koyangi.

ko-yahng-ee is korean for cat.

i adopted a cat several weeks ago. sorry i didn't tell you sooner. i suppose that is somewhat of a good thing because it proves that i have been staying busy, rather than spending countless hours on the internet.

my new furry friend is named leo. leo is almost 1 year old. he is a siamese cat, but perhaps not purebreed. either way, he is a lovely young man. he has blue eyes, but one of them seems a bit lazy and cross-eyed. however, that means leo and i are perfect for each other because i love imperfections. compared to pearl, and especially bruno, leo is a small cat. by korean standards, i think he is average.

i found out about leo from www.animalrescuekorea.org. if you happen to be reading this from korea, please check out their web site and rescue an animal! leo belonged to a canadian girl who is moving back home soon. she wanted to take leo with her, but she has birds. not a good combination. i met her in seoul and took leo back to incheon with me.

as soon as i brought leo home, he was eager to come out of his carrier and look around. i was surprised because most cats want to hide in new environments. that same day, he also cuddled up with me when i took a nap. he loves to be close and affectionate; he will literally rub his face against mine and kiss me with his nose. i couldn't be happier!

when leo is not all mellow and cuddly, he is quite feisty. he still has the energy of a kitten and is always willing to play. as for toys, pretty much any moving object suits him, including my body. sometimes he will randomly attack my leg when i walk by, simply because it moved. he also loves to jump and grab onto the broom when i am trying to sweep the floor. i have plenty of scratches from this little beast, but i prefer to call them "love marks."

right now, leo is sleeping on his favorite chair, twitching, and making chomp-ing noises while he dreams (very dog-like). he will want to play before bed, so we will. and then he will spend the entire night nestled in my arms.

lastly, i just wanted to post one humorous photo. i was shopping in incheon at bupyeong station (the central part of the city). i am used to seeing products with advertisements written in broken english. the captions are often quite funny. i also see a lot of imitation products. of course in the markets, you see vendors selling fake coach purses, prada shoes, and calvin & klein underwear. on this particular day, i found some tape. 4M tape. i wonder where they came up with that idea?? dad, i hope you see this picture and laugh. the weird part is that i have seen scotch tape and other 3M brand products for sale here. they're not foolin' me...