'Tis the Year of the Snake

Singapore is experiencing cool, rainy weather these days. The type that makes you want to snuggle something warm and never leave bed. Going to work in the mornings are a challenge.

A few weeks back, while shopping for linen, I fell in love with a purple (synthetic) fleece - a woolly blanket, in other words. Even after forcing myself to take a day to think about it and get over the "madness", I crawled back to the store the next day and bought it. I have a weakness for those things. Disturbing as it sounds, they kinda make me feel safe - from what I do not know! Probably wardrobe and under-the-bed monsters.

I had pleasant duty day at the zoo today. For the first time, I got the chance to work with two other volunteers. It was actually fun. In a series of unfortunate coincidences before today, I picked days that no one else picked so I ended up managing the station and giving a dreaded (yes, I said dreaded) commentary on the King Cobra feeding session all alone three times. On the bright side, this situation made me lose some of my fear of public speaking since I didn't have the choice of worming out of it. And today, with three volunteers at the station, I saw the least number of visitors at the zoo so far AND Elvis, the King Cobra was shedding its skin so there was no feeding (and no commentary o_O). So instead of doing the usual commentary, I was holding on to a piece of snake shedding next to the exhibit and using it as a conversation starter to strike random chats with visitors and try to interest them with reptile facts. It worked pretty well, WAY better than ordinary small talk.

Maybe I should take a piece of snake shedding to work. That way, I might be able to make more conversations with my colleagues.Good idea, Shu, you are already a weirdo at work and this will make no difference to your reputation.

Snakes like all other reptiles, shed their skin regularly to replace old or damaged skin, to grow larger in size or to get rid of parasites. During this time, they stop feeding and tend to hide in a safe place.

It's interesting to see the reactions of different people. Some shriek over it (mistaking it for an actual snake or imagining somewhere in the back of their mind that a piece of dead snake skin will bite them), others give an uncomfortable smile and walk away. But most of them are drawn to it by their curiosity and are excited to touch it and either ask questions or just listen. Parents who like to actively educate their kids during their excursion to the zoo, usually make them touch it and explain to them what it is. And some kids don't want to part with it after getting a chance to hold it. Today, two of them tore a small piece and refused to hand them back, but we have plenty so it didn't really matter.

Though we don't really do this to hear thanks (we do it for a whole lot of other reasons, like getting up close with animals and optimistically believing that we can somehow stall the extinction of certain animals species and the destructive course the planet is headed towards), it does feel a little heartwarming when some people say "Thank you for sharing" and walk away with a smile.

The approaching Chinese New Year in February happens to be the Year of the Snake! Looking forward to the three days of holidays, touring around with some visitors and eating lots of oranges.