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Banana On Your Butt
Mar. 15th, 2006 12:44 pmTuesday 1:20 pm
I love Chimpanzee lunchtime. We were all playing outside -- it's been really beautiful before noon every day for the past week, and the chimps were additionally excited because Balume, their caregiver who now only cares for Shege, was in the compound visiting them.
I remember when I first came to the Chateau Chimpanzee -- Balume was a full-time babies caregiver since Shege hadn't yet arrived. Balume was, by far, Etaito's favorite. One of my most severe bitings was, in fact, when Balume was doing his wash and Etaito couldn't find him, went into a panic, and took out the frustration on one of my knees, through my jeans.
Now that Balume isn't here anymore, it was just so clear how much things had changed as I watched him interact with Balume today. Of course he was happy to see him and jumped into his arms straightaway. The longer Balume was there, though, the more I realized how "important" I'd become as Etaito would rush Balume, biting him, playing rough, stealing his shoes, and then come back to me, hop into my lap and want snuggles and grooming.
It made me so proud, and also so honored to have won this tiny chimpanzee's trust, and, dare I say, "love"... And once you're being treated like a mother, it's hard not to act like one. Achilles came in with the food Mwacca had just purchased for the chimps, and I saw the bag come in and initiated the food-hoot. Okeysha ran down from the tree, and Etaito jumped onto my back.
Okeysha crawled up my front and I hooted, they hooted -- Etaito right into my ear (since he was behind me) as we headed over to the big plastic bag. Achilles grabbed a big banana and reached down to give it to Etaito.
Almost in sync, Etaito took the big banana from Achilles and threw it onto the ground. I reached into the bag, reassurance-hooting and took a handful of small bananas, as well as some passion fruit and hooted as I opened the passion fruits for the kids.
Kanabiro gets so excited when there's food that she jumps up and down, smacking her feet hard on every landing. Of course, when she's sitting on you, it's somehow less fun, but still funny.
Bonane was putting away the food into the fridge as the kids kept eating. I had both Kanabiro and Okeysha climbing on me, so I decided to sit down. I backed into the chair and plopped down. Etaito climbed up onto my lap and I helped him open a passion fruit. The gooey slimey seeds went all over my lap and after he got up, I tried to brush them off.
Bonane wanted to sweep up the fruit carnage from the cement floor, so I went to stand up, helping Etaito get onto my back. When Bonane started to laugh!
... Yeaa... I guess there'd been banana in the chair when I sat down. Because I had smushed, slimy banana all over my butt.
My friends know how much I hate the "eating banana" noise. It colors my opinions of bananas in general, having to hear that gross slimy smacking whenever someone is eating banana. Amazingly, chimpanzees don't seem to make that noise with bananas, although they make it with every single other kind of food.
Had I known what the feeling of smushed wet banana in fabric was SO disgusting, I'd never have complained about the sound. Just trying to brush the banana off my butt was horrific. I couldn't help but laugh, because as I squealed, Achilles and Bonane laughed, and Etaito protested that I was moving more than 2 feet away from him.
The whole thing was sort of farcical -- since I already had passion fruit seeds all over the front of me, it was pointless to try to wipe the banana off the back of me. Every time I brushed somewhere new, there'd be more banana.
After everything, we went and flopped on the mattress in the "drop" between the two houses. The kids played and I nearly fell asleep.
I've got more video to upload but I'm honestly not sure when I'll be in the office next. I'm still not sure at all when Debby and Liz are coming, and I'll admit to being nervous about my five days with Liz. I'm also not sure if Debby will think I did a "good job" since I was never really sure to start with what it was I should be doing. hehe.
Either way, my dad and Ruth get to Uganda in 8 days and I get to the US in 14!! Time really is running up!
I love Chimpanzee lunchtime. We were all playing outside -- it's been really beautiful before noon every day for the past week, and the chimps were additionally excited because Balume, their caregiver who now only cares for Shege, was in the compound visiting them.
I remember when I first came to the Chateau Chimpanzee -- Balume was a full-time babies caregiver since Shege hadn't yet arrived. Balume was, by far, Etaito's favorite. One of my most severe bitings was, in fact, when Balume was doing his wash and Etaito couldn't find him, went into a panic, and took out the frustration on one of my knees, through my jeans.
Now that Balume isn't here anymore, it was just so clear how much things had changed as I watched him interact with Balume today. Of course he was happy to see him and jumped into his arms straightaway. The longer Balume was there, though, the more I realized how "important" I'd become as Etaito would rush Balume, biting him, playing rough, stealing his shoes, and then come back to me, hop into my lap and want snuggles and grooming.
It made me so proud, and also so honored to have won this tiny chimpanzee's trust, and, dare I say, "love"... And once you're being treated like a mother, it's hard not to act like one. Achilles came in with the food Mwacca had just purchased for the chimps, and I saw the bag come in and initiated the food-hoot. Okeysha ran down from the tree, and Etaito jumped onto my back.
Okeysha crawled up my front and I hooted, they hooted -- Etaito right into my ear (since he was behind me) as we headed over to the big plastic bag. Achilles grabbed a big banana and reached down to give it to Etaito.
"No," I scolded. "Etaito n'aime pas les grand bananes. Il mange seulment les petites bananes!"
Almost in sync, Etaito took the big banana from Achilles and threw it onto the ground. I reached into the bag, reassurance-hooting and took a handful of small bananas, as well as some passion fruit and hooted as I opened the passion fruits for the kids.
Kanabiro gets so excited when there's food that she jumps up and down, smacking her feet hard on every landing. Of course, when she's sitting on you, it's somehow less fun, but still funny.
Bonane was putting away the food into the fridge as the kids kept eating. I had both Kanabiro and Okeysha climbing on me, so I decided to sit down. I backed into the chair and plopped down. Etaito climbed up onto my lap and I helped him open a passion fruit. The gooey slimey seeds went all over my lap and after he got up, I tried to brush them off.
Bonane wanted to sweep up the fruit carnage from the cement floor, so I went to stand up, helping Etaito get onto my back. When Bonane started to laugh!
"Que passé?" I said in my awful, wrong French.
"Regardez!! Le Banane!" squealed Bonane.
... Yeaa... I guess there'd been banana in the chair when I sat down. Because I had smushed, slimy banana all over my butt.
My friends know how much I hate the "eating banana" noise. It colors my opinions of bananas in general, having to hear that gross slimy smacking whenever someone is eating banana. Amazingly, chimpanzees don't seem to make that noise with bananas, although they make it with every single other kind of food.
Had I known what the feeling of smushed wet banana in fabric was SO disgusting, I'd never have complained about the sound. Just trying to brush the banana off my butt was horrific. I couldn't help but laugh, because as I squealed, Achilles and Bonane laughed, and Etaito protested that I was moving more than 2 feet away from him.
The whole thing was sort of farcical -- since I already had passion fruit seeds all over the front of me, it was pointless to try to wipe the banana off the back of me. Every time I brushed somewhere new, there'd be more banana.
After everything, we went and flopped on the mattress in the "drop" between the two houses. The kids played and I nearly fell asleep.
I've got more video to upload but I'm honestly not sure when I'll be in the office next. I'm still not sure at all when Debby and Liz are coming, and I'll admit to being nervous about my five days with Liz. I'm also not sure if Debby will think I did a "good job" since I was never really sure to start with what it was I should be doing. hehe.
Either way, my dad and Ruth get to Uganda in 8 days and I get to the US in 14!! Time really is running up!
