Fergusons in Cheonan.

After spending three hot busy days in bustling Seoul, we headed to Cheonan, which Koreans say is the "slow life".  Even though it still is a good sized city, it does not even come close to jam-packed Seoul that attracts tourists from all over the world.  One thing that Doug and I really wanted to show them was the Big Buddha statue on Mt. Taejosan, which is the mountain that we can see from the view in our apartment.  The area around the statue and temple is so peaceful and serene.  It is definitely a must see when you are in Cheonan. Plus, we could bring Pippa along on this outing, which is always a bonus :)

 Tons of steps to the top didn't stop this pup.

Pippa chilling with Buddha.

 Doug got some great photos of the temple's intricate artwork.  And, of course, he took a picture of a dragon.

Cafe Gourmet.

This weekend, Jess and I went to our favorite cafe, Cafe Gourmet.  It is a beautiful cafe with huge sunny windows, big wooden tables, delicious lattes, and comfy patio and balcony seating to enjoy the sunshine.  It is situated right next to the lake, so as you sit on the balcony you can look over the lake and people watch.

With the sunny summer weather, we decided to take Pippa to the lake, get some coffee, and relax.  We walked down to the lake in the morning and sat in the shaded patio area with Pippa.   The walking path around the lake and the cafe were pretty much empty since it was such a hot day so it was nice and peaceful.  Well, it was peaceful until they started doing construction on the balcony above us.  I swear there are no building codes here because the men were throwing huge wood planks (with nails in them!) over the balcony to a pile below.   We sat outside for about an hour, but then it just got so noisy so thought we might as well ask if we can sit inside with Pippa.  

The staff excitedly said yes!  They were so accommodating to Pippa; I was shocked.  For a country that still eats dog soup, I was extremely surprised that they were so laid back about letting us bring her in.  The one waiter kept coming over to pet Pippa and one other worker came over to say hi to her as well.  Jess and I stayed inside for about two more hours talking and writing in our journals.  I can't say enough how thankful I am for meeting Jess here and growing our friendship over this year.  It was the perfect day to spend with Jess, Pippa, and a good hazelnut latte.  

First, she started out on the ground...

Next she moved her way up to the chair...

Then inside...

And finally after her big adventurous day, she curled up and slept on my lap. Pippa better not get used to hanging out in cafes, this would definitely not fly back home!

Summer days.

Lately, we haven't been up to much.  Ever since we started teaching at a school on Saturdays, our idea of a perfect weekend is relaxing and setting the plans as the day goes on.  Next weekend we do plan to get out a bit more.  But for now, we are enjoying restful weekends.  Here are a couple recent photos:

 

We been cuddling a lot with Pippa.  She is such a bean bag and can fall asleep in any position.

 

Last weekend we had a spontaneous date night that was really great.  We went to our favorite bar for drinks and then afterward went to the only really authentic Italian restaurant in Cheonan and shared a pizza and a salad.  I think we are going to have to have more impromptu dates from now on!

Pippa eating an apple.

I realized that my video I posted of Pippa eating an apple wasn't playing, so this time it should work.  Here she is enjoying an apple after a long hike.  Hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend!

Pippa's first hike.

Last weekend, we took Pippa to Mt. Taejosan for her very first hike.  At first, I was worried that the hike would be too strenuous for her.  I mean, it's not the hardest hike in the world, but it is very steep at some areas.  Well, we found out hiking is no problem for the Pippsta.  Maybe some parts of the hike were too strenuous for me (like when I had to practically crawl down a section due to it's steepness so I didn't tumble right on down the mountainside), but she bounced around that mountain like she'd been doing it her whole life.  Here are some of the highlights from our hike:

The bus driver wouldn't let us on without Pippa in a carrier, so we quickly tucked her inside our backpack.  I think she liked hanging out in there and she definitely had some admirers on the bus. 

Since the celebration for Buddha's birthday is next weekend, the lake and area around the temple on Mt. Taejosan was decoration with paper lanterns.

Everything is so green in Korea right now! I love it.

Here she is trying to steal a kiss from Doug.

These are some of the rock formations that are so common when hiking in Korea.  A friend told me that her co-worker said that they do it to be part of a journey together.  As you add your rock to the stack, you add your story to the journey, connecting yourself to the others who have passed that way.

After the hike we relaxed and enjoyed the temple decorations.  More people than usual were at the temple this weekend due to the holiday festivities.  Usually, it's pretty peaceful.

 If she isn't a model dog, than I don't know what is.  I'm  mean this amount of adorableness takes it to the next level.

This picture is way too cute for words.

We saw some of the very last remains of the cherry blossoms.  They have all completely fallen off the trees in Korea now and I haven't seen any blossoms scattered on the ground for a while.  Maybe a month ago, these pretty pink blossoms were everywhere.

We also discovered that Pippa loves apples.  She enjoyed taking a little apple snack break with us halfway through the hike.  

Meet....

Pippa!  I know many of you know already, but we got a new dog.  After some serious consideration, Doug and I decided that the best thing for us deal with the pain of losing Yeppi was to open our hearts to a new dog.  We will always miss Yeppi and she we always hold a very special place in our hearts, but we needed something else to love to distract us from the emptiness that we felt.  We ended up going to a shelter in Pyeongtaek, which is about twenty minutes north of us on the subway.  

When we got to the shelter, a woman took us to a room with about 30 available dogs.  They were all small dogs and there were several Yorkies, Malteses, black Poodles, and mixed breeds.  We weren't able to get any of the dogs out and play with them before making our decision, so we took some time trying to get to know the dogs through the cages.  We both knew that we wanted a dog that didn't bark, so we narrowed it down to the two cages that had quiet dogs.  I was trying to decide between Pippa and the little Yorkie or Maltese in the pictures below.  I asked Doug what he thought and he said he wanted Pippa. Since Doug was the first one to see a spark in Yeppi, I knew he knew what he was doing when picking out a sweet, lovable, amazing dog. 

Disclaimer: The pics for this post aren't that great because they were taken on our phones and the dogs were moving so fast :) 

She got Pippa out for us and brought her into the shed/office where she worked.  We filled out some paperwork and that was that.  We didn't even have to pay a fee to take her home.  I was shocked at how simple it was.  We basically pointed to the dog we wanted and took her home.  She wouldn't stop moving; she was so excited to get out of that cage and come home with us!

She was a little fidgety on the subway.  Doug and I joked that she is like a baby because we couldn't sit down but instead had to stand up and gently rock to keep her settled!  Now, she is much calmer so it must have been all the excitement of that day.  She is settling in so nicely after spending a little over a week with us.  She is so curious and loves just watching our every movement. Also, she is a great snuggler.

  

I think we are going to need to work on her "acting like a lady" skills since this is her favorite was to relax :) I think she would've gotten along good with her sister, she liked to lay like that too...