A trip to the zoo

I’ve been visiting different zoos here and there since I was a kid; I feel that’s pretty normal. I always wander around, spend more time talking to the people I’m with than looking at the animals, I end up pronouncing the word animal as “aminal,” and I go home saying I want my own zoo complete with a pet lion. This Saturday I paid a visit to the national zoo with my friends Brandon and Kyle and it was a pretty similar experience.

The plan was to ride the cable car up to the top then walk slowly the whole way down and see everything. I learned that riding in cable cars feels exactly how I would imagine flying in Willy Wonka’s glass elevator would be like. Floating in the air and looking down on all the animals and trees and buildings has a magical sentiment about it. I feel like cable cars should be used more often. When I open my Willy Wonka theme park (complete with psychedelic boat ride) I will definitely include cable cars...and fizzy lifting drinks.

Anyway, I also learned that I hate favorite questions. “What’s your favorite animal?” “What’s your favorite color?” “What’s your favorite food?” I have to stop myself from asking why the well-meaning questioner is trying to set limits on me. But that’s what I feel favorites are. If my favorite color is purple does that mean I don’t like orange? Too frustrating. I ended up telling every animal we visited that they were my favorite and invited them to live in my own personal zoo (except for an ugly warthog/anteater looking thing, he is not welcome in my zoo).

By the time we left I had seen a gorilla brawl, lions growling at each other, a giraffe had seriously considered eating the tasty leafs I was offering it, and somewhere in there I ran into some penguins. I feel like they don’t belong here, but they were happy enough.

So going back to this favorite business, I was craving a hamburger all day, so I said that was my favorite food. The only trouble is that nobody does hamburgers right once you leave the US. I think it has something to do with the ketchup. Somewhere during the time that I was I was explaining all this in vivid detail, hands flailing through the air and everything, we decided to take me to a place called “Steers.” They’re apparently the best burgers around, but I’m not completely convinced yet. Good, yes. Worthy of idol worship, not quite.

Anyway, it was an incredibly happy day. I can’t get over how nice people are to me. I can’t get over how beautiful every place I visit is. I can’t get over how much at home I feel here. Every day has felt like a dream; even when all I do is sit around the house. I have fallen completely head over heels in love with Pretoria and it breaks my heart a little that my time here is more than half way over.