Wishing you a Merry Christmas.
Love,
Jane, Yangkyu and Bartles
(and missing our Piri on our first Christmas without him)
Oh man.
I had started to edit photos from our trip to Munich a few days ago and then attempted to finish editing the past couple of days (totally didn't happen). I did start again way early in the morning today and thought I'd be able to get a blog post up in the afternoon. Boy was I wrong. It's 7:30 pm on a Friday night and I will be lucky if this will go up by 10 pm tonight!
As most of you probably already know we have a new new family member, Mr. Bartles, and he has kept me quite busy since his arrival. He's not house trained and he can't hear and doesn't see well and so I've been spending a lot of my time making sure he knows his way around and being really vigilant about taking Bartles out in the backyard so that he'll start to associate outside as his pee and potty area. I keep my eyes on him all the time when he's up and moving around to catch him before the act.
I have literally moved downstairs with him too! He does totally fine on his own but just until I get the hang of his signals and routine, I have been sleeping downstairs with him and have also moved my computer downstairs as well (once I start to have DogVacay guests it'll be much easier to edit pictures and send updates from downstairs).
Also, before I start to reminisce our time in Germany, I wanted to mention how terribly sad I am to hear of the recent tragic news in Berlin. I could not believe it and was shocked as everything began to unfold. We weren't in Berlin during our trip, but I remember all those Christmas markets as places where people go to with their loved ones and where families and little children make traditions and it's a place where people all over the world go to find a little Christmas magic. And so it was heartbreaking to learn what had happened. Our thoughts go out to the people of Germany and to the family members whose loved ones lost their lives.
We left for Munich on the evening of Sunday, December, 4, and arrived the following day around noon. We flew Lufthansa and so now we like to kind of brag and say we actually know someone who works there. Ha!
Shone, who frequented Piri's Place, doesn't work for Lufthansa but his human does and just hours before our flight he texted us and let us know that he had upgraded our seats to premium economy. I mean, wha?! Yangkyu and I were inside CVS picking up last minute things and we might have kinda made a small scene. I'm so simple minded that even though the actual upgraded seats are to go bonkers for, the gesture really kind of did it for me.
But as simple minded as I am, I sometimes think awfully too hard and we realized that we didn't check in early enough and the only available seats would place us separately. We had the option of sitting separately or together and having an entire row of seats to ourselves in the economy section. After exchanging blank "I can't decide" looks with Yangkyu (we are seriously the worst in deciding these kinds of things), we opted to sit next to each other. I wish I caught the person's name who was helping us because he saw us at the gate and checked again to see if any seat openings came up (thank you!). And during our flight, even though we had the entire row to ourselves, Yangkyu and I ended up seating right next to each other, being all up in each other's personal space (because this is the best part about traveling with your partner), stealing each others drinks, dinner and snacks and using each other as a pillow and sleeping for most of the way there.
For our trip, we also brought a little Lamb Chop toy to symbolize Piri because we wanted to make sure he was somehow represented. Later on, our friends whom we met in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, made us a little Piri doll which we also carried around. We'll show you pictures in an upcoming post.
We planned our time over in Munich and other parts of Bavaria according to Rick Steves travel books. Not everything went according to plan and we missed out on a few places, but overall our trip felt pretty extensive and it was very enjoyable. There were a little confusing moments here and there, but I think it was more cultural and background differences (?). I'll get into it (again in an upcoming post).
This is how we spent our time:
Day 1, 2 - Travel dates & perusing through the Munich Christmas Market in Marienplatz
Day 3 - Munich City Walk
Day 4 - Hohenschwangau Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, Füssen
Day 5 - Dachau Concentration Camp
Day 6 - Salzburg
Day 7 - Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Day 8 - Sick/rest day/Munich Christmas Market in Marienplatz & Krampus Run
Day 9 - Lake Konigssee
Day 10 - Nuremberg
Day 11 - Last minute shopping in Munich & travel day
While we worried about things like language and using the train system, we didn't take into account jet lag, which totally kicked our butts the first night we were there. We slept late and woke up late and so our Munich City Walk ended up being more like Let's Get Lost in Munich and Feel Groggy and Tired and Hungry and Go Back to the Hotel and Sleep Some More.
You see, among all the good things I took after my mother, I also inherited her terrible volleyball skills, the ability to always lose at rock, paper and scissors and not be able to use certain public bathrooms (museums and restaurants are almost always ok but all the rest are pretty much a no go - train no, airplanes no, porta potties heck no). And I have also been gifted with a digestive system that likes to get upset every time I am traveling and so I have a hard time eating (because I'm afraid my stomach will hurt and I can't use the public bathroom so I'll definitely be screwed.). While in Germany it took 8 days for my stomach to get used to everything and it was on that sick/rest day in Munich when we literally ate our way through the Christmas Market because I was finally feeling ok.
Looking back at our pictures and everything we did while we were in Germany, I realized that we missed out on a lot of the sights I had wanted to see in Munich. The first day when we missed it during our city walk itinerary, I think we thought we would have plenty of time to catch it later (we had built in a free day to catch any sights we missed but Yangkyu ended up getting sick and so we used our free day to rest) and that later never did come.
From the Munich City Walk, we were able to take in the Residenz (Residenz Museum and Treasury), Viktualienmarkt & Schrannenhalle, Kaufingerstrasse, Asam Church, St. Michaels Church and St. Peters Church (where unfortunately the tower was closed and so we couldn't take in the view from up top).
And we missed out on the Munich City Museum, Michael Jackson Memorial, Dallmayr Delicatessen, English Garden, Museum Quarter Art Museums, Frauenkirche, and Hofbrauhaus. Also, a friend on Instagram recommended Manufactum Warenhaus and FUNF HOFE, which we missed out as well.
I realized that our Munich City Walk was an ambitious one to tackle in one day, and this is where I had an awakening. We are too old for this. Seriously!
You know, when we went to Maui for our honeymoon we literally did 12 hour days where we just walked and took in as much of the island as we could. It was crazy and tiring but we had so much fun. And energy leftover to do it all over again the next day.
And right after we got married, we took a 3 day trip to Washington D.C. to "relax" (we couldn't go on our honeymoon right away and we were living in NY at the time but went to DC for work related things but never really got to sightsee so we chose DC to getaway). Days 1 and 3 were travel dates and so we only really had day 2 to take in everything and we literally walked the entire day and lived to tell about it.
We walked for 6 hours in Munich and went back to the hotel and crashed for 4 hours. And our bodies still felt like it was body slammed a thousand times over.
For all our days, I had planned on getting an early start and paying the more expensive regional train tickets. We ended up starting our days after 9 am (except for two days), which saved us money and also our legs.
I had planned on covering pictures from Hohenschwangau Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle and Füssen in this post as well, but now I'm really pushing it to 10 pm. We're doing a movie night and I have to get up early for a DogVacay guest coming in the morning and so the King's castles will have to wait until another day.
Auf Wiedersehen!
(Ha. The only word we were able to get out aside from danke schön the first few days in Germany. Later we were able to upgrade to "Entschuldigen Sie. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" which I literally had to videotape our friend, Karina, to get the pronunciation right. But you know, before I could finish saying "excuse me", people were already greeting me back in English. Most of the young people speak English and are very helpful and friendly. Our clueless butts were saved a few times by these caring folks who probably felt bad that we would end up far far away from Munich. OK. More next time!)
// Photo credit: OBG Cocker Spaniel Rescue //
If you already follow us on Instagram, you probably already heard of the news we've been dying to share with you since the beginning of December. We were hush hush about it (ok, except to a few close close friends) because we didn't want to jinx anything (I'm not superstitious, just a little stitious). But, there is a new family member who officially joined us yesterday. His name is Bartles, a 12 year old cocker spaniel and we adopted him from the OBG Cocker Spaniel Rescue based here in the Washington D.C. area.
I actually saw Bartles on OBG's site (and Facebook page) back probably late spring maybe? Ever since Piri entered the senior stage in life and when he began to get sick with one illness after another, my heart has permanently built a special spot for senior dogs. So my eyes goes to their profile and their story first. Certainly puppies are so cute. I mean who can resist their little tails and paws and their playful ways. But to me, seniors are like super old puppies, but they have attitudes where nothing phases them (or if there are things that still scare them, they get through it in stride - oh those courageous seniors). It's the most adorable combination that can only come with senior dogs (and aren't we so lucky for that?).
I came across Bartles again after Piri crossed the rainbow bridge in October. It was around Halloween and I saw a picture pop up on my Facebook newsfeed. It was Bartles dressed in a sailor costume, the same exact one Piri wore last year. I shared Bartles' picture to my own wall and wished him all the best in his upcoming adoption event. My heart, while full of sadness with the loss of Piri, was also full of hope for Bartles to find a forever family.
You know, I am told (and you can also see on OBG's Facebook page), Bartles is quite the popular guy and so we are incredibly lucky to have been chosen to be his forever family.
But Bartles has battles he's facing too. He has been diagnosed with Cushing's Disease, and is possibly in the very early stages of kidney disease. He has lost a lot of his vision and his hearing entirely, and because of his Cushing's, he has weak muscles in his hind legs and also has skin irritations as well.
Someone once told me, being old isn't for the weak, and we know that Bartles, while seemingly looking a bit weak on the outside, has the heart and strength of Hercules on the inside. Right before coming home to us, he had a procedure done where multiple lumps were removed on his hind leg, head and tongue and 5 teeth extracted. His foster mom, Leanne (who is amazing and wonderful by the way) let us know how he came out of it with flying colors and has been recovering just fine.
It was in November when my heart was flipflopping because I was longing for a dog and to me Bartles seemed like the right fit. I knew if we were to adopt it would be a senior dog with a medical issue. It is a silent promise I made to Piri -- that I will try my hardest to honor and remember him by taking in a dog who is in a similar situation as him before he passed - old and sick but still so full of life and love. And I cried endless nights thinking how instead of having his beds and blankets empty and unused, Piri would've liked us to share them with a dog in search of a forever home. To us, Piri had a big sharing heart (even though he liked to shamelessly steal guest dog's beds from time to time).
But even though I was ready to share all my love with Bartles, I was also scared and hesitant. I was coming off of a very emotional and physically (and financially) tough care for Piri. There were nights where I would be woken up multiple times because he needed to go pee or drink water, or I would be cooking endlessly in utter desperation to find something he would eat, and trying to get him to take his medicine required creativity levels I thought I did not have. And travel and such were all put on hold (unless we could take Piri with us, which when we did required meticulous planning and execution to get all his feedings, sub-q fluid injections, supplements and medication administered). And we didn't go out much to enjoy the movies or a dinner out or shopping (which we did not mind because our love for Piri was bigger). And while the first couple of weeks after Piri passed I didn't know what to do with all this free time I had, I slowly began to think, "maybe I should enjoy this free time more before signing up to take on such a big responsibility." "Maybe I should travel more, go watch more movies, go on more dates with Yangkyu, before thinking of adopting a dog."
One of the biggest factors in my deciding to email Leanne despite these small reservations was the amount of love and support we received from our friends, acquaintances, family and even strangers we have never met, after we lost Piri. They kept coming, even well past a month since he crossed the rainbow bridge (and they still continue to come now). And the more we received, the more it felt right to pay it forward. To take all this love I had for Piri, that everyone had for Piri, and share it with another dog. And my thinking from "I wish Bartles would find a forever family soon" changed more to a "Well, why can't we be his forever family?"
Even with all this though, I was still hesitant and so I reached out to Angel Billy's mom first, Andrea (Billy is also an OBG alum and came to Piri's Place on multiple occasions). She foster failed with Billy and have also fostered a couple more times as well. So I thought to ask her if there was an etiquette when reaching out to foster volunteers to inquire about a dog. My biggest worry was reaching out and having them go the nine yards in explaining and answering all my questions when I wasn't 100% sure about adopting. I didn't want to waste anyone's time. But Andrea encouraged me to reach out and share any concerns or questions I had.
Even after this positive exchange with Andrea, it took me a good week (and a couple days?) to finally send an email to Leanne. I think I rambled in my email. I was nervous. I wasn't sure. I was excited. I felt unsure whether I was betraying Piri or forgetting about him. And then I received an incredibly thoughtful and honest email from her. Andrea gave me a heads up that Leanne was amazing, and after reading her email, I knew exactly what Andrea was talking about.
My email exchange with Leanne led to Yangkyu and I attending an adoption event in Springfield on December 3 - the day before we were leaving for Munich. We spent the entire three hours there with Bartles and afterwards Yangkyu and I decided that we wanted to bring him home. Any reservations we had leading up to that moment vanished, or even though it was there, it didn't seem daunting (like we had pictured it to be).
I let Leanne know that we were all in and had planned on filling his adoption papers after we came back from our trip.
Perhaps my impatient personality pays off from time to time, because I actually submitted the application on Sunday afternoon, just hours before our flight to Munich. And our adoption papers were approved while we were there. We had a little celebration.
You guys, it was seriously so hard to keep it all in. I wanted to share the pictures I was getting of him and share the many stories that we were making with Bartles, even though he wasn't quite home with us yet. But you know, the little stititous side of me held steadfast and I kept mum until he finally came home.
That picture of Bartles on top of this post is from the adoption event when we met him for the first time. Leanne emailed a bunch of his holiday pictures to us and this was the first picture that popped up in my email and I laughed. He looks so adorable and goofy at the same time and it became my favorite from the bunch. I kept looking at this picture of him while we were in Munich and said to Yangkyu, "I think this is the same exact face expression I made when I saw the Munich Christmas Market for the first time." And soon the picture was known as "Bartles concentration level = treats."
Bartles also did this thing during the adoption event where he would go around Pet Valu taking any chews he can with him. And he was taking the big ones, you know. And he grabbed with his teeth and yanked with his neck.
In Munich, because I have braces, it was hard to eat and so I was using my neck too to pull at sandwiches and such and I said to Yangkyu, "Hey, don't I look like Bartles when he was pulling the chews off the shelves?" And we laughed at the similarities.
Do you recall a few paragraphs ago when I mentioned how my heart was still so sad from losing Piri but so hopeful for Bartles? I felt these two contradicting feelings the entire time I was in Munich. I had moments when I cried (and cried hard) because I was still so sad over our loss of Piri but I was smiling and laughing every time I thought about Bartles and this picture.
Even just a couple of days ago, I was crying when I needed to update Piri's dog license and change his status to "deceased". Then the follow day Bartles came home to us and while Leanne was going over things with us, Bartles who had been sleeping so quietly on the doggy bed, all of the sudden rolled off the bed doing a complete 360. I don't know why but this was so completely adorable to me and it gave me the uncontrollable giggles (I mean even when Leanne, after sharing a laugh, continued on explaining, I interrupted with my laughs and I felt so horrible if it came off rude or I wasn't paying attention but Bartles has this effect on me - he gives me the never ending giggles).
When we announced Bartles yesterday to our friends on Facebook and Instagram we were met with such love and support. They welcomed Bartles with open arms and let him know that he hit the jackpot with us and how we would care for him greatly. I think we were flattered to last us a lifetime and it humbles us to think that our friends think of us this way. But to tell you the truth, from October onwards, Bartles has given me the gift of laughter in unexpected ways. From when I saw him in his sailor costume, to when we saw him grabbing the big chews at his adoption event, to his goofy treat concentration picture to him so adorably rolling off his bed, Bartles has been working his cocker magic to heal my heart. I think we hit the jackpot with him.
I am so thankful for Bartles, to Leanne who played such a big role in helping Bartles' on his journey to his forever home, to OBG and their tireless rescue work, his former humans who loved him in his formative years until they had to part with him, Piri who taught me love and patience and to everyone who grieved with us and who have equally been so happy for our latest news. I am looking forward to seeing how our story will unfold.
After Bartles' rolled off his bed yesterday, Leanne let me know that there will be many more of these "Oh Bartles" moments like this. I decided that would be the perfect hashtag for him for everyone to follow along on Instagram. #ohbartles
Welcome home, Bartles.
// Yes, I cried so much writing this post and laughed too. I love you Piri and Bartles. I think you guys would've been great friends.
// Piri and Bartles are both March babies. March is now my favorite month.
// Piri and Bartles are both March babies. March is now my favorite month.
// It makes me so happy to see the available dogs page on OBG's website with a little "adopted" caption on Bartles' photo.
// If you are looking to make a donation to close out your year, won't you consider OBG as a welcome home nod to Bartles?
// Photo credit: OBG Cocker Spaniel Rescue //
// I will never ever forget you, Piri. I will always always love you and have you in my heart forever. #mydogpiri //
In 2015, our first full year in doing pet sitting service in our home, we started a little tradition where we collected extra earnings from Piri's Place (tips we received from our amazing, awesome, wonderful clients) and donated half of the amount to an organization in the DMV area (DC, Maryland, Virginia) doing work on behalf of animals. Last year, after seeing this heartwarming video, we decided to support House with Heart Senior Pet Sanctuary based in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
I stayed up one night in November researching places to donate to this year. Having Piri battle cancer these past few months before he passed, I naturally looked into efforts that fell along the lines of pet cancer. I came across various funds designed to help families pay for life saving treatments for their pets and found one that serves the DMV area.
Our Piri's Place 2016 charitable giving goes to Fetch a Cure's Companions in Crisis fund based in Richmond, Virginia.
You can learn more about them by visiting their website and Facebook page.
After Christmas, we'll share our full 2016 giving list, as we do every year, to encourage year-end giving (our favorite kind of giving).
Happy Holidays, everyone.
Hello!
We came back last night from a 10 day trip to Bavaria, Germany. We stayed in Munich and took in as much of the the city as possible and made day trips out to Fussen, Rothenberg ob der Tauber, Berchtesgaden, Nuremburg and Salzburg.
Germany has an amazing railway system that makes taking these regional trips so accessible and incredibly easy (and affordable - Bayern tickets ftw!). I had such big worries about using their trains, and while it was tricky in the beginning, we picked up quickly on what tickets to buy and all the ticket counter and information booth personnel (and local passengers) were extremely helpful.
I took a zillion pictures and I have no idea when I'll be able to go through them, but I can't wait to show you some of the sights we saw, including all the Christmas markets (omg x1000!).
Yangkyu and I went on this trip to heal, experience new things and recharge, but it also brought back a lot of the festive moods I had long lost after Piri passed. For someone whose favorite holiday is Christmas, Germany was certainly the place to be this time of year.
I still cried during our trip. During train rides I thought a lot about Piri, mostly our last days together. But Yangkyu and I also thought back on a lot of fun, happy, goofy memories. We also took a little Lamb Chop toy Piri liked to symbolize him and we were also gifted with a little Piri that our Instagram friend, Karina, made us. And so it felt like he was next to us the entire time. And while my emotions fluctuated from being happy and sad, Yangkyu and I were also hopeful for what is to come for the both of us.
Normally I get extremely homesick when I'm away from home for a few days and so I was a little worried that I would miss home more than enjoy being away, and while I was eager at the end of our trip to get back home, I felt a little sad too to be leaving.
I am thankful for everyone who made this trip so great and memorable. As cheesy as it may sound, it felt like we had guardian angels looking out for us every single day. I don't know what we did to deserve so much kindness and support but we felt extremely loved. It was a very good feeling.
Jet lag hasn't been much of a problem for us here as it was when we first got to Munich. This morning, we woke up at 5 am and had breakfast, got the laundry going, turned on Christmas music and welcomed Spootie and Clover to Piri's Place. They'll stay with us until Saturday and then we'll be taking off again until the 23rd.
I hope you'll come by again when I'm done going through all my pictures.
Happy holidays.
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