My arms are sore from shovelling and sweeping, my legs are tired and I am more than ready to fly to Borneo, but I still have 3 days' left working at the zoo.
My first day was spent helping the elephant section and what struck me most was how different the health and safety is to that of English zoos. In my zoo, you were never allowed anywhere near the elephants and always had to stand behind metal bars if they were roaming freely in the paddock. What's more, you certainly never touched them! Imagine my surprise when I found myself in the elephant house next to one male and one female elephant who were being cleaned. Neither were restrained in any way, and the female even laid down on the ground so that the keeper could scrub her belly properly. The keeper handed me a scrubbing brush, and I tentatively helped him whilst simultaneously thinking, "Thank god I added my health insurance information on the sign in sheet!"
Saturday I was with hoofstock, and mainly focused on the giraffes. I love giraffes because I think they are quite like me: gangly and too tall for their bodies! As a special reward for working so hard, the keepers led me to the roof of the giraffe house where we fed them food pellets and I was allowed to stroke them, something which I had never done at my zoo. We sat up on the roof for a long time, just watching them interact with each other; it was wonderful!
Each day at the zoo begins with cleaning enclosures and the Zoo Negara staff are fastidious about this. My hands are blistered and my forearm muscles ache from using them so much, but it is still an amazing experience that I am so grateful to have had. Next week I am working with Tapirs on Monday, and then hippos on Tuesday...brilliant!
I have also had the good fortune to have a complimentary Fitness First gym pass in KL to get my fitness levels up for Mount K. The gym is superb and everyone is very friendly to me. This week is good for my talking practice: all day long I chatter away to zoo keepers and members of the public, and then more talking in group exercise classes at night. Lots of good speaking opportunities here! I think I am finally relaxed about expecting turbulence whilst I am travelling. I am so far out of my comfort zone that I sometimes struggle to remember what a comfort zone would feel like. Even when I am chatting to my family and friends on Skype, I am aware that people in the internet cafe can hear me and are listening (who wouldn't?! My life is a nonstop stream of excitement, hee hee!). I am now looking forward to coming home and getting myself really strong again although this time I will have the confidence to know that my speech does hold up when it is pushed to the limit, as it has been these past 5 months.
On Sunday I had a day of rest and so spent the day doing contacts and shopping, which I normally hate at home but here it is quite fun as most clothes seem to fit me. Karen Millen had some amazing party dresses in stock for Christmas and one navy silk dress caught my eye, but sadly I have nowhere to wear such an item and therefore cannot justify the purchase. If anyone wants to invite me to something special so I can buy the dress, I will gladly accept! Emails to the usual address, please!
