Hail our feline overlords

Do you know what time it is?

Well, almost.
Okay, close enough. It's cat time.

A cat cafe is similar in concept to a dog cafe but much better.
I believe they started in Japan along with many other odd things and are spreading quite quickly. I know there's one in Vienna at any rate.

To understand the experience it's best to picture it like this.

 

So...pretty much how my mother thinks I'm going to end up living. (At least I will be surrounded by intelligent and fluffy critters albeit ones that watch and silently judge me.)

 

 

 

(Photo from Helen.) This cafe was in Hondae and if you have trouble finding it my advice is to look up or just keep an eye out for the poor sod in the Garfield suit. (In fact, most cat cafes in Korea seem to be advertised thusly. I hope no one has actually passed out while wearing those things although it does seem very likely.)

It was pretty cheap in actuality. We got a free drink since it was our first visit and we could stay as long as we liked so we bummed out there for a couple of hours.
You have to exchange your shoes for a pair of slippers and wash/disinfect your hands before entering.
One of the workers gives you a well illustrated (and laminated) sheet of the rules which are simple enough for any adult. (Children and adults who treat animals like toys might have issues though.)

You are not allowed to pick up the cats or wake them up. You can't bring in outside food and you must be quiet. The cafe was very relaxing in truth. It was a kind of fur therapy.

The cats are free to do as they please. It's not exactly a burden as they're much cleaner than dogs. (I observed several kitties taking bathroom breaks through a door labelled for their exclusive use beside the 'hyoomans' toilet)
The walls and ceiling are lined with climbing frames for cats to enjoy at their leisure. The window sills are good sizes for them to have sunshine naps although they also do that on the chairs, tables, the cash register and the shoulders of the staff.

You can buy snacks to feed them and the staff provide toys for them to play with. All the cats are healthy and happy and perfectly content to receive adoration from lesser beings.

This cafe had a particularly good variety of cats. They had several tabbies, longhaired persians, a sphynx, some scottish folds and a very cheeky siamese cat that I nearly took home with me.

Before we left one of the staff came over and dropped a kitten in my lap for good behaviour. Our departure was stalled for some time.

Well, that was chill but I'm out. Later, cats.

I regret nothing...

Close to graduation I gave my homeroom classes lollipops....made mostly from sugar and suger substitutes.  Do I feel sorry for unleashed sugar-hyped tiny things out into the wild?

No Pictures Darling, No Pictures

It's no secret as to how I feel about having my photo taken.

A very public part of me wants to simply avoid it altogether, make them more flattering or at least make it more bearable on my large yet terribly fragile vanity...somehow.

Nevertheless, it happens and thankfully not all the photos are used.
(Although there is one of me sweating horribly in a wool jumper in a newsletter somewhere for the children to go: 'That's Aoife-teacher! She's always shouting.')
At least Helen and Seth got the benefit of airbrushing on their brochure shots. (Not that I am in any way implying that they are anything less than perfect.)

I hesitate to post pictures of the children on the internet, naturally enough, although other TEFL teachers have no problems but I just don't feel comfortable putting them on my facebook.
Maybe it's partially cultural where there is an element in current training where they tell you never to be completely alone with a kid, never so much as touch their shoulder and don't give too much eye-contact etc etc etc.

But these photos come from the website so they're already on the internet - ahahahahaha!

This is me with my 6 year old homeroom - Brown class. This was Science where 'the kids' had to make a rubber band powered school bus.
It's one of the classes otherwise known as 'Aoife-teacher makes eight school buses.'

Please note how there's always one kid taking the time to throw up gangsigns.

This is an hour later doing another Science class with my 7 year old homeroom - U.C. Berkeley.
I...can't really remember what it is that we were doing. I think it was an optical illusion and not a very good one IMHO.

 That's both classes with Alex and I at Everland. Note how high I apparantly look. Mostly, I'm just exhausted.

This is the entire group in Everland. It was after I was pulling several kids away from the fountain and a certain dip. At least it wasn't raining. This is also the day before I flew out to Kyoto and I hadn't packed at this point.

 Finally, Halloween. Lots of princesses, ninjas and plenty of Batman. We felt very safe there. As you see I did not dress up. How dare you accuse me of being a killjoy! I don't need ridiculously difficult to obtain Halloween props! I'm terrifying enough on my own!!
(Besides I had plenty of crying children hanging out of me all day.)

Everland

For the uninitated Everland is a theme park in South Korea.

It has a certain Disney-esque feel what with their ugly mascots and seasonal themes. Naturally these affairs are best enjoyed in a stress-free environment when you can relax and stroll about the different zones at your ease.

So, basically we spent a day herding small children from point to point. I had  sore throat from the end: "Let's stay together now", "Stay with your partner." "oh god I've lost one Where is XX? Let's catch up now." "That's not a giant hornet."

Giant hornet? Where did they even hear that term? They were just bees. -_-

Anyway, after getting everyone their badges we shuffled them onto the bus where it felt like 'mom-time' as I went around making sure seatbelts were buckled, bags were placed and we hadn't lost anyone. (I spent the rest of the day doing the same and helping everyone with their cardigans as well.)

After a bus trip where (miraculously) no one threw up (not even me) we were shuffled off the bus with no clue what to do next. Seriously, that was my biggest problem and it added an awful lot of unnecessary stress. We had no itinerary and were told nothing. I could write one now of course, but that's a bit late isn't it?

 

Nevertheless, I'll summarise. First we had lunch, then we took all the children to a safari ride and a seashow. Photo ops were interspersed along with a train ride before some 'free time' where we took the *children on a few rides. (*So, no rollercoasters for Aoife.)

Lunch was an unnecessarily stressful experience, I ended up not sitting down or eating  much of my kimbap. There were bees, lots of bees so I think there must have been a nest in the vicinity, and I had to keep shooing them away from the children because y'know.

Then we took the kids to this. It was actually quite fun. (Sad too, in a way looking at those animals.) But the kids loved it, and the tiger bus we rode. XD

They had a liger, which was pretty damn cool, but he was sleeping in a rock crevasse that shielded him from us. (Clever Beast)

They also had trained some of the bears. A couple came and walked on their hindlegs next to the bus which was admittedly freaky to see.

They had other animals too, trying to remember here, beaver, chameleon, goose etc.

After that we took them all to the sea show which I must admit to enjoying. Even though it was in korean I could understand how ridiculous the 'story' was but the animals were well-trained and it was impressive to see. I have absolutely no idea why there were randomly chickens though...

The best part of that was probably the little otter though. It skittered out, rode a swing and sailed a little boat and everyone there went asdfg!!

There were official pictures, *buries face in hands*, toilet trips, rehydrating of the kidlets and much much herding. Cats would have been easier. Them  I could have packed in a box and continued on my merry way.

We took our groups on a few rides in the latter half of the day. Let me wrack my elderly memory for it now. The Peter Pan, (Good fun actually. C:) The Magic Swing (Also, quite a good one, especially for the kids), Kingdom of Cars (Just for little kids), The Royal Jubilee Carousel (Completely with terrrifying impressively sneering steeds), The Festival Train (Lots of garden to see and who doesn't like trains?) and The Global Village.

In the Global Village I sat with two of the girls and we identified all of the countries. What I cannot possibly explain is how horrifically nightmarish I found the whole thing. A part of me wanted to leap out of the boat and wade to the exit. Not too bad you say?

Oh, the things I suffer. (Note my perfect seriousness)
After we got all the feral kittens children hoarded back onto the bus we headed back whereupon I discovered that all travel medication has the same effect on me when I fell asleep and hit my head against the window....multiple times.

Bad for my heart

I've never actually had to arrange a visa so it was a new experience at the very least. On a scale of frustrating bureaucracies I'd rate it a 3. So, not bad at all!! (To clarify, Social Welfare merits a 12 on the 10 point scale.)

The problem I had was that I'm being sponsored for my visa by my new employers (*Hee~* I have a job!! ^_^ ) so I couldn't actually apply until I got the number from them. It wouldn't be too stressful except that the date of commencement for my contract was stealthily chasing me up the street.

Once the number came we scheduled an immediate father-daughter bonding trip and ventured forth. The weather was gorgeous, I didn't throw up, a massive success all round!! C:

Then, came the kicker. I arranged to pick it up Friday afternoon rather than have them post and have it arrive next Monday while I'm on stopover in Dubai. No problem right? Wrong

Yesterday morning they called me and told me that they'd accidentally posted it out to someone else in Cavan. My heart stopped. I nearly keeled over. Fortunately I didn't because that would have hurt - there's a lot of stuff on the floor here.  (Fearghal, you should really clear up)

So my passport (and visa) had been posted to another person while my flight is on Saturday. Saturday!! Now, to the uninitiated, I am definitely a neurotic wreck right now. My glass is half-empty, all my worst fears have come to pass and I'm out of tea!!

However, this turns out that my passport has been delivered to young master X (name concealed for privacy and safety of myself*) who lives in the same housing estate as ones family. The mother of young master X (details concealed for the privacy and safety of myself*) brought it round just as I put on my shoes to head in their direction.

So after <details excluded to protect the innocent*> I received my passport and am once again Korea-bound!

.....My heart still hasn't calmed down from the shock though.


*What you think I'm protecting others? It's all for my health and well-being. Who knows what could get you sued these days?!!