Just took him to the vet last night. He is totally healthy minus a bug that 90% of kittens have and even that is a very mild case. As you can tell I am no longer using androgenous references. It is official, it is a "he". Sorry, I will not own a boy cat named "Ruby", so stop voting for it.
Also, if you've got another great name idea you can leave a comment for us. Thanks!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Poor Time Management and Culinary Coincidence
Mindy and I celebrated our one year dating anniversary in style on Saturday the 30th (actual day was the 28th). It was going to be a day of relaxation, strolling, chatting, and soaking up the time together. The plan wa to go the horse race track, have a nice Indian buffet dinner, then head to Cats the musical. All of this had to be done via subway.
After taking 2.5 hours to get to the track we were ready to start our day. Upon getting to the race track we realized that our scheduling was a wee bit off for this day - we (meaning I) failed to take into account the exorbitant amount of time spent merely getting to the places we wanted to go that night. Seoul is a BIG city. Since every event for the night was time sensitive this was a bit of a problem. After walking around for 20 minutes we were lucky enough to find the foreigner's lounge where we 
met some fellow Americans that taught us how to bet. Betting in horse racing has the distinct ability to fool you into believing you are going to win some money and that winning it will be very easy. Unfortunately, we fell for that lie. You would think that with two people putting their heads together this would yield positive results, but you would be wrong in thinking this. We ended up losing $20 a piece on our first race. No time to lament our loss. We leave a few betting stubs on the blue theatre style seats and leave the cheering and gamblers behind. We are on a schedule.
met some fellow Americans that taught us how to bet. Betting in horse racing has the distinct ability to fool you into believing you are going to win some money and that winning it will be very easy. Unfortunately, we fell for that lie. You would think that with two people putting their heads together this would yield positive results, but you would be wrong in thinking this. We ended up losing $20 a piece on our first race. No time to lament our loss. We leave a few betting stubs on the blue theatre style seats and leave the cheering and gamblers behind. We are on a schedule. After our single horse race we ran to our subway so that we would not be late for our dinner reservations at an Indian buffet. If we were late for that it would have to be a fast dinner so that we weren't late for the musical Cats, which is on a tour through Asia. It was a 30 minute ride back to our dinner reservations. We ran into the Indian place, grabbed our plates, and swiftly filled our plates full of Indian food; a viscous soup of melding ingredients pooling in the middle. Soping it up with Nan bread we both decided we had time for one more plate and dessert. We topped out at 45 minutes for this event, including a glass of wine for Mindy and a gin and tonic for myself. The food was delicious. We had to run out the door to catch the next subway to the musical that started at 8:00. According to the subway map on our phone our next stop is exactly 42min long, after a transfer to another line. I look at my watch and the time is 7:10. We have 50 min. I could slowly see the night turning into a twisted version of the movie Speed.
As we bolted out the door I realized I left my cell phone in our hotel room, which was necessary as our reservation number was sent, via text, to me from the ticket company. Luckily, our dinner reservations were in the same building as our hotel, so I didn't have to go far. Unluckily, our room was nine floors up and we had to take a notoriously slow elevator to get there. Mindy had a plan to speed up this process: we would take the elevator up, when the elevator got to our floor I would bolt through the door, run to our room down to the far end of the hall, grab the phone, run back and she would hold the door. Brilliant! Up we go: 3rd Floor..4th..5th.....7th.....9th....*Ding*. "Go!" I bolt out the door in full stride, take the corner at full speed and run down the hall, Mindy is frantically pressing the "Door Open" button back in the elevator. I have already broken a sweat by the time I reach our door. I run inside and grab the cell phone in pitch dark as turning on the light would, apparently, take too much time. Locating the phone I grab it and run out the door. I am halfway down the hall as I hear the door close behind me. Mindy is still there with the elevator being held. Back down the elevator. 8th Floor.....6th....4th........
We run through the lobby of our hotel, Mindy's high heels clicking on the tile, and through the revolving door, which by the way are way to slow when you are in a hurry. The subway stop is right next to our hotel so we hit the stairs and Mindy gingerly navigates them in her heels. Realizing that I'm not exactly sure how to get to the theatre once we get off the subway I call information - the theatre is very near to the subway. Fully informed, we head for the turnstile, but my card won't read through my new wallet because it is picking up on my other cards. Finally, the reader works and I push the the turnstile and run for the subway. It is a slow 6 stops until the transfer station to the next line. When we get to the transfer station we run. Unfortunately, the distance between our subway and the line to the next subway is the longest distance any human has ever travelled. Ever. Considering the circumstances it is very unfair. We run up stairs, up escalators, across vast expanses of cement wasteland, down stairs, down escalators, and finally we are at the platform, sweating and huffing. The subway pulls up and we jump on. The air conditioning cools us off.
The time is 7:32 and we have about 11 subway stops to go. We sit and talk trying to ignore the fact that we are probably going to have to walk into a Broadway caliber theatre somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes late, find our seats, walk in front of people, sweat on them from all our running, step on their feet in the dark and disrupt them before we finally sit down. 
The subway rolls up to the stop at Jamsil station at 7:51. Eight minutes to go and we still have to find the theatre. We step out of the subway and our collective epidermi prepares to endure another session of sweating. We run up escalators, stairs, and across more vast expanses of cement before finding our way to Exit 3, as directed by Information. Amazingly, Cats is advertised on the door. It can't be far. We open the door out of Exit 3. Crap, more stairs! We run up a bunch of stairs and out into Jamsil nightlife: cars racing by, people yelling, lights flashing, the smell of Soju on passing businessmen.
The subway rolls up to the stop at Jamsil station at 7:51. Eight minutes to go and we still have to find the theatre. We step out of the subway and our collective epidermi prepares to endure another session of sweating. We run up escalators, stairs, and across more vast expanses of cement before finding our way to Exit 3, as directed by Information. Amazingly, Cats is advertised on the door. It can't be far. We open the door out of Exit 3. Crap, more stairs! We run up a bunch of stairs and out into Jamsil nightlife: cars racing by, people yelling, lights flashing, the smell of Soju on passing businessmen.We run to the Lotte World (an indoor "Disney World") as I have a hunch the theatre is connected. I ask the Korean woman where the theatre is by saying, "Cats?! Meow?" and make the meowing noise along with a meek pawing motion to only further humiliate myself as the clueless foreigner. She smiles, laughs at me, and points. 7:57. We follow what directions she gave us only to find out her turn right motion was the was referencing the next right and not this one. This one was a hotel entrance as the person at the front desk informs us. We run back through the extremely slow revolving door and down the side walk to the next right. Mindy's heels clicking. Me, sweating profusely. Romantically, no lie, we both burp up spicy Indian food into our mouths simultaneously. The jarring to our stomachs has managed to slowly summon the remains of aloo gobi and chicken masala onto both of our palettes. This culinary coincidence makes us each shed a tear onto our sweaty red faces. We continue to run. This is true love.
We run inside with our tickets, hand them to the lady and she directs us to our balcony seats. It is 8:02. I frantically, claw for the camera to get a shot of the stage. I snap one and like a stealthy well dressed Ninja a host rushes to our seats and waves his hands in our faces - twice none the less - to inform us wordlessly, as he can tell we are ignorant foreigners, that pictures are strictly prohibited. I flash my now perfected "What? I have no idea what you are talking about" face even though I had a hunch this action would be frowned upon. The lights dim. Over the speakers is heard, "Photographs are strictly prohibited in..." The lights start to flash. Cats begins and it is amazing.
Time tally for the night:
Travelling time: 4.5 hours
Time at Actual Events: 4 hours
One year in the books. It has been an incredible ride. An experience. Challenging. Enriching. Fast. Furious. Full of surprise endings and twists, Wonderfully unpredictable. All the stuff of a real good story that continues to be jointly written.-Scott
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Squeezing Water from a Stone
The summer was rapidly approaching and the word in the hallways was that I'd be holed up in the English room for the entirety of the break. That's right, just me...no students, no principal, maybe an occasional Korean teacher. I tried to look at the bright side and think of all the internet-surfing I could catch up on. I'd basically be like Scott is at his school everyday. Instead of dealing with this situation the Korean way (just smile and say yes) I decided to do things the Mindy way (raise hell). After fighting tooth and nail (AKA politely asking my principal if I could have the same vacation as Scott) we had two weeks to explore glorious Korea. It's amazing what you can get if you just ask for it!
The question now was, "what to do?" Some careful planning would have been a good idea. The carefree tra
vel attitude one can have in a place like Thailand or Mexico doesn't really work in Korea...that is if you want to have a worthwhile trip. As we didn't know this ahead of time, we took the play it by ear approach. We knew we wanted to get to Jeju Island, Korea's so-called mix of Hawaii, Disneyland and paradise. And instead of flying, we chose the adventurous bus/ferry route, first stopping off in Gyeongju, Korea's 'museum without walls'.
Sounds lovely--a city full of outdoor historical treasures. Only it was too hot and humid to even be outdoors, let alone do anything outside for any length of time. We didn't give up on Gyeongju yet, though. When daytime activities don't pan out there's always the nightlife. Well...Gyeongju doesn't have any, that we could find at least (which really isn't saying
much, based on our Korean navigation skills). Okay, so we didn't find any cool bars, but at the very least maybe we could get a nice meal out of this place. Nope. We apparently ventured out for dinner too late in what some Koreans may call a country that never sleeps. I guess that was our fault though, it was 10pm after all. Needless to say, Gyeongju was not our favorite place. It was definitely time for Jeju, just a hop, skip and an 11 hour ferry ride away.
When we booked the tickets for the ferry (3rd class) we saw where our "seats" (or floor space) would be, but I don't think the reality quite hit us. Or maybe it did, but it didn't occur to us that they would try to squeeze more than 100 people in a space meant for 75. We luckily scored a
spot where we were able to eat, drink, play cards and sleep (well, attempt) in the fetal position. It was either that or the hallway outside the bathroom. (Note: Don't take the ferry again.) Once we arrived on Jeju the real fun would begin...right?!
As we deliriously wandered through the streets of Jeju City, we hesitated, thinking we were on the wrong island. We passed Fantasia, a carnival and water park that looked like it had been shut down for years, and countless other closed businesses. It looked a bit like a ghost town...we were worried. Luckily, later that night we found the part of town that was definitely open for business. We even found a Mexican restaurant (El Paso) and enjoyed margaritas, sangria and of course....Mexican food (with a Korean twist, but still yummy)! Then we stumbled upon a darts bar. Yes, an entire bar devoted to darts in Korea. This was definitely the best night of our vacation thus far! We were reluctant to leave our Mexican food and darts, but figured we should see some more of the island....later realizing that was not necessary.
We headed to Seogwipo, which we later nicknamed Soggy Poo. There we tried to do some sightseeing. Our big adventure was the local waterfall, which supposedly is the only one in Asia that flows directly into the ocean. It's creates what would be a great swimming hole, but Koreans
don't really do that sort of thing. Scott does, though. Since we were on an island, my one wish (my wishes got more simple as the trip wore on) was to go to the ocean. We went to Jungmun Beach, which wasn't like any beach I'd ever been to. The Korean vacationers head to the beach and all cram into one area and sit at tables with umbrellas. And many don't venture into the chest-high water without their life jackets. Safety first should be Korea's national motto. After a grueling day at the beach and the waterfall we headed to our new favorite bar: Gecko's. They have free pool and darts (that can both be accessed while sitting at one table), western food, good beer and great cocktails. Need I say more.
Another interesting stop-off (recommended by other foreigners at a loss for things to do) was The Museum of Sex & Health. For being such a conservative country this museum is quite the opposite. I'm still blushing just talking about it. The museum focuses on sex education and sex culture, with information and many visuals (SEE PHOTOS) on everything from puberty to porn (not together, of course). This was the most happening spot on the island that we had seen so far. It was a regular family outing for many Koreans.
Once we exhausted all that Soggy Poo had to offer (we'd already been to Gecko's 2 nights in a row) we headed back north to finish off our vacation strong in the tourist arena. Scott's one dream on Jeju was to explore the lava tubes. They were very....dark. Although it was quite a trip walking through those massive, cold tubes that were once filled with boiling hot lava, not to mention a nice break from the sweltering heat above ground. On our way back from the lava tubes we hit up a giant hedge maze. It was a lot of fun, and pretty difficult
too. It took us either 45 minutes or 1 1/2 hours to get through. We're not sure...it's like the twilight zone in there. Luckily they give everyone a map (which we finally had to bust out in the last 15 min), otherwise they'd have tourists spending the night in there.
Our time in "paradise" was nearing it's end. Our last night was in Jeju City--the Mexican food was calling us. That is, until we discovered the culinary Holy Grail. We searched high and low for Baghdad Cafe, and boy, was it worth it. It was the best meal I've had since...a long time ago. And possibly the best Indian food I've ever had. The good wine, nice people and shisha to finish off the evening might have had something to do with it too. It was a perfect meal to end our not-so-perfect vacation.
Despite having told ourselves not to, the next morning we boarded the ferry. We were hoping to fly back to Seoul, which would cut our travel time from 12 hours to 2 hours. Apparently you need your passport to board an airplane in Korea. Weird, huh?! Well, we left ours in Gwangju, so it was the ferry/train/bus route for us. Luckily, we were able to avoid the 11 hour sleeper ferry and spend that time on a train (during the day, playing Scrabble) instead.
Since returning home and reflecting on our summer vacation, we're already making plans for winter break. We're torn between another Tour De Korea or Nepal. It's a toughie, I know.
~Mindy
The question now was, "what to do?" Some careful planning would have been a good idea. The carefree tra
vel attitude one can have in a place like Thailand or Mexico doesn't really work in Korea...that is if you want to have a worthwhile trip. As we didn't know this ahead of time, we took the play it by ear approach. We knew we wanted to get to Jeju Island, Korea's so-called mix of Hawaii, Disneyland and paradise. And instead of flying, we chose the adventurous bus/ferry route, first stopping off in Gyeongju, Korea's 'museum without walls'.Sounds lovely--a city full of outdoor historical treasures. Only it was too hot and humid to even be outdoors, let alone do anything outside for any length of time. We didn't give up on Gyeongju yet, though. When daytime activities don't pan out there's always the nightlife. Well...Gyeongju doesn't have any, that we could find at least (which really isn't saying
much, based on our Korean navigation skills). Okay, so we didn't find any cool bars, but at the very least maybe we could get a nice meal out of this place. Nope. We apparently ventured out for dinner too late in what some Koreans may call a country that never sleeps. I guess that was our fault though, it was 10pm after all. Needless to say, Gyeongju was not our favorite place. It was definitely time for Jeju, just a hop, skip and an 11 hour ferry ride away.
When we booked the tickets for the ferry (3rd class) we saw where our "seats" (or floor space) would be, but I don't think the reality quite hit us. Or maybe it did, but it didn't occur to us that they would try to squeeze more than 100 people in a space meant for 75. We luckily scored a
spot where we were able to eat, drink, play cards and sleep (well, attempt) in the fetal position. It was either that or the hallway outside the bathroom. (Note: Don't take the ferry again.) Once we arrived on Jeju the real fun would begin...right?!As we deliriously wandered through the streets of Jeju City, we hesitated, thinking we were on the wrong island. We passed Fantasia, a carnival and water park that looked like it had been shut down for years, and countless other closed businesses. It looked a bit like a ghost town...we were worried. Luckily, later that night we found the part of town that was definitely open for business. We even found a Mexican restaurant (El Paso) and enjoyed margaritas, sangria and of course....Mexican food (with a Korean twist, but still yummy)! Then we stumbled upon a darts bar. Yes, an entire bar devoted to darts in Korea. This was definitely the best night of our vacation thus far! We were reluctant to leave our Mexican food and darts, but figured we should see some more of the island....later realizing that was not necessary.
We headed to Seogwipo, which we later nicknamed Soggy Poo. There we tried to do some sightseeing. Our big adventure was the local waterfall, which supposedly is the only one in Asia that flows directly into the ocean. It's creates what would be a great swimming hole, but Koreans
don't really do that sort of thing. Scott does, though. Since we were on an island, my one wish (my wishes got more simple as the trip wore on) was to go to the ocean. We went to Jungmun Beach, which wasn't like any beach I'd ever been to. The Korean vacationers head to the beach and all cram into one area and sit at tables with umbrellas. And many don't venture into the chest-high water without their life jackets. Safety first should be Korea's national motto. After a grueling day at the beach and the waterfall we headed to our new favorite bar: Gecko's. They have free pool and darts (that can both be accessed while sitting at one table), western food, good beer and great cocktails. Need I say more.Another interesting stop-off (recommended by other foreigners at a loss for things to do) was The Museum of Sex & Health. For being such a conservative country this museum is quite the opposite. I'm still blushing just talking about it. The museum focuses on sex education and sex culture, with information and many visuals (SEE PHOTOS) on everything from puberty to porn (not together, of course). This was the most happening spot on the island that we had seen so far. It was a regular family outing for many Koreans.
Once we exhausted all that Soggy Poo had to offer (we'd already been to Gecko's 2 nights in a row) we headed back north to finish off our vacation strong in the tourist arena. Scott's one dream on Jeju was to explore the lava tubes. They were very....dark. Although it was quite a trip walking through those massive, cold tubes that were once filled with boiling hot lava, not to mention a nice break from the sweltering heat above ground. On our way back from the lava tubes we hit up a giant hedge maze. It was a lot of fun, and pretty difficult
too. It took us either 45 minutes or 1 1/2 hours to get through. We're not sure...it's like the twilight zone in there. Luckily they give everyone a map (which we finally had to bust out in the last 15 min), otherwise they'd have tourists spending the night in there.Our time in "paradise" was nearing it's end. Our last night was in Jeju City--the Mexican food was calling us. That is, until we discovered the culinary Holy Grail. We searched high and low for Baghdad Cafe, and boy, was it worth it. It was the best meal I've had since...a long time ago. And possibly the best Indian food I've ever had. The good wine, nice people and shisha to finish off the evening might have had something to do with it too. It was a perfect meal to end our not-so-perfect vacation.
Despite having told ourselves not to, the next morning we boarded the ferry. We were hoping to fly back to Seoul, which would cut our travel time from 12 hours to 2 hours. Apparently you need your passport to board an airplane in Korea. Weird, huh?! Well, we left ours in Gwangju, so it was the ferry/train/bus route for us. Luckily, we were able to avoid the 11 hour sleeper ferry and spend that time on a train (during the day, playing Scrabble) instead.
Since returning home and reflecting on our summer vacation, we're already making plans for winter break. We're torn between another Tour De Korea or Nepal. It's a toughie, I know.
~Mindy
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Please, Mail Us Cool Stuff!
A big thank you to Melody for sending us a stuffed care package! The Chai Tea is perfect! For those of you who are dying to send us a care package we like anything that reminds us, or tastes like home. Pictures, food, books (you can get an idea of which ones from our book list), candy, etc. Packages aren't too expensive to send, especially if you use the flat rate box. Here is the address:
Mindy Overlin
Dogung Elementary School
Docheok-myeon, Dogung-ri
Kwangju City
Kyonggi Province
South Korea
Friday, August 15, 2008
Kitty Trapping and Losing our Seoul
There are aspects to Korea were are finding very enjoyable: 1) The people are extremely communally and socially oriented. After a recent trip to Seoul's party town, Itaewon, which was a very wild night indeed, we were on the bus ride home the next morning after having to sleep in a hotel that night. Mindy was suffering from PTDD (Post Traumatic Drinking Disorder), otherwise k
nown as a hangover. She had already regurgitated once after getting off the subway, but this time we were on the bus and there was no where to safely place the bodily dislodgings except for a VERY small garbage can. While she sat, hunched over on the bus's step, with the can placed between her legs, taking care to do so quietly, an old Korean woman brushed past me (I have learned to leave Mindy alone and not touch her when she is sick), sat down behind her and started to perform a very vigorous back rub/back pounding and pressure point application to her hands and scalp. She started shouting orders to the packed bus to open windows and make room for her next to one. She gave the back rub for a good five minutes than gave Mindy her seat next to a window. It was truly quite touching. I kept saying "Kam-sa-ham-neda" (thank you), but her reaction was almost annoyed in a what-did-you-expect-me-to-do kinda way. After she was done she went right back into the conversation she was engaged in before she started to help. 2) Seoul REALLY is a lot of fun. Especially, with good friends. There are so many areas to explore and events to attend. It h
as world class jazz bars, sports bars, museums, food, theme bars, clubs, cultural events, operas, orchestras and plays - all of which we have explored so little of, but we have many opportunities in the coming months. The night that led up to Mindy's hard morning was really a blast. Mindy and I met up with our friends JJ and Kristin in Itaewon (Seoul's party town) and had a very hazy night *Pictures Here*. No doubt my new mustache greatly improved my own night! Starting at a Mexican restaurant, we moved onto darts, which led to shots of Jaegermeister (yuck), dancing, kettles of soju and juice and eventually wondering the streets of the world's third largest city. We ended up at a McDonald's at 2:30am before checking into a hotel at 3:00am with Seoul still partying well into the morning.
After a recent day of exploring Seoul we were finding our way out of the most recent Batman movie in Yatap - by the way if this was a movie blog I would rave about it- when we heard the distinctive high pitched call of a kitten coming from the bushes. This was extremely coincidental considering we had spent the last week or so talking about getting a cat, especially that day. Coming around the corner we saw the tinniest black and white kitten briefly spring from the bushes meowing before running back in. We spent a good 15 minutes looking for it in the dense brush, but to no avail. The next day we went back to find it. We spent a few hours chasing it around the bushes, briefly seeing it, before having to give up yet again. On the third day, yes the third day, we tried a new tactic. Why not try to trap the little bugger! So I put together a rudimentary box trap that was held up by two taped chopsticks (very Korean!) and, when the twine was pulled, the box would, theoretically, trap the kitten inside who was eating the tuna bait
*Pictures Here*. We sat for about an hour in one spot but never saw the cat. We reluctantly packed up only to hear that the cat had been in the adjacent green space! After finding its location I spotted him. He stared at me calling out for his mom. I got to within less than 2 feet of him before he took off into the deep bushes. After this event it was quite hard to leave, so we spent the next hour scurrying through the bushes covered in mud and branch clippings. We are now more determined than ever to catch this cat, or, at the very least, buy a comparable cat to drown out my visions of the lonely lost one! Our cat quest has now evolved its tactics as Mindy's mom has suggested the idea of digging a whole that the cat could fall into when it goes for the food. We are mulling that idea over as the logistics of it might be a little hard, but it is the best idea yet. In Korea, cats are not thought of very fondly. They are considered more pests than anything and, no doubt, this little one was dropped off by its previous owner. Having made eye contact with the little guy made it extremely difficult for me to just forget about it, so we have come up with all sorts of names for him/her.
Side note: Dogs are much more respected, but they are also a source of food and recently dog was acknowledged as an official food by Korean parliament, which gave special status to once secret dog breeding camps. Many restaurants serve dog as a meal and it is supposed to be quite tasty. Haven't tried it, yet.
nown as a hangover. She had already regurgitated once after getting off the subway, but this time we were on the bus and there was no where to safely place the bodily dislodgings except for a VERY small garbage can. While she sat, hunched over on the bus's step, with the can placed between her legs, taking care to do so quietly, an old Korean woman brushed past me (I have learned to leave Mindy alone and not touch her when she is sick), sat down behind her and started to perform a very vigorous back rub/back pounding and pressure point application to her hands and scalp. She started shouting orders to the packed bus to open windows and make room for her next to one. She gave the back rub for a good five minutes than gave Mindy her seat next to a window. It was truly quite touching. I kept saying "Kam-sa-ham-neda" (thank you), but her reaction was almost annoyed in a what-did-you-expect-me-to-do kinda way. After she was done she went right back into the conversation she was engaged in before she started to help. 2) Seoul REALLY is a lot of fun. Especially, with good friends. There are so many areas to explore and events to attend. It h
as world class jazz bars, sports bars, museums, food, theme bars, clubs, cultural events, operas, orchestras and plays - all of which we have explored so little of, but we have many opportunities in the coming months. The night that led up to Mindy's hard morning was really a blast. Mindy and I met up with our friends JJ and Kristin in Itaewon (Seoul's party town) and had a very hazy night *Pictures Here*. No doubt my new mustache greatly improved my own night! Starting at a Mexican restaurant, we moved onto darts, which led to shots of Jaegermeister (yuck), dancing, kettles of soju and juice and eventually wondering the streets of the world's third largest city. We ended up at a McDonald's at 2:30am before checking into a hotel at 3:00am with Seoul still partying well into the morning.After a recent day of exploring Seoul we were finding our way out of the most recent Batman movie in Yatap - by the way if this was a movie blog I would rave about it- when we heard the distinctive high pitched call of a kitten coming from the bushes. This was extremely coincidental considering we had spent the last week or so talking about getting a cat, especially that day. Coming around the corner we saw the tinniest black and white kitten briefly spring from the bushes meowing before running back in. We spent a good 15 minutes looking for it in the dense brush, but to no avail. The next day we went back to find it. We spent a few hours chasing it around the bushes, briefly seeing it, before having to give up yet again. On the third day, yes the third day, we tried a new tactic. Why not try to trap the little bugger! So I put together a rudimentary box trap that was held up by two taped chopsticks (very Korean!) and, when the twine was pulled, the box would, theoretically, trap the kitten inside who was eating the tuna bait
*Pictures Here*. We sat for about an hour in one spot but never saw the cat. We reluctantly packed up only to hear that the cat had been in the adjacent green space! After finding its location I spotted him. He stared at me calling out for his mom. I got to within less than 2 feet of him before he took off into the deep bushes. After this event it was quite hard to leave, so we spent the next hour scurrying through the bushes covered in mud and branch clippings. We are now more determined than ever to catch this cat, or, at the very least, buy a comparable cat to drown out my visions of the lonely lost one! Our cat quest has now evolved its tactics as Mindy's mom has suggested the idea of digging a whole that the cat could fall into when it goes for the food. We are mulling that idea over as the logistics of it might be a little hard, but it is the best idea yet. In Korea, cats are not thought of very fondly. They are considered more pests than anything and, no doubt, this little one was dropped off by its previous owner. Having made eye contact with the little guy made it extremely difficult for me to just forget about it, so we have come up with all sorts of names for him/her.Side note: Dogs are much more respected, but they are also a source of food and recently dog was acknowledged as an official food by Korean parliament, which gave special status to once secret dog breeding camps. Many restaurants serve dog as a meal and it is supposed to be quite tasty. Haven't tried it, yet.
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