May 31, 2008 - Journal Entry

It's hot today. Still comfortable but sleepy, "I don't wanna work" hot. And there's a (baboon) food shortage, so we all have to work. Stephen and Paul's trip was postponed and there are definitely three new babies coming in to start a troop with Howie (Holly's son) and Maddie (Lee's daughter). The smalls (and Jasper!) will move into a much bigger hok in the garage and the nursery babies will move into the hok where the smalls are now. Exciting!

Dinner last night was pretty interesting. Michaela, a tiny vegetarian woman from Australia who can eat for three people, was cooking with Sue, an older British woman who used to be in the army and is pretty controlling. But neither of them realized that they were cooking beforehand. My roommate Lucy was also assisting. Sue was off somewhere so Michaela and Lucy started without her. Once she did come in, sparks flew. Michaela and Sue fought about what to make, how much of it to make, etc. And this is after Michaela and Lucy had already started. Michaela is the only person that I have ever seen actually stand up to Sue, who can be a bit of a bully. It was great! But also kind of awkward for the rest of us who were just sitting there waiting for dinner. So we all decided to go up on the balcony and do some star gazing.

Poor Lucy was caught right in the middle of it all. And she had already had a rough day. Earlier that day she was mobbed by all of the babies in smalls because she had tried to wear a scarf to avoid getting her hair pulled out, but of course they just snatched the scarf off and when she reprimanded them, they mobbed her. there is one little girl in particular named Ling Ling, who none of the girls like because she loves to run by, snatch out a handful of hair and floss with it! Especially if your hair is long. I've never had a problem with her because she can't rip out one my locks so she only occasionally can get any strands from me. But she always gets Lucy really badly. And to add to the problem, Lucy was in the hok with a guy named Tom who Ling Ling loves so she was feeling extra confident when Lucy tried unsuccessfully to reprimand her.

Anyway, Lucy just got overwhelmed and ran out of the hok crying after about ten minutes. So at dinner Lucy, who usually has a few glasses of wine a night, had a few more than usual. LOL She was fine, she just became more chatty than usual. Normally she is very reserved And after dinner she got into a heated debate with Paul about the merits of being a vegetarian. There are several of us so we backed her up a little but for the most part, I try to avoid that conversation, especially with people who are already set in their ways like Paul!