penguinification

(pic from flickr: boulders+penguins)

what is it called when you see yourself through the activities and behaviours of penguins?

i had quite an enjoyable afternoon yesterday. i kinda wished i had brought my camera along, but for personal safety reasons i decided to save looking like a tourist for another day. it’s a bit comical when i start reflecting on it, cuz i’m quite sure that people i came across knew immediately that i’m not from the area. other than me being the only asian walking around in solitude, which is enough of a clue on its own, i was also stopping for postcards and other tourist spots that attracted my attention. on my train ride there, my eyes were glued to the magnificent beauty of the false bay seashore while sipping down a smirnoff ice. to top off my foreignness, i was yelling out to the minibus driver that i need to get off at what turned out to be the final stop for everyone. aiyaa… way to stand out josh!

it was my journey to meet the african penguins at simonstown friday after work. african penguins (aka jackass penguins due to the mating noises they make) are not nearly as good looking as the emperor penguins from antarctica. plus, it’s molting season for them so feathers were going everywhere and none of them were swimming… oh all except one.

it was quite the fun activity to spot out the personalities, or penguinalities(?), of these birds. a large trendy bunch were sunbathing at the centre of this most beautiful fine-sand beach on a friday afternoon (while the humans were “locked up” in an enclosed trail beside them!). the yuppies preferred lying on the boulder a bit above the others, engaging in a sophisticated kind of a conversation. then there was a much smaller community hiding in the shade under the deck. i thought they looked more like asian penguins than africans. other than that, there were the hikers, the wanderers, the players, the loners in and around the bushes. and finally, there was this rebel that had my attention for the longest time.

he was a youth who’d ignore his parent’s warning, knowing full well that without waterproof feathers he’d get super cold going into the water. he was literally the only guy that was remotely close to the water on this fine day. apparently, the penguins have to stay out of the water for a month during the molting season. i don’t blame him though. it was a warm and beautiful afternoon and i would at least dip my feet in was i allowed to be on that beach. i actually didn’t see him dive into the water, but they way he was walking on the little rock suggested to me that he just came out of it. it looked like to me he had a good time with that little adventure!