Yoga and Puppies

I woke up this morning to check my e-mail and could not believe my eyes.  I had an invitation to go to a free yoga class and then go to a puppy cafe.  Yes, a puppy cafe.  If a free yoga class wasn't enough of a treat, after it was over, we got to drink smoothies and play with more than 20 different types of puppies.  All the while eating as much cake, cookies, and other treats as we could fit in our stomachs.  Here's how it went down:

Yoga was in a small studio with a Korean man who spoke English pretty well.  I went with 2 girl friends who were semi-experienced in practicing yoga.  There were three more older woman there who seemed to know exactly what they were doing.  I am very much a beginner at yoga, but consider myself flexible and in shape, so usually I can keep up with most classes that I take.  This man was nice enough, but had an annoyed air about him, and had us doing more advanced poses than I have ever attempted in my life.  Even my experienced friends who have studied yoga for 10 years said that the poses we were attempting were at least semi-dangerous and if done wrong we could have hurt ourselves.  It was an awkward hour of sporadic poses and the teacher seeming annoyed that our bodies didn't stretch the way they were supposed to.  Luckily, I knew enough about yoga and my body that I was controlled and didn't hurt myself.  But, the strange thing was that he seemed perplexed that we couldn't stretch farther, bend more, and twist our bodies into his contortions.  All in all, it was a good experience, and I laughed out loud several times to break the silence due to his attitude towards us.  

I have been in animal withdraw since living in Korea!  I miss my cat and dog very much, and every time I see a stray on the street I have to fight with my conscience to not bring it home.  So, this puppy cafe idea seemed too good to be true.  It's above a pet store and as soon as you walk in the door you get bombarded my more dogs than you can count.  At first glance there were two Golden Retriever puppies, a Cocker Spaniel, a Poodle, a wiener dog, Afghan, Chow chow, and on and on.  The size of these dogs was just what I missed from home, big sloppy hyper puppies!   Most people in Busan, if they have an animal, have a designer "tea cup" dog that they can dress up and parade around like a moving stuffed animal.  Therefore, seeing "real dogs" again was really nice.

After I got over the initial shock of where I was I noticed a top a 3 story cat condo was a beautiful white cat with a hair cut. pink cheeks, purple tail, and bright yellow paws.  This princess was wearing a lavender shirt with ruffles and buttons on it.  I've seen these types of animals through pet shop windows here, and always stared, but this was an opportunity to get up close and personal with the real thing.  Of course to go through all of that beauty shop torture, the cat was super mild mannered and didn't mind being in a room full of 25 dogs all barking and running around.  No matter how long I stared at the cat, my eyes could still not believe what I was looking at.  

It is only logical that this cat would have a dog counterpart that we nick named "Popples".  Popples was a small, white Perenise with bright orange ears, neon green paws, and a pink tipped tail.  This dog was super cuddly and wanted nothing more than to be a lap warmer.  Still, every time I looked down at my lap I couldn't help but giggle to myself about the dog's crazy die job.  

Several other dogs were wearing accessories and clothes including a tiny little brown dog that looked like a gremlin and continually and very voicetrously grunted like a pig.  This 5lbs noise machine was very boe-legged, wore a red striped sweater, and sported a Rhine stone encrusted heart pendant with a picture of his owner dangling from his collar.  It has been a long time since I have laughed as hard as I did tonight.  

Now, if playing with puppies isn't great enough, this was a "Puppy Cafe".  Thus, a one time fee of 6,000 won ($4.50) got you a smoothie, tea, or coffee, and all the cake, cookies, or bread you could eat.  So, I had a strawberry- kiwi smoothie, cheese cake, a couple cookies, and a small piece of pecan pie, all the while playing with puppies.  A woman asked if we had something like this in the states and my friend replied "No, we have very strict laws about animals and food...".  Oh-right!  I knew there was something weird about this place...  As much as I loved it, there were animals "doing their business" on the floor of the same area where I was eating pie, and a litter box directly behind my friend Livia's head.  It didn't bother me, I was just excited to play with dogs.  

Korea can be very frustrating, but as soon as I think I've hit the end of my rope something surprises me and makes it all worth it.  Like... Puppy Cafes and Vacations to Thailand for over a month while still getting paid.  I leave Sunday for over a month of gallivanting around Thailand and Cambodia.  No real plan, just relaxing and seeing where the wind takes me.  I start school again March 2nd.