My Visit to the Meerkat Cafe

One place I know that is on many foreigners "must go places" list is the Meerkat Cafe in Hongdae. I had been wanting to go for quite some time and finally got the opportunity to last weekend. It was pretty awesome. I got to cuddle meerkats!

It cost about 10,000 won to enter the cafe; you can stay as long as you'd like and pet the various animals that they have there. First we watched as the staff fed the foxes. We were allowed to give them treats, but not to touch them, as that could cause them stress. The cafe had two foxes, a silver fox and an arctic fox. The staff seemed to have put in a lot of effort into training them.

Next we got to play with the wallabies. The cafe had two of these as well. They were cute and approximately knee high, maybe mid thigh. They had high interest in food, so if you had a small snack of carrots or grain in your hand they would bound right over to you. Other than that they were allowed to freely hop around the cafe as they pleased.

Look at this goof haha

They had one happy go lucky raccoon over in it's own pen. The pen had lots of toys and a slide, which it was playing on while we waited.  The staff also let the raccoon out so it could scurry around the room with the other animals.

The raccoon looked so chill

Finally, other than the meerkats, they also had genets, which are a type of African carnivore with gorgeous markings despite their small size.

Then it was meerkat time!

In order to not stress the meerkats, you are only allowed to spend 10 minutes inside the pen per group, and they have breaks between visitors. I had to soak up my 10 minutes of meerkat time and use it wisely. Upon entering the pen your hands are sanitized and you are supposed to remove any clothing that they could easily tear or snatch away, including your slippers. Once inside and seated, you are given a blanket to drape over your lap to create a comfy place for them to lay. As I sat down the meerkats scrambled about, all of them instinctively digging at whatever was beneath them. Then one chose me! I had been chosen, and then immediately the meerkat tried to gently dig right through my shirt! It made me shriek a little honestly; I didn't know what to do for a moment.

Any time a meerkat passed by I would whisper to it Me...Choose Me....Come to me~~~

After several minutes one chose my lap as its place to stay, and settled in for a nice nap, complete with a fully exposed roll onto its back. I sat and gently petted it while the others continued their digging and soon enough the ten minutes were up.

My snugly meercat friend 

The most memorable part of the cafe was the staff's connection to the meerkats though. First, there was a male staff member who entered the pen alone to tell the meerkats it was break time. He walked in, sat in the center of the pen with a blanket and opened his arms wide, implying Come my meerkats! Nap time. All the little guys just climbed straight up into his lap until it was nothing but a heap of meerkat bodies. He patted their heads a few times to calm them and they all were instantly sleeping. It was that moment that I realized the staff must spend lots of time with them, and clearly have a bond with them that is far greater than the average customer would. All the animals answered by name and, for the most part, obeyed the staff. One of the female staff members was playfully blowing on one meerkat, when the meerkat decided to shove its entire paw straight into her mouth... the girl was quite surprised I'll say. It was really funny. She sort of spat its hand out of her mouth and called it mean names for a moment, but in a caring family sort of way. Like she was chastising him for picking on her, or telling him he knew better.

Overall the cafe had a very laid back and relaxed atmosphere, as you should be quiet so as to not startle the animals. I found that it was a relaxing way to spend some time and experience being around animals you just don't see everyday, but in a safe and friendly manner. I was worried that like some other cafes I've been to, it would be inhumane. I was glad to be wrong. In terms of caring for the animals first, there is no cafe that I've seen that does it better than this one.

땅끝 - Ttangkkeut: The Edge of the Land.

The entrance to lands end

Finally I went to a place I've been longing to go to for months now! The Korean peninsula's southern most point, the edge of the land - Ttangkkeut Village in Haenam.

I've been wanting to go for quite some time, I just never had anyone to accompany me there. Finally one of my friends had the time, so we met in Haenam on a Saturday and got a bus to Korea's southern most tip. 

The first thing that I noticed stepping off the bus was the smell of the sea. Gosh do I love the smell of the water. We walked along the path, finding our way to where the cable car began that would take us up to the observatory. Cable car tickets purchased, we then waited in the gift store for it to arrive. While we waited my friend asked if I had ever tasted  연양갱. I hadn't the slightest clue what it was, but the packaging looked just like an average chocolate bar to me. He assured me it wasn't, but definitely was a Korean treat worth trying. So I bought one and we split it. Turns out it isn't chocolate at all, but a jelly made from red beans, and it's good. It tasted very rich and naturally sweet like the beans themselves, and the texture was nice too. My only complaint would be that it was a little on the sticky side. It's something that I would surely indulge in again if I came across it though.

Edge of the Land Marker

The rail car was nice, a bit packed with people, but the walls were covered in writing and it gave the car a unique nostalgic look that I liked. Once reaching the observation tower we found the stairs down to the official 'end of the land' marker and began our hike down. When I had decided to go there, I hadn't any clue how many hundreds of stairs there were... My legs, and most specifically my knee...do not handle stairs well at all. The walk down was beautiful and green with forest, but by the time I reached the bottom my legs were shaking so bad I literally couldn't stand in one place; I would've collapsed. So I had to sit down and rest for like a half hour. Luckily for me I had a beautiful place to rest. Sadly though, my phone decided to do a random 19 HOUR update... so I have few photos from my trip, except for those I borrowed my friend's phone for. The shoreline was lined with dark cliffs and rocks, The water lightly crashing against them and the sun bright overhead. We chilled and munched on snacks until other people came and we needed to vacate the 'photo zone'.

View from Lands End

Hiking back up the stairs was no easy task either. Gradually I grew slower and slower, just dragging my body to go on, envious of how Korean people seem to all be able to handle so many stairs with such ease. I want to blame it on the fact that they grew up in a mountainous region, while I grew up in a flat one... but more likely I am just severely out of shape. 

In front of the observation tower

Taking the rail back down from the observatory was a memorable moment too. We both felt so out of place in the rail car, as we were surrounded by a gaggle of ajummas (elderly women) that were all decked out in their hiking clothes and chatting up a storm. I found our situation somewhat amusing, it seemed like something you would see in a movie comedy scene. 

After exploring lands end we looked around the village for food, but there wasn't much aside from a few seafood restaurants. I had sort of expected that, since we were by the sea. We ate something similar to bibimbap, but with raw slices of fish in it. It was tasty and fresh, with the vegetables, rice, and fish all mixed together. 

We also explored the beach before we headed out for home. The beach was nice. There were families camping under the pines along the shore and it seemed to be a laid back kind of place to take the family. I miss going camping. We played some frisbee and I walked around in the water, enjoying the feeling of the sand and the water washing against my calves. It was hot and the buses weren't frequent though, so we didn't stay too long. Just long enough to enjoy it for a while before heading home. 

Namhae (남해) - The Difficult To Get To Place

Another English teacher that I know frequently invites me to hang out on weekends and join him and his friends in whatever they have planned. However, with the worst luck ever, I was always either injured, incredibly sick, or already busy whenever he extended those invitations.

For the first time, after months of invites, there was finally one I could accept! I had heard that they'd be renting a car and going to Namhae, where they had reserved a pension on the beach. I thought to myself, 'Car? Beach? Pension? Why not?!'

Things are never as they seem.

- Invited too many people = Too many for a car.

- Had to take the bus = Surprise! There isn't a direct bus.

Three hours, 4 stops, and two buses later... we arrived at the Namhae bus terminal. In literal nowhere. We had to taxi to our pension, only to find it's on practically the opposite side of Namhae, a good 30 minute drive away ... and an expensive one. Upon arriving the first thing we all noticed is that there were zero beaches anywhere near our pension. Our pension was along the water, but it was just an inlet river with some fishing boats tied up here and there. A far cry from a beach. Far cry from everything for that matter. There was barely anything around at all aside from the boats, a few stray cats, and a small mart.

View from the balcony

Stacks of bedding

The pension itself was nice, and it was the first time I had stayed in one. So that was at least exciting. We set up some sleeping mats and all enjoyed the nice view from our balcony, which was directly above the river. We pulled out the food that had been brought, and also the alcohol. Now I am not a big drinker, and I wasn't feeling up to it that night. Not when I knew my company enjoyed the past time much more than I did, and not when I didn't know anyone that well. So I played games with them, but I stuck to Coca-Cola with my one friend who also didn't drink instead. 

We tried to order pizza, having the one person who spoke Korean call in for delivery. However, we were so far out that they wouldn't deliver. He protested on the phone, saying "But...but I am hungry..." (In Korean of course). The person at the other end of the line didn't even know what to say, and we were all laughing so hard that he had to hang up the phone. Its the closest to a prank call I'll probably ever experience in Korea. It was funny. Calling in to order chicken wasn't much easier, but we managed it. 

We tried to find a place to go sing karaoke as well, but the map only showed one place. We walked there, and it was dark and empty and closed. The others were discussing calling a cab to take us somewhere to sing, but that sounded excessive to me. We found a local and asked about it, turns out there was one place in the entire area, and they directed us to it. Far down a dark alleyway, somewhere we never would've found on our own, was this old, Mexican style building norebang. After wandering around looking for over an hour, we had found it ... but I was ready for bed. I knew if I stayed we'd end up being there for hours, so my one friend and I opted to go back and sleep instead. 

We walked back to the pension, pondering why and how a bunch of little starfish ended up dried up on the sidewalk of the bridge far above the river. Once back at the pension we relaxed, finished off the chicken, and crashed on our mats. My sleep was short lived though. I got maybe...5 hours tops. 

The following morning, after oversleeping through checkout and being politely asked to leave by the manager, we took a 35 minute taxi to the beach. There were pensions there as well...why, WHY didn't we stay there...!?! This is a prime example of why last minute planning isn't always the best way to go. I enjoyed the beach and got to play around taking some nice photos. Then it was another close to 6 hours of travel before I managed to get home. Which was exhausting... I prefer places with direct buses. Taxi → Namhae Terminal → Jinju → Gwanyang → Gwangju → Walk to the bus stop → Bus to Naju. We left at around 2pm and I didn't get home until maybe about 8 thanks to all the buses and wait times and us taking unnecessary buses to attempt (and fail) to save time. 

These guys are always scuttling about on the rocks at the beaches. Actually they are a bit disgusting and unsettling to see, since there are usually hundreds of them.... but this one managed to stay still, and was also a bit prettier than the rest. 

Close up of the rocks

I saw someone had written this on the beach, so I translated it. It translates to "Crab Tomb" which I thought was funny and cute. Some kids must've covered up the crabs exit hole. 

Overall I got to experience a new place and make memories, so despite wasting lots of my time and energy, I don't regret my decision to go. I got to mark another place on my map of Korea and that in itself made the trip worthwhile. 

Thanks To My School

One particular place that deserves my greatest thanks would be the place of my employment. 

Without my school and my program I would've never been unable to come to Korea in the first place, and it is a life time experience I will always cherish thanks to them. I have learned and seen so much here. I am so thankful I made the decision to apply, and that they made the decision to accept me.

There were many good moments, and good people, all who deserve my gratitude, respect, and thanks.

To the school guard: You were the first person to see me arrive to school each day, and always the last person to see me leave. You are such a gentle old man, and your daily greetings always started my day off right. I am about 90% sure that you had the groundskeeper teach you how to say hello and goodbye in English. You didn't know it when I arrived, but months down the road you suddenly started greeting me in "HELLO"s and "BYE BYE"s. Very loudly. You seemed so genuinely happy and proud of yourself and I was so touched that first day you spoke to me. I think your English is super cute. It's one of my favorite things to hear every day. Many days I went to work you were the only staff member who spoke to me, so I always looked forward to seeing you.

To the groundskeeper: You always said hello to me when we ran into each other too. You also have probably told me close to 100 times you know some English because of your wife. It got repetitive at times, but it amused me and I thought it was sweet. You seem very proud of your wife. :)


To the school staff: Language barriers complicate things, but still you all were always very interested in me.

• To the principal: You always pulled students out of the lunch line to translate things for you and ask me questions (which they couldn't...) so it always created chaos. I pitied those chosen ones, but it always made lunch super interesting. You also surprised me with two free baseball tickets once. I was really touched by that, and still am thankful you thought to give them to me. Thank you also for my birthday present. :)

• To Sally: You never actually told me your real name...which sometimes frustrated me. You were one of my closest allies when you taught 5th grade. When you switched to 1st grade it made me so sad, I never saw you anymore. You spoke to me more than any other teacher at the school, and if I had a bond with anyone it was you. You were the boss; the students respected you and I admired that. You had real conversations with me, included me in conversations at lunch, and made me tea many times that month I was ridiculously ill. In regards to the other 5th grade teachers, I admired you as well. Whether it was because you taught your students with a gentle understanding and kindness, killed it at volleyball, or because you tried so hard to speak to me even when you didn't know what to say.

• To the 6th grade teachers (my 1st year): Hearing that two of you left after my first year actually reduced me to tears. No one told me that you were switching schools, and one day you both were suddenly gone. Since then I've really missed our Wednesday lunches. I haven't eaten with the sixth grade in the separate lunch room since. You two were I think the only teachers that had caught on that I understood some Korean, and I enjoyed you testing my listening skills. You encouraged me and I appreciated that. You also invited me to make songpyeon with your students. You're the only teachers that ever invited me to any sort of outside of class event. I had a great time making it with the kids and experiencing a part of Korean culture. 

• To the rest of the staff: Many of us didn't have a close relationship, and if we spoke it was usually short hello's, but you always smiled and nodded to me. I enjoyed playing volleyball with you all, even if I am a terrible player and you all knew it. Thank you for tolerating my despicable volleyball skills. I always thought the school dinners were fun as well, even if we only had a few. With everyone living in Gwangju getting together for dinners was hard and on a time limit. I really liked seeing everyone outside of the teaching atmosphere. I liked seeing your personalities; I liked how you'd speak to me more after you all drank. School dinners led to you asking me very random things at times. It was fun. I'm thankful that everyone was always kind to me. 

• To my mentor teacher: You helped me on countless occasions, many times at an inconvenience to you. When it came to the important paperwork or appointments, you were there for me. Most importantly, thank you for taking me to the doctor so many times, especially when I was sick with severe strep throat the entire month of December. I was so pitiful and in pain, and having help made things minutely better. Even if sometimes you had to translate awkward questions to me, thank you. You always could answer the important questions for me. 

• To my co-teacher: We battled after-school classes together. It was an experience, a rough ride, but we did it. Thank you for helping me manage the kids when they only wanted to bounce of the walls and frolic on top of desks. Thank you for explaining to some kids why saying "f*** you" to me was so upsetting to hear. Thank you for helping me go to the pharmacy and helping me buy bus tickets countless times. Thank you for telling me I was a good teacher, that was something I'd needed to hear. It was reassuring. 

My sentimental thanks

I bought my flight ticket back to the states today.

In three days time it will be exactly 2 months before I leave. 

Becoming aware of how little time I have left in such a magnificent place, realizing how much I still want to do here, and all the things I will be thankful for once I'm gone, makes everything I see, do, and experience feel more and more bittersweet. 

With that in mind, there are a number of things that I am thankful for that I feel deserve attention. 

In not quite any particular order:

1. To the random delivery man: You must have the same route for whatever job you do every morning. That first time you honked and waved at me while I was walking to school on a Wednesday, I was confused. When it continued the Wednesday after that, and each following Wednesday, honestly it frightened me a bit. Old men here often give me less than welcoming attention. But after a while, seeing you honk and wave became routine. Sometimes you'd even roll down your window and call out a hellooo to me. So I waved back. Its gotten to the point where I can usually predict about when and where you'll drive by, and now Wednesday mornings where you don't drive past and honk feel a bit lonely. So thank you, for being friendly with me and treating me like a part of your community. Thank you for making me smile first thing Wednesday mornings.

2. To that one Naju taxi driver: When I first moved here you seemed so concerned with wherever I was going, constantly honking at me to use your taxi, probably because you assumed I didn't know where anything was. Sorry, but I am too cheap to take a taxi unless I am desperate. After a while you realized this and stopped hassling me to ride in your car. Your taxi stands are literally right outside my house and school, so you saw me walking the 25 minute trek twice everyday. Sometimes you would talk to me,  Aren't you tired? (of walking) Don't your knees hurt? Why do you take the long way around the park...? and at first I thought you were a bit nosy. I realized though that you are just genuinely interested and in your own way, you care, so I always smiled and answered you. Whenever I pass the taxi stand you smile and greet me, and no matter where I am in Naju, you always seem to find me as you're driving around. You always honk to let me know you are there, sometimes 3-4 times in the span of me being downtown or on my walk home. Its embarrassing. Everyone always looks around to see who you are honking at, but I know, so I get embarrassed. At the same time though I am amused and happy to have some sort of human connection with someone. I  don't have many people to talk to around here. So thank you for keeping me on edge every time I see a taxi, waiting for that next friendly honk and wave.

3. To the elderly woman: Korean summers are a nightmare of heat and humidity that my body simply can not adjust to. Last summer, as I was traveling for the weekend, I thought I might melt straight into a puddle. I probably would have, had it not been for you. You saw me come into the store clearly struggling with the heat. You saw me head straight for the water, slowly and sluggishly because I had no energy left. You must have pitied me, because you handed me your large plastic fan and gave me the go-ahead to use it. I bowed and thanked you, fanning myself as much as I could before we had to leave the shade of the store behind. When it came time to go I tried to return it to you. You refused it. You told me to keep it. During that whole day, you could not have possibly given me any greater gift, and for that fan I was so so thankful. That fan saved me. So thank you for being observant and thank you even more for your fan. I used it well, and I have kept it for the last year for times when I need it.


4. To the other native English teachers: We don't have to be close to understand one another here. Living here, we all run into the same types of situations, and that understanding makes companionship easy sometimes. We don't always spend time together, in fact I feel I rarely see anyone. However, I know you are all there. I know I can usually count on you if need be. So I must say thank you to those teachers. I am not going to name anyone specifically, but thank you to the girl who taught me how to use makeup. Thank you to the friend that was my DropTop cafe study buddy. Thank you to those people who were my lesson plan mentors. Thank you to those who were my friend, or at least those who accepted me as I followed them around because I had no close friends to be with. Thank you for letting me be part of your group on culture trips when ever things got clique-y. Thank you for inviting me out whenever you did something, even if I was almost always already busy with other plans. Thank you for not letting me feel forgotten. Thank you for being there. Even if we never speak after again after this chapter of our lives. I am glad our paths crossed.

5. To that one random little kid: I had a bad day. My students had not behaved well during my classes. Walking home I was very irritated, until you decided to play a game with me. You were such a cute little boy, walking along ahead of your mother. You seemed very interested in me, and that's when you decided to mess with me. You decided to play the, 'I will only walk directly in front of you' game. You ran to get in front of me, but once you were there you drastically slowed down, walking practically under my feet. So I moved to walk around you ... and you moved with me. I caught on quickly to what you were doing. I could hear your mother scolding you from behind me, telling you to leave me alone. But you were so darn cute, I played along. Left. Right. Left. Right. I kept changing where I was walking so you were zigzagging all over the place so fast just to stay in front of me. You giggled and were having the best time; I could hear your mom trying to hold in her laughter behind me. Kid you brightened my day. Thank you for that.

6. To my first date: We only went on a few dates. However I have zero regret whatsoever. In the time that I knew you I never made any bad memories. You gave me what must be the most unforgettable first date I could have ever hoped for. We got hopelessly lost and you were so apologetic about everything. However, it was cute and I wasn't bothered. Rather I found the whole situation highly amusing and enjoyed every moment of our day together. So thank you, for a first date memory I will always cherish.

7. To Dr. Cha: You gave me a place where I felt at home. You opened up your clinic to me after so many others rejected me. Despite the struggle of a language barrier, you welcomed me and allowed me to shadow you, so that I might earn some experience in what I want to go back to school for once I return home. You and your vet techs are all very kind to me, and during the time I have spent with you I have seen and learned many useful things, and in a different country, which most people never get the chance to do. You may not realize it, but you've done so much for me. I am extremely thankful to have the chance to shadow alongside you and for every hour I have been able to visit your clinic. Thank you for believing in me, and thank you for supporting me.

His books have anatomical terms in Korean and English!

They give me drinks :)

And I can read his books!

I will write a separate special post specifically in regards to my school and friends. As if I wrote it all in one place, this post would be far too long. It's too long already as it is.