Saturday, March 19, 2011

Fostering in Korea

Due to recent events and such I got the idea to be a part of the animal volunteer community. As I got more into it, I started really missing living with dogs. I've been very lonely for the last 2 or so months. So after much thought I decided to foster dogs. Fostering sounded like a great idea because it doesn't come with the commitment of keeping an animal for the rest of its life, but it still requires that I take responsibility for a living being.

After looking through many photos on the Animal Rescue Korea website (found here), I settled on 2 dogs given up together by the same people: a yorkie called Elvis, and a shih tzu mix named Priscilla. They were older dogs (not puppies), and they were already socialized together. This was perfect as I wanted to foster 2 dogs together since I work all day, and I wanted older dogs so that I didn't have to worry about training a puppy.

However, to get to Elvis and Priscilla I had to go to another city in Korea called Daegu. Using the bullet train it's a roughly 2 hour ride. But after a couple of trips to Daegu I have brought them back safe in sound. First thing I did? Had them groomed!

Before (at the animal shelter):

Priscilla

Elvis


After (in my apartment after a trip to the groomer and the vet):


The change physically in appearance is clearly huge. They have also started warming up to me already. I sit down on the floor and they come and sit on my lap. At the vet's they started coming over to me to be held. So I'm happy their transition and adaptation has gone fairly smoothly. They haven't barked or caused any problems (which is good as I had to negotiate with the building people about letting me have them as my lease says no pets. The nice thing about Korean culture, though, is that contracts are never the final word between 2 parties like in America, so I can negotiate).

Overall they are healthy (though Elvis needs some major dental work done as his teeth have pretty much gone to hell), and it seems happy. They are currently sleeping in the beds I laid out in my apartment. They have yet to go to the bathroom when I take them outside (though Priscilla peed almost immediately in the apartment, but after a sharp reprimand I think she has learned), but I'll be crate training them.

If you are interested in adopting them let me know!

-AALA

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Second year in Korea finalized!

Hello all!

I know, I know, I've been absolutely TERRIBLE about updating this. I'm currently on Jeju Island for the lunar new year holiday attempting to make up for my disorganized trip back in July. I have some down time before the next event, so I wanted to give a little update.

As mentioned in the title, my plan for my second year in Korea is pretty much solidified and official. The only thing left for me to do is go to the immigration office in Seoul to renew my visa to stay here another year, which will be done this coming Thursday morning. Other than that everything's been set: the contract has been signed, the apartment has been found and signed for, and the start date is officially February 28th.

I'm working for Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. Information can be found here

It's funny because before I accepted the position I didn't know anything about it other than the fact that it is a university. A friend of mine who is a recruiter got wind of an opening and told me about it. She told me it was a good position, and I trusted her word. It wasn't until after I accepted that I read up on it and realized how much things were falling into place for me. I think I'm exactly where I need to be in life right now. I'm super excited to move into Seoul, but it's going to be hectic. The woman currently living in the apartment I'm moving into at the end of the month doesn't move out until Feb 28th (my first day of work at the university). And my current apartment is about 1.5 hours away from the university by public transportation. Thankfully, my current apartment is mine until March 1st, so I'll have a home no matter what. And thankfully March 1st is a holiday (for the March 1st Movement that happened during the Japanese occupation), so I can take all of that day to clean my new apartment and move in. Yay!

OK, this is going to be a hectic month. I will try to find time to FINALLY post up those Philippines pictures, as well as this trip to Jeju.

-AALA