Manila Zoo

There are two books you quite enjoy these days: a book on baby animals and a spiral book on zoo animals which Kent gave away at his 7th birthday party.

Mommy has thought some time ago to take you to the zoo so you can see what these animals look like in real life (so, so much bigger!) The trip was brought forward as there have been newspaper accounts that Maali, the resident elephant at the Manila Zoo, might be transferred. We had to pay Maali a visit just in case the reports turn out to be true (Not true, said the new Mayor of Manila who is the Philippines’ ex-President who was almost impeached from office but was not because the procedure was aborted but he had to leave his office anyway, because of People Power. And they call the United States the land of opportunity? Bah, as you see, in the Philippines, even ex-Presidents who’ve served detention time can be re-elected to public office.)

Sorry, Mommy digressed (digress means to go another way or to take a different path; this is similar to us going inside the bookstore when we are supposed to be doing our grocery).

Anyway, back to our zoo story.  Last Sunday, we went together with your friend Alon (of course Alon’s nanay, tatay, and yaya) to visit Maali.  Hmmm... Did not look like you boys were impressed with Maali’s long trunk nor Maali's flapping ears!

Two not so excited little boys with Maali in the background


We went to see the rhino, monkeys, a school of fish (now, Alon perked up on this one!), tigers, cockatoo, peacock, and a zebra (You have to remember this Anton Lee: In the Philippines, you pronounce “zebra” as “zee-bra” but “zeh-bra” when you are in Australia.  This is because the Philippines follows the American-English pronunciation while Australia follows the British-English pronunciation).

 

 Do you remember what quite impressed you? It was the… Giraffe!  He was sooo tall!

 Sadly, the Giraffe wasn’t real (Can’t blame you though. He looked real enough to Mommy).  Daddy has promised that you’ll get to see a real one in two weeks’ time.

PS:  There are interesting things we’re learning from your book on baby animals.  A baby Monkey is called an Infant; a baby Elephant is called a Calf; a baby Zebra (don’t forget what Mommy has just told you about the pronunciation!) is called a Foal. Oh, a baby Vulture is called a Chick (fancy that!)

PS2:  Mommy doesn’t like name-calling as it shows a total lack of imagination and an inability to intelligently defend your position. For example, if you’re losing an argument, you cannot say, “Hey Monkey-face, go back to your cave!” It is so wrong. But if you must resort to name-calling (this is really reserved for extreme cases), you can perhaps say, “You’re such a Jellyfish”.  You know why that’s extreme? A jellyfish does not have eyes, ears, heart, or a brain. Ha.

PS3: This trip to the Manila Zoo goes to show how much you’ve changed Mommy.  Mommy’s been living in this metropolis for more than half of her life, has been working in an office which is practically next door to the zoo for more than seven years, and has managed to see this same zoo only four days ago.  Because of you. And not because Maali might be leaving.