Bau Haus Dog Cafe

* Like I reported in my last post, things had been a little tough for me after my parents left Seoul. I don’t belong to a team at my work so while other teams have monthly dinners together, I am left to wonder why I’m not included in their reindeer games? So, I decided to stop being sad and to do something about it. My solution was to threw my own dinner party. I had a few guests over from work and cooked dinner for them. They really enjoyed my cooking. Especially, the crustini with homemade salsa. They kept asking me for the recipe, but since I made it up I had to show them the steps I took to make it. So they learned something new.
I also learned something new from Hui Kyung. Before we ate dinner, Hui Kyung went into the restroom to wash her hands. She asked if she was supposed to use the Neutrogena face wash soap on her hands. I told her, “No, use the Korean stuff.” She started laughing, so I knew I had committed another faux pas. She was laughing because I had put soap for washing dishes in my bathroom. I couldn’t tell the difference! It’s all in Korean; soap is soap right? Since this incident I have replaced my bathroom dishwashing soap with Dove bar soap, so let’s hope future dinner guests will be spared any needless confusion.
* Speaking of needless confusion, I had a very strange dream the other day. I dreamt that I needed to pick something up to rescues it from getting wet. Well, I ended up falling out of bed rescuing this imaginary object. One minute I’m asleep in bed, the next I’m laying on the hardwood floor wondering why my knee and elbow hurt so damn much. I crawled back into bed, but I had trouble falling asleep again because of the pain, and the fact that I couldn’t stop laughing at myself.
* Guess where Vicki and I went…..the long await, world famous Bau Haus!!! It’s a dog café! And no, although Koreans do eat dogs on occasion, this café only served drinks and dog treats. This café has at all times 10 or so dogs on hand, plus some people bring their own dogs to play, too. It’s a wild scene! Dogs barking, running, biting, and scratching, it was a dog lover’s paradise! We got to cuddle every kind of dog from an Afghan to a schnauZer!
I brought dog treats from a local market but they were confiscated at the door. The dogs are only aloud to have the treats that we buy at their café. It’s also a one drink minimum per visitor. They sell smoothies, tea, and bottled beer. If you leave any drink unattended a dog might try to share it with you. The dogs own this place! The roam around the tables and bench seats visiting any guests with doggy treats available.
I spent most of my time with one big sleepy doberman pincher who loved cuddling with me. He was sleeping on me for most of the 2 hours we were there! Though other dogs came and went so I got to cuddle other dogs as well.
The dogs were pretty well behaved for the most part. We only saw a few have “accidents” that were promptly cleaned up by attentive staff. And every time a staff member called one of the dogs by name it would come running and then sit down near him or her. The dog would then sit while people posed around it for photos.
* After Vicki and I left the dog café, we went to a Mexican restaurant. All I can say is it was a very interesting take on Mexican food. I’m not saying it was bad, on the contrary, I liked the quesadilla I ordered. It just didn’t use a corn or flour tortilla like your average quesadilla. This one was made out of some kind or omelet-crêpe-potato-paddy hybrid. It was not crispy, it was fluffy with melted cheese and different types of mushrooms inside.
* After the dinner, we followed the loud cheering that was coming from the park. There was an amazing Korean band playing. They covered all English songs with the added twist of a Reggae beat, tap dancing, and beat boxing. The group was called Soundbox, and they covered songs like Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ and Radiohead ‘Freak’. All while adding interesting beat box noises or dramatic tap dancing dueling sessions between the dancer and the base player. Really interesting stuff, so creative! I think they are there ever weekend in the park so I can’t wait to go back and check them out again soon… when I get to bring Angela!!! I can’t wait for my sister to visit!!!