Hello Kitty

I've said it a few times throughout my blog - I'm a cat person.  It's not something I could really fight.  I was born into it.

My parents had cats before my sister and I were born, they still had cats when we were born, and we kept on having cats as pet while we were growing up.  

It started with just two, but over the years it grew and shrunk and grew again: 

• '85 - Two brown tabbys - Dusty and Dickens (mother and son) 


• '96 - I brought home a grey and white kitten - Patch
  
  
  
  • cat population = 3
  
  
  
  


• '97 - Patch got cancer and passed away
  
  
  
  • cat population = 2
  
  
  
  


• '99 - I brought home two more!  Midnight, all black except for a white chin and boots, and Tiger, a grey tabby with white chin and boots (sisters)
  
  
  
  • cat population = 4
    
    
    
    

    See the full gallery on Posterous

    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• '00 - Dickens, old and a bit deaf, got one of his back legs run over.  It was only a broken leg, but the stress was too much for his body and he passed away
  
  
  
  • cat population = 3
  
  
  
  


• '01 - Dusty (23 years old) was taken from our driveway and never seen again 
  
  
  
  • cat population = 2
  
  
  
  


• '02 - Numbers down, I brought home some more.  Two more!  Calico sisters - KC (White nose) and Fritzi (black nose)
  
  
  
  • cat population = 4
    
    
    
    

    See the full gallery on Posterous

    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

And for a long time it stayed at 4 - Tiger, Midnight, KC and Fritzi.  Two sets of sisters.   

When Heather went off to college she felt the void of not having a cat so she adopted a black kitten, Bud.  (cat population = 5)

Then I went off to college and felt the same void.  So I did what I'd been doing for years - I got a kitten.  Chloe, a beautfiul long haired calico.  (cat population = 6)*

See the full gallery on Posterous

I love her!!  I don't ever want to be without her!  I took her with me when I moved to DC; however, (according to my father >.<) Korea was a bit too far of a move for Chloe to make, so I came alone.  And after living my entire life with a cat - or several - around, it was a really lonely adjustment to get used to having no four-legged-fluff-of-fur lurking around, brushing up against my leg and sleeping near me at night.  I'm a cat person!!  I need a cat!!

See the full gallery on Posterous

So you can only guess how excited I was when I discovered that there was a cat cafe in my neighborhood!!

I should explain that this is a normal thing for Korea.  Until recently, not many Koreans had pets, dog or cat.  Having a pet just wasn't a part of their culture.  Over the last half century, the country and its people have adopted many new aspect into their daily lives - pets being one of them.  But due to the fact that the majority of people live in small apartments and can not accomadate pets as we do in Western cultures, pet cafes have sprung up to fill the need!  For awhile I had only heard about them existing up in Seoul, but now - thankfully - they have made it south to Busan!

Michael and I had just finished having dinner, I think I must have been having a bad day (3/19), because he agreed to check it out with me.  Despite having just come from dinner (and still sore from badminton practice) I ran up four flights of stairs into a mini personal heaven.  Yang Yang Cat Cafe.  A room full of cats!!!  

See the full gallery on Posterous

The cafe has around 20 cats - which to a girl who is desperate for just one cat - it's fantastic.  Would I ever personally want to own 20 cats?  No!  I don't even scoop the litter boxes at home.  Just take off your shoes, change into slippers, use hand santiziers before you pet the cats, buy a drink for ~$6.00 and settle in amongst the crowd!  

It's a really great place to stop by every once in awhile.  I've been four times since discovering it, which perhaps is a bit much, but...  I'm a cat person.  

I went back the day after Michael and I found it, with Jill and Ashley (3/20).  A week later (3/26), I went back again with Michael.  The last time I stopped in (4/5) was to check if one of the grey cats had her kittens.  Still no babies, but you know I'll be be in again and again to check!!  

For ~$6.00 it's a great alternative to me getting a cat in Korea.  Although I still realllllllly want to have my own cat here, I'll make do by visiting the cat cafe.  I also wouldn't want to upset Chloe. ^^

 

*In '10 Fritzi was injured in a serious car accident and passed away.  Cat population = 5