Welcome to Ukraine!

The plane touched down in Kiev, the captain came over the loudspeaker to welcome us all to Ukraine, and I promptly threw up.

Back up just a little bit. The flight from Seoul to Moscow was long, and as I was in an aisle seat, sleep wasn't an option. (I can only sleep in airplanes if I have a window to lean against.) However, as it was a Korean Air flight, I had my own personal TV with numerous movies from which to choose in order to entertain myself. Unfortunately, my third film choice (Hanna), while entertaining, was filmed in such a flashy, trippy manner that it no doubt gives epileptics fits. It gave me a headache. And of course my supply of Excedrin was in my checked bag.

My three hour layover in Moscow was in Sheremetevo airport's Terminal F - the original and un-remodeled terminal where they stick all the flights to various parts of the former Soviet Union, where there's no AC, and people are allowed to smoke wherever the hell they please. The few stores in Terminal F were closed, except for one Duty Free shop, well stocked in Dior perfume.

I was ridiculously thirsty, but I had only Korean won, dollars, and euros - and of course there wasn't a currency exchange in Terminal F. There weren't any stores, but there were, however, kiosks (yes, inside the terminal) selling drinks, snacks, and cigarettes (alas, no aspirin). I approached one, staffed by two babushki, and asked (in Russian, of course - amazing how it all comes back to me so quickly!) if I could pay in dollars. They exchanged a look and asked me what I wanted. I said a water and a Coke. They said 'How about $7?' God knows how they came up with $7, but I was so thirsty I would've paid much more. Of course, I only had a $10. They were in a panic over how to give me change. I told them it was fine, don't worry about it... but they responded "Oh, no. We agreed on $7! We must give you change." They were pretty relieved when I told them they could give me my change in rubles, though.

Sadly, water and Coke were no match for headache + smoke + perfume. I was in full migraine mode by the time I boarded my flight for Kiev. For those people debating whether or not Michelle Bachmann's migraines should have any bearing on her presidential aspirations... let's just say that I found myself hoping for a plane crash just to put an end to my torture. I have a tendency towards motion sickness in general, and in addition, migraines usually make me vomit. I lasted all the way to touchdown, and well... thank the gods of Aeroflot for barf bags.

Welcome to Ukraine!

Seoul Pet Cafés: Cats Living

I've known for some time that Seoul is home to multiple cat and dog cafés, and I'm *very* pleased to report that quite a few of them are located right here in Hongdae. I woke up this morning and it wasn't raining, so I decided to go to one of the ones that I'd spotted yesterday. What better way to deal with my Charlie withdrawal, right?

The one I visited is called Cats Living (http://catsliving.co.kr/). They seem to have about twenty cats - all fat, healthy, purebreds - all hanging out in a couple of large rooms. Before you can enter, you must exchange your shoes for slippers, and 'wash' your hands with sanitizer. The fee is ₩8000 (a little less than $8), with which you get a free drink of your choice (they offered a variety of coffee, tea, and juice) and a couple hours to play with the kitties. It was definitely a great way to deal with missing Charlie; I played with all the cats, and took a ton of photos.

Unfortunately, the place did have a very strong cat-pee smell. I've worked at animal shelters (and my mom owns roughly 50 cats...) so I'm certainly accustomed to it - although I'm not sure how appealing this would be to most people. As yet, I have no way of knowing if smell is a problem at all cat cafés, as this is the only one I've ever visited; when I test out some others, I'll let you know. Of course, when you have twenty or so cats living in a fairly small, enclosed environment, you're going to have an odor, no matter how clean the facility (and it was very clean). Anyhow, here are some cute cat photos:

The cat café is on the second floor. I've no idea what 'FUCKFAKE' on the third floor is!


Cat café rules :-)


This one curled up in my lap and just purred away...



Recently spayed :-)



There were two 'munchkin' cats among the group - I'd never actually seen one in real life before.





There was also a Sphynx - not the first time I'd ever seen one in real life, but definitely the first time I'd ever petted one.


This one looks like one of mine back in the US!

*I would just like to point out how hard it was not to entitle this post "Paying for Pussy" - I absolutely adore alliteration, and that is an accurate description of what I did!

**Also: I just received this update from Seth regarding Charlie: Charlie will finally sit in the window with me in the room! She still hides if I make a sudden movement though. That took 3 cans of catfood and a catnip toy in the middle of the floor!! makin progress : )

I think I'm going to like it here.

Last weekend, I spent all my time buying new things for the apartment. I have since had a bit of a panic attack - what if it doesn't work out? What if I don't get my visa? What if something unforseen happens? People keep telling me I'm being silly (no job harm! no monetary harm!), but nonetheless, I decided not to buy anything more for my new place until I get back in September. Of course, as most of my money is now either in euros or sitting in my US bank account (you know, because dollars and euros are so safe these days... sigh) I wouldn't have been able to buy much anyway.

This afternoon I met up with a Korean friend of mine. She lived in Daegu the last time I lived in Korea, but has since moved to Seoul. I hadn't seen her at all during this stint in Korea, because up until this madness with my alleged new job began, I hadn't taken any trips to Seoul. It turns out that she lives in the same area of Seoul that I do (although she lives on the other side of Hongdae from me), and she offered to show me around. We walked all over what many people seem to refer to as "the main Hongdae area" - the spot right outside the main gate to Hongik University, which is filled with cafes, coffee shops, bakeries, boutiques, bars, and clubs. I didn't take too many pictures (we were too busy talking) although I definitely will in the future. Apparently there are a few streets which essentially turn into Seoul's equivalent of Bourbon Street at night (not exactly my scene), but nonetheless, in the day time it seems like it's going to be a great place to have so close to my home.

Me, enjoying a Korean club sandwich :-)

My friend, hiding behind her fan...

Okay, so I may have bought a hot-pink cat ring...

and some somewhat overpriced - but super-awesome - vintage orange earrings...

Saying Goodbye to Daegu

As I type, I am sitting in my new apartment in Seoul, where I will be through Monday morning (when I leave for my vacation in Kiev). I came up to Seoul with the last of my things this morning.

Yesterday I stopped by all of my favorite stores along my street to say goodbye to all my favorite shopkeepers. The woman at the accessories store gave me some free socks and a big hug; her husband shook my hand. My Paris Baguette gave me free ice tea. Everyone told me that I must come back and visit.

My students were also incredibly sweet. Several classes brought food, and many students gave me gifts, letters, and cards. A student who collects foreign coins gave me three American coins (a dollar coin, a quarter, and a fifty-cent piece). A student who collects pressed leaves/flowers and stamps gave me some of each. Another hand stitched a toy rabbit for me, another made me a cat-shaped fan. So many adorable gifts and letters. Here are some of my favorites:

I had just listened to this really interesting podcast on dollar coins, so I was quite amused to receive this!





(I often yelled at a student named Maria in this class - apparently that made an impression on her classmates!)

I feel silly blurring out my face and no one else's, but as long as I'm trying to keep this blog semi-anonymous, I figure I should... Anyway, below are some pictures of me with some of my favorite classes.

These two fellas are replacing me and my cousin. They're both named Seth.

Seth on the right will be living in my old apartment and keeping Charlie until I get back. She's rather terrified of him right now, as the only people she has had contact with are me and the vet... and of course the vet did not leave her with a positive impression of Other People. When I left, she was hiding under the couch :-( So sad; I miss her already. The youtube video below is the last Charlie video I'll be posting for six weeks or so. I'm trying not to worry. Meanwhile, if you'd like to follow the adventures of two brand new Korea newbies, here are their blogs: Seth in Korea and Minor Misadventures in Asia Major. Enjoy!

Dental Damage

I was never one of those kids who had a fear of the dentist. I even kind of enjoyed going, despite the fact that many of the trips were to have teeth pulled (most of my baby teeth didn't fall out on their own, then later when I was getting braces, I had to have some permanent teeth yanked because my mouth was too small). I had my first cavity discovered, drilled and filled by a super-cute Costa Rican dentist in Tilaran back in 2002. It wasn't until 2004 or 5, when I was living in San Diego, that my fear of the dentist started.

I had gone in for a cleaning - just a cleaning - although the whole thing was terribly painful. I left with all of my gums bleeding and the dentist telling me that was just because I was on birth control. The whole event was pretty scary, and soured me on the whole dentist thing. Since then my trips to the dentist have been pretty few and far between - although I went to one here in Daegu back in May. I had my teeth cleaned, the abraded enamel on my front teeth fixed, and two cavities diagnosed. It wasn't a bad experience at all.

I went this morning to have the cavities worked on. It was pretty horrible. While the Costa Rican dentist had drilled-n-filled without any anaesthetic, he had told me to let him know if I felt any pain, and that then he would shoot me up with some novocaine. This fella didn't give me that option; he just started drilling. All the yowling in pain coming from the patient on the chair (me), didn't slow the drill one bit. He only did one of the two cavities... meaning that I need to go back and do this again if I want the other one fixed. My filling choices were gold or amalgam... as the former cost $250 while the latter cost $25, I went with the amalgam. It's pretty ugly - I look rather like I have some chewing gum stuck on one of my molars. Not a big fan.

It doesn't hurt any more (the pain stopped as soon as the drill did), but it feels odd, like it almost hurts, if that makes any sense. And I've felt nauseous all day :-(

Now I'm faced with the choice of finding a new dentist in Seoul, or returning for more torture in September when I come back to Daegu to collect Charlie. According to my boss, getting cavities filled without being numbed is normal over here...

dinner with my new coworkers

These young fellas are two of my new coworkers (they look much different - and much younger - in casual clothes than in the suits they were wearing when I met them during the interview). They took me out to dinner last night. We had galbi at a nice restaurant, followed by ice cream outside of a convenience store - very Korean all around :-)

At times the conversation was a little awkward and stilted - after all, what do two Korean men in their twenties have to say to an American woman in her thirties? But they were quite nice and dinner was pleasant. This was my favorite episode:

Coworker: What kind of places for tourists are there in Ukraine?
Me: Well, my friends and I are planning on going to Chernobyl.*
Coworker: Chernobyl?! Isn't that dangerous?
Me: Meh. A little.
Coworker: Do you have to wear special radiation suits?
Me: No.
Coworker: Why don't you just go to Fukushima? The plane ticket would be cheaper.

*The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was recently closed to tourists. Not too clear on the reasons for the closure, but there is hope that it will be reopened in August - or if not, it is entirely possible that bribery shall suffice to open the gates.

Moving Pains

Saturday morning I took my super-large suitcase, my super-large backpacker backpack, and my laptop backpack and headed for Seoul to commence my move. I unpacked and then went out and bought a bunch of stuff for the apartment (kitchen and bathroom things, pillows, bedding, etc - the kind of stuff I have in Daegu but won't be lugging up to Seoul with me). After three shopping trips (each time returning with essentially as much as I could carry) I was exhausted.

Want to know how I spent my first Saturday night in happening Hongdae? I was sound asleep by 8pm. I woke up around midnight, made myself dinner, watched an episode of Fringe, and went back to bed. I woke up at 10:00am. Yeah. And holy shit, muscle aches. I took way too many Aleve today, and the pain has yet to subside. On the plus side, my apartment no longer looks empty and depressing; it now looks rather like my home. My landlord even gave me a free desk and chair, so that's one less thing I need to buy. Take a peek:

Free desk and chair





Now that looks more like *my* home!


One of my friends and I had recently been talking on Facebook about how mimosas reminded us of our childhood - the villa next to my new apartment has a huge mimosa tree :-)

My apartment is in the grey building

I took this Sunday night from the subway, crossing the Han River at dusk between Dangsan and Hapjeong after having dinner with some of my new coworkers


My neighborhood at dusk


There's a vet clinic just around the corner from my new apartment! Very convenient. I love the dragon on the sign... catering to the Targaryens no doubt!


My neighborhood at dusk

I really like my new apartment - not so sure I'm going to dig the 45 minute commute (and that's just four subway stops!), but considering that if I'd lived much closer to Yeouido I'd be paying more for a smaller apartment, I think it's worth it. Of course, my new apartment won't truly feel like home until I have Charlie here (and she won't make the move until September). A house really isn't a home until one has one's cat in it.

And now that I've written this.... it's time to hop the KTX back to Daegu; I've got four more days of work left down there before my six weeks of mad circumnavigatory travel begin :-)