I have been bobbing and weaving, ducking and running, but I fear the plague that has struck our house this week is about to catch up with me. 7 days of children coughing in my face and snuggling their fevered bodies next to mine is my version of Russian roulette and I’m sensing that my luck has run out. So I’m hitting “publish” while the Motrin is still working and crossing my fingers that I wake up in the morning with an immune system that is ready to fight another day.
The boys had a day off of school for The Prophet’s birthday (Mohammed) on Thursday so Josh took the day off and we went to the wildlife park. Our kids, attending the American school, don’t get Martin Luther King Jr or President’s Day or Memorial Day as holidays, but they get Eid al Adha, Ashoura, and National Day (the king’s birthday). It sounds rather unAmerican, until you realize that the school runs via local employees (bus drivers, janitors, cafeteria staff and other support staff) so they are required to give Bahraini/Muslim holidays. The school year would run year round if they also took American holidays so the result is that Josh and the kids never have the same days off.
Anyway, Josh took a day off so we could all do something together (Calvin was off at church camp so he’s not in any of the photos).
We realized after we arrived that it was the perfect day to go. Because of the holiday there were tons of families to watch which may have been even more interesting than the animals.
Carter is pointing out how enormous the stone lion’s balls are. Seriously. It was quite a day for sex education (as you shall see).
There are 2 parts to the park: The smaller pens that are on the main grounds and the bus tour that drives around a loop and passes by the animals in their “natural habitat.” They are fenced in, but in larger areas. We arrived just in time to catch the bus.
I had more fun watching her than looking at the animals — she was so excited.
After we drove around for 20 minutes they let us out to explore the bird area.
Ducks!
A little help!
Heading back to the bus.
After the bus portion of our visit, we headed around the park loop to check out the animals close up.
A very pregnant camel. Not only was she bulging on both sides, but we could see the baby moving under her skin. I can’t imagine that being kicked by camel hooves would feel very good.
When I saw these goats, I was really glad that I don’t have to carry around huge udders that drag almost to the ground (this goat at least had a little more clearance than some of the others). Carter thought these goats had even bigger balls than the stone lion until I pointed out that he was looking at nipples, not nuts.
I wouldn’t call that wall much of a barrier between those sharp quills and a curious kid’s hand. I wonder how many people get quilled each year?
There isn’t much for safety anywhere — either for the people or the animals. Some of the locals brought bags of bread and other scraps to feed the goats and I saw plenty of kids poking goats in the face. But to be real, it’s nice to enjoy something without the threat of a lawsuit sucking all the fun out of things. In an inshalla culture, you live at your own risk (at the privilege of Allah).
It looks like this woman is about to start reading to this curious guy
The goats had freaky alien eyes with rectangular pupils. When I first saw them I was afraid they were all inbred and genetically mutated.
At least they had the cheetah behind glass, proving that someone is making decisions about safety
More sex ed — of the turtle kind.
Thankfully these ducks were fighters, not lovers (at least that’s what I think they were doing!)
