we took a vote and hit up McDonalds (unanimous decision and a very special treat) for some lunch on our way back to Noida.
It’s now a little bit after 9pm here and the house is absolutely dead. I deem it a successful day :).
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