Cats and Art (but not together)

Phew, time passes quickly when you're running around like a crazy person. Last time we saw our intrepid adventurers, it was the end of a successful Saturday and the dawn of a brand new Sunday. Let's see where they are now!

Sunday was equally as interesting as Saturday, if not more so. My day started off at around 4:30 am, when I awoke in order to watch Notre Dame defeat the Boilermakers. When the game ended at around 8:15, it was time to go to church. As it turns out, there are tons of churches in Seoul. As much as I love the cathedral, it is unfortunately about an hour's train ride away from where I live. Even though the Mass is always worth it, that is quite a commitment, especially at 8 am. So I decided to check out the Catholic church that's less than ten minutes of walking from my apartment. Incidentally, this church was recommended by one of those excellent connections one makes at Notre Dame. A good friend from choir, who also lives in Gangnam, told me about this place. Unfortunately, she had never seen the English Mass offered at this particular church.

The English Mass was, to put it gently (or not), pretty terrible. It was very...California. Don't get me wrong. The people, just like California, were incredibly nice. The moment Mass was over, I was shuttled off to share coffee and pastries with an odd assortment of Koreans (and Californians) who were all incredibly excited to see me there. Next thing I knew, they wanted to go to lunch and talk about life. But, alas, a nice community does not make up for a terrible Mass.

Perhaps I am spoiled by a lifetime of proper liturgical practices. Perhaps I know too much about what Mass is supposed to look like. Perhaps I care too deeply about music. I shouldn't complain. I really shouldn't. But when the guitar-keyboard duo started performing some horrible praise-band fluff and when the congregation started reading the gospel together like some horrible iteration of a grade school reading class, I knew that my brief flirtation with anything other than Myeongdong Cathedral was over. I never thought I would find something worse than the Steve Warner "Our Father". I was wrong. So long, Yeoksam parish.

Once I had successfully quenched my rage-flames, I headed off to Heongdae to meet a friend. As the intersecting neighborhood of several universities, Heongdae is the model of what a college downtown should look like. It has everything. Shopping, food, music, cute little craft booths selling things made by poor art majors... There's even some pretty sweet graffiti. Naomi and I started out by wandering around and doing a little shopping, but eventually ended up stalking the members of a grungy metal band because the one guy had a mohawk of epic proportions. This led us to the least likely of places. It led us to a cat cafe. (No, the metal guys did not go to the cat cafe, although that would have been adorable and reminiscent of a certain TV show about a death metal band and a certain member who really likes cats...)

In case you're wondering what a cat cafe is, it's exactly what it sounds like. It is a cafe where you drink coffee and play with cats. Here. I'll show you a picture.

This is the face of true happiness.

THERE IS A CAT INSIDE OF MY PURSE!!!

Can you imagine anything better than this? I cannot. If this does not warm your heart, I kindly request that you go back to whichever circle of hell you escaped from, you creature of Satan.

After several hours of playing with cats, I realized that my allergies were about to punish me, and decided that I must take my leave...until next time. I am definitely going back this weekend. I think that when I return to America, I must make this a reality. What is wrong with America that we do not already have cat cafes? This would be good for everyone! Depressed? Lonely? Wish you could have a pet, but can't due to living arrangements? Go to a cat cafe! What? Cats aren't your thing? Let's have a dog cafe too. And let's not forget that socialization and endless quantities of love would be great for lonely animals too. I...I am getting too excited here. I need to finish this post and calm down.

Anyway, after the cat cafe, we wandered around for a bit until we stumbled upon the strangest sight these eyes have yet seen in Korea. It was some sort of strange art festival...in the middle of the street. I'm sorry. Did I call it art? It was mostly performance art of the crazy Yoko Ono variety. There was a man who made nonsense noises while squirting paint all over a car tire, which he then rubbed all over his body to confused applause. There was also a barefoot, dancing Beethoven look-alike. Then there was a man drawing pictures on the asphalt with olive oil. Considering his art actually looked cool, I'd say he was the only one present who had any talent. When he got tired of drawing, he sat down on the sidewalk and proceeded to smoke while holding a stethoscope up to a hunk of rock.

Is this art? Who knows.

Oh, I forgot to mention the cars. Here is a sample.

Go, go, robot unicorn car!

Man, I love Korea.

Tarico