Brrrranimals

Brrrrr. It's quite cold here! Folks up in the north part of South Korea are really getting dumped on, snow-wise. Here, we had a wee 5 minute snowstorm this afternoon, and that's been about the extent of it. I like that the laundry out on my balcony, waiting to dry in the morning sun, is frozen stiff. I wish it would snow, though. It might make me feel more festive.

I don't think I've mentioned Christmas at all, so far, and that's surely because I'm half-trying to pretend it's not happening. I am just NOT feeling it this year. I'm fairly sure Sunday will just pass by just like any other Sunday here, with me doing nothing, pretty much. Then Monday I'll go back to work like I do every other Monday. Whoop-dee-frickin-doo. Truthfully, I feel like I'm really fighting to avoid an all out Christmas-blues-fest. Christmas - denial (river, Egypt, blah blah blah)

So let's talk about dogs instead. Tonight a big, but too-skinny white dog hung around the trucks selling rotisserie chickens and blood-noodle-sausage on the street outside my school. When the dog approached me a bit shyly and nudged his head against my furry red mitten, I gave him a pet and then reached in my bag and fed him a whole bag of dog treats which he seemed so happy to gobble up. Then he followed me across the street and started getting nippy with my hand and arm, so I tried to convey "calm assertive" vibes (like I saw Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" do on Oprah awhile back) while I kind of ignored him, trying not to picture myself being mauled. That would have been a story for the grandmas selling vegetables on the street beside the trucks:

"Hey, remember when that white dog ate that foreigner?"
"Heh heh, yah, that was COOL!"

The reason I have dog treats in my bag is for the dog family I've mentioned before. Playing with Barky Boyfriend and his baby on my way to school really makes my day. Look at how cute they are!

The colours are fading off the puppy, who really did look exactly like his mom before. Mamadog is always fairly reserved, but has come close enough to take food from my hand. On this day, though, I learned she is super camera shy, as this is as close as she'd come:


Here are the bunnies I've mentioned before, with their water-bottle I gave them.

On this day, the water bottle is attached to the cage, but it's been on the ground, again, for the last two days. I've figured out what the deal is, the rabbits' owners tie it to the cage with that blue nylon string and the rabbits, being "chewers," gnaw through the string and the bottle falls down. I've caught the big white bunny standing on his hind legs drinking from the bottle (which pleased me so much!) and I've seen him chewing the blue rope too. I've been thinking of finding some wire or something and sneaking in there at night to affix the bottle more permanently.

No matter today though. The water is surely frozen into a solid block of ice. Brrrrr.