KAPS/Streetcar in Daegu
Yesterday six friends and I travelled to Daegu, a big city a two hour bus ride away. The trip was full of anticipation for me. We arrived to a clean, cool metropolis easily accessible by a nice, new subway system (that my friends luckily knew how to navigate!). We first went to our hostel and dropped our stuff off, and then made the journey to the Korean Animal Protection Society (KAPS) and volunteered our time walking dogs. The KAPS does a lot of really good work in Korea; similar to the SPCA, they work to rescue and rehabilitate animals who have been abused, abandoned by their owners, or are simply roaming the streets. They also work to save dogs from meat markets in Daegu- that's right, dogs are still sold (alive) in Korean meat markets. The KAPS saves these dogs and helps to raise awareness about how abominable a practice it is to eat a family member. They fix these animals up and work on finding them forever homes.
When we finally made it to the shelter (after about an hour of searching for it), we were greeted by about 50 excited little dogs who were so anxious to get out of their cages and come for a walk with us! An American girl who either works there or volunteers really regularly guided us through the volunteering process, and told us to each pick a dog we'd like to walk, and she would aid us with finding a harness and leash for the little guys. It was really hard to choose; these poor animals looked up at me with such sad eyes. Some were really sick, or really skinny. I wanted to hug and walk them all. It was really kind of heartbreaking, but at least I know they won't end up on someone's dinner plate.
I ended up choosing a small, nervous Daschund I started calling "Oscar." Everyone else quickly found their dog and soon we were off. I couldn't stop smiling, I loved it so much. Everyone was so happy, and the dogs were, too. We stayed for a good while!
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| A tiny baby puppy sleeping in his food/water dish |
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| Me and Borges!!! A crazy little Corgi <3 |
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| By this time in the walk (3/4 of the way through) poor little Oscar's legs were too tired to keep going. He lay down like this and refused to get up; I had to carry him the rest of the way back, haha) |
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| From left to right: Me + Oscar, John, CR + Borges, Aine + Shag Pile, Gareth + Stumps, Jess + Gus, Sarah (Her dog is hiding, haha) |
After walking the dogs, we went out for Indian food. In Korea, it's pretty difficult to find "exotic" food- that is, anything that isn't Korean or a Western fast-food chain. The demand just isn't high. So, we took full advantage of being in a city with a lot of choices and enjoyed curry, nan, and chai. It was great.
Next, we went to a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Daegu YMCA (about a 10 minute walk from our hostel!) The play was performed by foreigners, and though it was over THREE HOURS LONG!, it was actually pretty good, having both read the play and seen the movie before. Most of the people in the play had never acted before, and I was impressed by some performances. There was also a bake sale there and all of the proceeds from it went to KAPS!! So I was extra happy to buy fresh baked chocolate chip cookies (exceedingly rare!).
After the play we decided to join the cast party at a downtown bar called "Who's Bob?" When we got there, I was seriously overwhelmed and kind of got really shy; there were 100 foreigners there! The place was packed. It's been so long since I've experienced a packed bar where I can understand everyone in the room, and it was overwhelming! I knew every song the jukebox played! A real toilet! Signs and drink specials in English! It blew my mind. We had a great time there and even were able to talk to the cast a little bit. It seems the western scene in Daegu is much more lively than in Jinju.
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| Aine, me, Jess and Sarah outside the bar. |
It's getting better every day!
More soon,
M
posted by Mud Burger @ 3:03 AM
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