My Birthday (or a visit with the King of the Beasts)

The movie night was actually held on my pre-birthday, the 29^th. Michal had made it clear that she had very specific plans on my real birthday, the 30^th. I greatly anticipated the day as Michal went to great pains to keep it secret from me for she knows how I love surprises. Now, if you know Michal, you can imagine how painful it was for her not to share with me what she was planning. I swear I thought she was going to explode!

Since the 30^th fell on a school day, her plans didn’t take effect until after she got home, at which point I was locked in my bedroom. When I was finally released, my two best friends here in Jerusalem, Jaimee and Helayne, were in the living room with Michal and a very large chocolate iced cake (that Jaimee had made) that said “Happy Birthday.” I would show you a picture of it, but it was so tasty that it didn’t live long enough to get photographed.

After happy birthday’s and cake, we gathered things up and took a cab to some mysterious location. That location turned out to be the Jerusalem Zoo where Michal had arranged a backstage private tour of the large cats in the zoo, starting with my birth animal, the lion!

Below is the link to the pictures from that day:

http://community.webshots.com/album/552801933AcqMkV

The tour was led by a colorful character named Dennis, who is the man in charge of all the animals that can rip your arm off with big sharp pointy teeth. Dennis was originally from London, England and had a marvelous English accent. He was very charming and was very open with us about everything. Like, for instance, when he pointed out how the male lion watched him like a hawk, even when 100 meters away. Michal asked if the lion knew who he was and if the lion had a fondness for him. Dennis replied, “Yeah, he knows who I am, watches me every second he can see me. Likely tear me apart if he ever got the chance.” When I asked why he responded, “Because he is a big male lion, that’s why.” Fair enough, I thought.

Jaimee and Helayne were with us at the zoo and we all got to see some leopards that had just arrived and had not been put on display yet. We were the first people who didn’t work at the zoo to see them. Dennis also showed us the process they use to feed the lions and other large cats and told us about their diet, which consists of insane amounts of red meat.

After the private tour we continued to look at the other exhibits where a goat, and later an ostrich, took an unusual fondness to me. I swear they can sniff an animal lover a mile away.

The zoo also had a special section dedicated to animals from the Bible. It would have the name of the animal, where they lived today and the excerpt from the Bible where it was mentioned. It was very cool, but I’m kinda a geek that way.

After the zoo we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant where the four of us all had some of the best Indian food I have ever had (but then again, I was in desperate straits for Indian food so I might have been prejudiced at that particular moment). Helayne and Jaimee had never had Indian food before, so it was a real treat to share with them my favorite cuisine. Michal and I helped them pick out dishes and enjoyed watching them savor the fine delights of a well-made curry. Everyone scarfed down so much food that we could hardly walk away from the table.

Nothing a full stomach to help you fall right to sleep, and that’s exactly how we ended the night.

All in all I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. Much thanks goes to my wife for making it all happen.