Never Give Up

Talking to my fiancee today (who comes home in 2 days, woot!), and during the course of our conversation she told me to never give up (it was in reference to my Alpha-dogging Toki (wait, that sounded dirty (wait, I just used parentheses inside parentheses, like LISP))).

Anyhow, that instantly reminded us both of this awesome MuchMusic commercial from a few years ago. I just knew someone had to have posted it on YouTube, so here it is:

A Korean Dog In Toronto

Toki's arrival was like Zeus' thunder!

My fiancee has saved 6 dogs in Korea in her year there. Dogs do not have it good in Korea (though I suppose they have it better than cats). They are often treated like accessories and thrown aside when too much effort or when grown tired of. That's certainly the case here too, but apparently more so in Korea. Their humane societies are jam packed to the point where they keep dogs for only 10 days before they euthanize them. Added to all of this are the many foreign English teachers, some of whom are lonely and take in a dog for a year or two only to abandon it when they leave for home.

Of course, there are many other foreigners and natives who, appalled at the conditions, try to help some of these animals. There are rescue boards and organizations which transport dogs here to Canada and elsewhere. My fiancee has done her part. She paid for the transport of one dog to Canada, saved two death-row dogs from the shelter (actually 3, one was pregnant with a puppy and no one knew because she was so skinny) to be adopted out by a vet. And, she took in two dogs herself, Toki and Poppy. They are both sweeties, and yesterday Toki arrived in Canada where he'll stay with us! She'll be back in a week with Poppy!

That backstory was longer than I suspected, but on to Zeus! Like the god of thunder himself, Toki arrived the night of a simply ginormous storm in the GTA. Streets flooded. 4 reported Tornadoes touched down. Trees fell everywhere, taking out power. I got Toki home around midnight, to find my power out. It thankfully came back by 1am, as I know several people who still didn't have it come morning.

I took him for a midnight, pitch black, walk around the neighbourhood, spotting the workers cutting apart one of the huge ancient trees around that had taken out the lines. I think he quite enjoyed the area. He doesn't really get as much grass and trees and bushes in his area of Seoul. He does funny things, like rolling on the lawn and trying to crash his way into a hedge to sniff something. All that being said, he's a very good walker, always coming with me when I tell him or at the slightest pull of the leash. He doesn't like the rain, and he walks carefully around all puddles. I wonder a little what it's like for him in a new country with new sights and sounds from all the trees and other animals around him. I mean, it's not like he never saw trees and dogs or cats in Seoul, but my neighbourhood is quiet, so there's just so much more. And I think he's excited.

English Summer Camp

My fiancee's English summer camp starts tomorrow so she's been planning out the activities for each day. She decided to have the kids keep a short journal in English that they fill in at the end of each day. Her reasoning:

1. It's 10-15 minutes a day where she doesn't have to do anything.
2. It's good for the kid's writing skills. And if they have problems writing, they can draw her a picture.
3. It will provided her much amusement to her day when she reads them.

A win for all involved.

Miss It By That Much

Earthquake in Japan today, just a week after we left. It was a 6.9 or 7.1 depending on who's counting and was centered about 320km away from Tokyo, but still shook the city. I am both happy and sad that we missed it. I mean, it would be scary, and I really would not want anything to happen to us, but I've never sat through an earthquake before.

Korea / Japan Adventure Done

The Korean/Japanese Adventure was an awesome trip!

However, it was so awesome that I'm a tad behind in posts. I will continue to fill them in, but you may see a few more current posts pop up here and there. Do not be worried, I will finish. If you want the Adventure posts in their entirety, click here!