Joo

The other day Cynthia and I were sitting in our friend's house drinking tea and the kids were roaring around the room telling us about all kinds of wild animals. All of the sudden all five of us had a burning desire to go to the zoo together. That was on Monday and the coming Friday happened to be a holiday, so we set the date for Friday. 

Most Nepali words are not at all like English words, but sometimes, English words make their way into the Nepali vocabulary. Words like computer, doctor, and zoo. But there is no "Z" sound in Nepali, so it ends up being "joo." And I don't know why, but Cynthia and I really got a kick out of it being called a joo.

We talked and talked about the joo all week and couldn't sleep last night because we were more excited than we are for Christmas Day (that is a true statement).  

The kids woke their mom up at 5 AM because they needed to shower and get ready to go to the joo. 

When Cynthia and I walked across the street this morning to go pick them up, they dragged us inside the house, pulled a small suitcase out from under the bed, and rummaged around for a beautiful dress for Sarala and some nice pants for the boys. 

All of that to say- we were excited. 

We arrived at the joo right when it opened and the police officer outside the gate took this nice photo of us. He made sure to get the "in" sign for us. I promise, the kids were excited too... they just don't smile for photos (you will see what I mean). 

We saw some reptiles who just really wanted to get out and play and some amazingly colored birds! 

We even got to see an enormous tiger roaming around his habitat! He was our favorite. 

  

Our other favorite was the elephant! Especially Sundesh... can't you tell? (No, but seriously, he was super excited. This kid just won't smile for the camera.)

The boat ride was nice, but so hot! Poor Sundesh in that sweatshirt!

Sweaty lovey boat ride. 

Then, as we were getting out of the boats, we saw the elephant walking down the path!  Those ladies on the right in the photo had just put some money in the elephant's outstretched trunk and did a quick puja to the elephant. The trainer (blue shirt) is pocketing the offerings. 

I'm telling you, Sundesh loved that elephant. Look at him starting to run away!

At one point, it started coming for Sarala and me because we didn't do the puja! 

Once the elephant was gone, we got Sundesh to smile! Ahh, sweet relief!

So we celebrated by walking past the "Funny Temple" and playing on the swings for a while.

I will always remember my first trip to the Nepali Joo with my friends. 

The End.