Today I need to write about my sad feelings. They are my sad feelings about the stray cats here at DGEV. We have quite a few, one a multi-colored cat, we call her “mom” or “momma,” as from DGEV lore she’s been around for a while, she’s had many litters of kittens - says the staff who have been here for a long time. There was a large orange tabby male cat hanging around, he was gigantic, Collin Teacher just took him home to the Wooboang apartments. He took him to the vet and got him “domesticated.” He’s loud in the apartment now though, he’s a real talker. Collin named him Roscco -actually Kevin Teacher named him that- Collin just adopted him because he’s lonely at the apartments and saw a good distraction. I say that as I hope Collin will take good care of him, but Collin is 20 something, I don’t think he’ll be taking Rosccoo back to the states when he leaves, which I think he should get disparagement for - I hope he surprises me. 

The stray cats around DGEV: ”Momma“ white, with brown and black spots, the ”siblings” two black and brown cats both the same size and appear the same age - short tails both, ”Roscco”, ”Chunk Monk” a black and white gigantic cat that is rarely seen, he’s bigger than Roscco, and lastly ”Lou”: the kitten the momma had in the fall, we all thought her kittens had died, she had three, and now only one remains: Lou. He/she is white with the lightest tan body/spots, very pale. Only 6 months old by now. 

Collin adopting Roscco only happened about 3 or 4 weeks ago at this point. Two weeks ago I noticed the disappearance of the momma. What does their “appearance” look like at DGEV? Well all four: momma, siblings and Lou would be waiting out back on some stairs for food every night for us to feed them. Kevin and Trystan teacher are feeding them cat food. They were always there, every night on the stairs. They soon weren’t. But the kitten has been. 

Trystan put together cat houses made of boxes with blankets in them for them to sleep in as it has been very cold here in Korea all of December until now (February). The mom has been around the kitten since Lou came out of hiding. I first noticed Lou alone I think two weeks ago, but there were other cats milling around. I have not seen one of the siblings for maybe longer. 

We are in the hills of a “mountain” in Daegu, it’s really not tall at all, but there are trees and hills all around us. Teachers have seen tiny boars running around in the hills. There are plenty of places for the cats to wander and roam, find new territory, and move. That’s not my biggest concern. 

It’s that I’ve found the kitten by themself for the last week. She/he is always eating by themselves at the food bowl and water bowl. We tried to say hi last night and they always run away in fear. I did laundry today and as I was walking up the stairs I looked out the window and saw Lou there eating and drinking by themselves again. I just broke down. Where has the mom gone? Where are the siblings? Did they never get along well before? Is the mom done with nurturing? The only other cat that I saw around recently was Chunk Monk and a new black and white cat that was skinnier. Two nights ago the siblings returned for an evening meal waiting on the stairs and all of us teachers rejoiced. Maybe three nights ago I saw the mother, she ran underneath one of the cook’s cars parked out back, but I haven’t seen her since. 

My hope is that she was pregnant again and disappeared to give birth and take care of the kittens. That’s my best hope, and it’s not far-fetched. 

I’ve just seen the kitten by themselves for too long now and they are not a full-grown adult cat. This is the life of strays, but boy being we are observers and slight caretakers of these cats, my heart has a hard time, I came upstairs and just cried to Eric about why they were left alone. I think also needed to admit my own helplessness and unwillingness at fixing Lou’s situation. The only way I could adopt Lou would be to move to the Woobang apartments and we’re just unwilling to do that, it comes with way too many additional costs a major one being commuting back and forth to work. So I can’t help, won’t help, but also what about all the other stray cats? Why pick just Lou? Why just the cats? 

Well, I love cats is my answer and they are here. But I’ve been tormented by seeing kitten Lou by himself and I just don’t know what to do and I just needed to talk about it. I know that he/she is a part of the circle of life, and that is okay, it’s definitely okay and as it has been will always be, but goddamn, those furballs with legs get me and I just want Lou curled up on my bed safe. Along with all the other cats, but especially Lou because I feel like she has been abandoned. 

I’m hoping for a happier outcome, I’m not sure what that looks like. The mom had kittens so more cats to worry about? I’m sure there will be more tears to come… maybe they’ll be happy? Here’s Lou <3