July 13, 2001 — Mudeif Productions

A slow, easy morning off brunching in West Jerusalem and visiting with interesting folks. With our Belgian classmates' words ringing in our ears, we headed off to the zoo - not the Tel Aviv one, but rather the Jerusalem "Bible Lands" Zoo (the friends with whom we're staying have a toddler who is beginning to learn words, so the outing was perfect for her, and for the four of us who pretended we were going for her benefit). We spent some time admiring a number of the animals there, including hippos and monkeys and elephants and ostriches (the definition of a "Bible Land" animal has been stretched a little thin).

*The hippo enclosure with old home foundations across the valley.*

Strangely set apart between two animal areas was a fenced off section which had what appeared to be old home foundations - an old (and it appeared to be quite old, but we don't know) Arab home, likely abandoned in the '48 War, but for some reason preserved and fenced off - a reminder that even a trip to the zoo here is fraught with politic implications if one chooses to see them. Across the valley, over the hippo pond, we could see many more such foundations as the muezzin's prayer call sounded.

The highlight of the trip, though, was the closing-time rounding-up of the giraffes. One was unwilling to cooperate with the handler, who then sent for back-up with a jeep that then succeeded in chasing the giraffes around their pool for an additional half hour. We then spent the night "babysitting" (the kid was already asleep while we watched TV).