Our third foster dog and Good bye Moses

Last week we were on vacation so we went to Beijing. We dropped Moses off at the rescuer and he has been there ever since because he needed to get blood work for his potential adoption at the end of June.

Then things changed.

Friday, May 12th at 1:00am in the morning, Moses boarded a plane for the states. Friday, May 12th at 9:00pm we received pictures of Moses frolicking in the grass in his big backyard at his brand new forever home in Michigan. I cried. My heart hurt, but it wasn't just a sadness I felt. I felt so unbelievably excited, sad, proud, and mostly relieved that we did it!

We got Moses adopted! We fostered him into health enough for him to fly overseas and make it there safe and sound. The pictures showed a happy and energetic dog... something we didn't often see in Shanghai. I am so glad he's happy... but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was heart broken. I really fell in love with this dog.                                                            

Just before receiving pictures of Moses landing in the states, something else landed at our door at 8:15pm on Friday, May 12th. A sweet black and white ball of fluff named Adele was given to us as an urgent foster! So one dog goes another comes. Sarah and Bernard, dog fosters! That's our superhero identity to the animal rescue world in Shanghai, haha.

I spent the evening watching her sniff and search the house AND SHED. My Jesus, she is almost worse than Moses because her fur is black so you can SEE all the fur she tracks everywhere. The rescuer said it is because of the change in season, so it's spring shedding. Annoying. Guess I'll have to keep on that domestic ass vacuum train!

She's too cute though, eh? <--




So the first night I just watched a movie and Adele sat watching the door, but she didn't whine or cry. Then we went for a night time walk. She wasn't as jazzed as Moses usually is, but I'm sure she'll get there. She didn't pee, but I was tired so we came inside.


She went to bed fine but barked and growled when Bernard came in from his game night. Then, in the morning, I found out that she peed in the night. Since it was her first night and she didn't pee on our walk, I wasn't really surprised so I will let it slide. I hope this isn't recurring because the rescuer said she was house trained! We shall see.

Today has been interesting. I have vacuumed and swept the house twice and there are still fur balls everywhere. She is still exploring, but growls and runs under the bed or table when Bernard is around. She needs to get over this. She tried to bite him, so that's an issue. The rescuer is coming to check up tomorrow so if she doesn't get over her fear of the big bad B, then she can't stay. I'm going out tonight, so it'll be a test period. I am sure they will be fine. She has already improved a bit and let him blowdry her after her bath. Progress!

Walking Adele isn't hard because she's small and light, but she doesn't pee or poo on the grass. She goes wherever she wants, haha. This morning, she peed in the middle of an intersection and a car had to wait to turn! Sassy dog.


Also, last night I poured myself a glass of water and Adele put her paws up on the table, sniffed it, and tried to drink from it! Moses would never do that.

She is entertaining to say the least. I'm just happy to have another furry companion, but nothing can replace our first foster dog. I love him and always will.

I really miss Moses. I can't help it. He was definitely a chore and rarely acted like a real dog, but he was my little Momo... and that is hard to let go.

Being a foster parent reminds me of one of my favourite quotes that I actually pass by every single morning on my way up to my office at work:


No one has ever become poor by giving.

Ain't it the truth! I love giving and I feel like being a foster is all about giving. I told my students on Friday that Moses was gone and I was a little emotional. I then explained the difference between a foster and an adoptive parent. One of my students said, "Why don't you get a dog that you can keep?" and I explained to her that if I did that, I wouldn't be able to help many dogs because I would only have one. I told her that my job is to help a dog feel loved until someone can promise to love them forever.

I love that we've now fostered three dogs. I hope that in my lifetime, I foster hundreds! Seeing the different behaviours and attitudes of the dogs that have passed through our house is an absolute joy, and it's only just the beginning. Moses will always have a special place in my heart because he was our first foster and with us for so much longer than expected, but I love all dogs and I can't see myself being okay with just helping ONE.

Pictured: Adele wouldn't stop bothering my yoga practice, so I let her be involved. :)

Thank you for reading!
Until next time,
Sarah the dog loving Wun

Christmas in Thailand: Day 2

DAY TWO:

I know what you are thinking: How can any day ever outdo yesterday’s perfection? We woke up early and happy. We decided to be super bougey and gym and swim before breakfast like rich celebrities. After a super intense sweat session at the gym (kidding… I elipticaled for like 20 minutes) and a very short few laps in the freezing cold, yet refreshing pool, we headed to breakfast. Sweet baby Jesus. So as you can imagine, this hotel is perfect and therefore the breakfast was on point. There was even a little place called “Tea corner” which I thought was the cutest thing in the world! We stacked up on bacon, sausage, saucy vegetables, fruit, salad, breads, and then some and ate a feast fit for a king – of course with a green tea and some honey from the tea corner!







After breakfast, we packed a beach bag and headed for Ao Nang beach. We spent the afternoon sunbathing, reading, swimming, and just enjoying life on the beach away from whining, ungrateful students. Ahhhh bliss.

After a toasty hot afternoon crisping in the sun, we came home and cleaned up before heading to a cooking class outside of town! At 5:00pm we were picked up by Heng, a hilarious local Thai man whose favourite hobby was doing magic and laughing! During the drive to the class, we spent the whole time laughing and wondering at the sanity level of Heng. He was crazy but hilarious and super positive about life. 

What a class! We made papaya salad, curry, cashew chicken, Tom Yum Koong (hot and sour soup) and a banana coconut dessert. While we were making the dessert, Heng made a joke about cocaine that frankly scared me. I mean, we were in Thailand in a place we didn’t know and he was being very serious about a “special ingredient” to add to the dish. I refused to taste it when he offered it to me and everyone laughed. Bernard assured me he was kidding and so I tasted it and it was incredible. I immediately thought I was on drugs and regretted all my life choices – kidding – then Heng explained that the SPECIAL INGREDIENT I had added to my dessert was salt! SO gullible! That mix of sweet and salty was really nice to be honest. What a crazy man! Anyway, despite the crazy amount of mosquitos at the cooking class (it was outside after all), we had the best time laughing and carrying on.





When we got home, we were stuffed and exhausted. I picked up the book beside my bed “Teachings of Theravada Buddhism” and read about 50 pages before falling asleep. Another perfect day!

Christmas in Thailand: Day One

Christmas in Thailand!

Our first tropical Christmas. Needless to say, it was weird, but naturally it was amazing because Thailand. Bernard and I are big fans of Thailand, and when we started a new job this year that would grant us a little free time during Christmas, we jumped at the chance to scoot over to one of our favourite countries.

We went to three places: Krabi (Ao Nang beach), Koh Lanta, and Railay Beach.

DAY ONE:

When we landed in Krabi, our hotel transportation was waiting for us. We both completely forgot what kind of hotel we booked months before and were a little nervous as to our fate. Would it be decent? Would we have bad luck like years before when we were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no air conditioning? Well, no. On the contrary, our hotel was absolutely amazing! We stayed at a place called Deevana Resort and it was comparable to some of the hotels we’ve stayed at for super special occasions! Because I wrote on our booking form that it was our anniversary (as it always is when we travel), we were upgraded to a super cushy suite with a walk out pool. YES, A WALK OUT POOL!!!! When you opened the sliding back door from our hotel room, you took two steps and then there were steps into a pool. LUXURY! Naturally, we were both aghast and giggly at this point and the bellboy just smiled and chuckled at us as we thanked him profusely. I then did my customary “told you so” hair toss and smirk at Bernard who always tells me to stop lying about it being our anniversary. HEY! It’s ALWAYS an anniversary when we travel. We are always celebrating something. It was our Christmas vacation after all.

After checking in to the most beautiful place in Ao Nang, we explored the town for a little bit. It was late in the afternoon and we were hungry, so we picked a place by the water and had a leisurely late lunch of pad thai and curry. Then, we walked along the beach and snapped some pictures. After a balmy and toasty walk, we came back and had a swim FROM OUR WALK OUT OMG before cleaning up for dinner. We picked a local restaurant near the hotel for dinner and continued our exploration.

I had done a little research on TripAdvisor approximately 47835 months before our trip and discovered a well-rated massage place called “Massage Corner” not too far from our hotel. It was tucked down an alley and looked super cute. We walked in and only had to wait a few minutes before being led to a private hut that was half outside and half inside. We got to it from inside, but there was like a straw-hut roof over it. It was like a balcony. We could hear birds and crickets chirping as we were twisted and turned into crazy massage positions! It was literal Heaven. It’s like May 2017 now and I STILL remember how incredible it was. I STILL feel zen!!! It was the best massage I had ever had. We I opened my eyes at the end of an hour, I turned to find a very pleased Bernard curled in a ball smiling. He agreed! Best massage ever. They served us ginger tea after to cap off arguably the best day of our lives besides our wedding day. We pinched ourselves several times to make sure we weren’t dreaming or in Heaven!

After the massage it was super dark out so we strolled back to the hotel area, grabbed some snacks, and chilled on our balcony overlooking the walk out pool. What a perfect day!

Our Second Foster Dog!

February 20^th, 2017 marks about a year since we got Moses as a beautiful foster dog. Right around this time, I was reached out to by our rescuer who gave us Moses. She said there was an immediate need for a foster parent for a house-trained dog. I quickly told Bernard and we both agreed to it as long as it was okay with Moses. Since Moses’ skin condition has gotten much better (he isn’t scratching or biting much anymore and his fur is pretty much completely grown back), she said that we could host another dog!

The day arrived! On Monday, February 27^th, I went to work as usual but was so excited to go home and get our newest temporary furry addition to the Wun doggy hotel! After my last class, I giddily skipped home and found Moses looking confused. I guess he sensed something was going to happen because he was acting really weird as I prepped the house for a new pup.

The rescuer finally called me and I went downstairs to get her. When I saw two women walking toward me, I was excited but also confused. She sent me a picture of the dog, and this dog didn’t look like what I saw. I let them in and she explained that the dog I was originally going to get has been peeing in the house so they didn’t want to give us a dog that wasn’t housetrained. Bernard and I were both very thankful for this! The pup I was looking down at was a perfectly housetrained puppy! Her name was Tita and she was cute as a button. She wagged her tail and sniffed around. Tita was about 7 months old so initially I was nervous because Moses’ old ass is 4 years old, which is like a million in human years, and he definitely has the spirit of an old man inside him. I didn’t think he’d appreciate having a playful puppy bothering him.

Tita waddled around the apartment sniffing but you could tell she was nervous. We pet her and reassured her that she was fine, but with Moses growling and scowling at her, I kind of didn’t blame her for being nervous.

The rescuer left after thanking us profusely and we resumed our evening routine of sitting around and YouTubing. Tita wouldn’t come away from the door. It was really cute but also kind of sad. She was just sitting and waiting. She didn’t bark or anything, but she wouldn’t come lie on the couch or floor near us.

Then came time for the evening walk. Bernard and I both went out to walk them and it was fine. We came up and made Tita up a bed of a ratty old pillow with a few blankets on top. We put the bed on the other side of the room because Moses was being a big jealous and growling like a grump! Tita eventually found her bed, but Moses was also interested in it. They actually ended up trading beds because when we woke up the next morning, they had swapped sides of the room! Adorable.

Ah, the morning walk. It was my first time walking two dogs at once. I was a little nervous, but I’m pretty strong when it comes to dog walking – nothing else. Oh my goodness, I cannot even tell you how bloody cute it was seeing Moses and Tita bounce along, side to side, every now and then bumping into each other.

Notable moments of walking two dogs:

-       One time, Moses peed on Tita’s head.

-       Tita wanted to chase a bird and booked it and Moses looked at me like, Mama what is she doing? But he was kind of forced to follow her because leashes.

-       One time, the dogs walked literally in the opposite direction until my arms were pulled all the way in both directions. Then, (you can’t make this stuff up, I’m not joking!) at the same time, they squatted and pooped. I was just standing awkwardly, arms wide as hell, laughing. Some old man walked by and chuckled. It was kind of a hilarious sight!! Don’t worry… of course I picked it all up, but it was hard because the dogs wanted to kick up grass and I didn’t have the give on the leashes… oh man, it was funny.

Anyway, I think having Tita has been really good for Moses. Her bathroom habits are much better. When we go out, she pees once – done. She poops quickly and efficiently. He does not. So now, he kind of follows her lead. It’s nice! Also, I feel so much better knowing he’s got a friend in the house. They compete for our attention and it’s so cute it hurts. Whenever I pet Tita, Moses runs over and literally puts his body under my hand, pushing small Tita out of the way. It’s hilarious and I love it. She is definitely teaching him patience!

So this Saturday there was an adoption event. It was Moses’ first time at an adoption day because all year he has had on and off skin conditions, so we were really excited that he got to go! The goal of fostering is eventual adoption, so everyone was so excited that Moses had the opportunity to possibly be adopted! Tita was going too, until I got a message on Thursday.

The rescuer messaged me saying there was a potential adopter for Tita. Before the adoption day! We had only had her a few days! She then picked Tita up on Friday morning before I went to work. She said that if the person didn’t adopt Tita today, maybe tomorrow she would be adopted (Saturday… the adoption day). If not, she would bring Tita back to the Wun Doggy Hotel on Sunday. Sure enough, Friday morning was the last time I walked Tita because her cute puppy ass was adopted promptly on Friday morning. Moses was so confused! I felt SO bad for him. We have had him for over a year and nothing. We had Tita for less than a week and someone wanted her. Moses looked at me on the Friday I came home from work like “What?” but then wagged his tail and thoroughly enjoyed individual attention and not being bumped into when he walked.

On Saturday, Moses went off to his adoption event. On Saturday late afternoon, Moses came back to the Wun Doggy Hotel. I have a feeling we will have Moses for a long time, and I’m okay with that. J However, there are interested people in Germany and Switzerland apparently, and the thought of Moses running around in fresh air in Europe makes me so happy, but it’s bittersweet because I’ve grown quite accustomed to a hot, furry body lying next to me when I type, like right now. He’s my little companion! Fingers crossed that his forever home and better life is right around the corner. But if it doesn’t happen, I think we all know it isn’t so bad because there’s no better place for a dog than at the Wun’s where all dogs are welcome all the time! J

I love dogs so much! I can’t wait until the next one who needs a home comes by and makes Moses jealous because all the attention isn’t on him. Hah! What a prince. I mean, look at that face!!! (This is my desktop picture at work because AAAWWWW). 

Until next time,

Sarah (the) Wun (who loves dogs) 

Hang in there! Finally feeling like myself again

Finding myself again

It’s been a weird few months. There was a lot of negative energy in the air just before Christmas time at work and things were not okay. I didn’t feel good and it was grating on me. I had just the most beautiful holiday in Thailand over Christmas and felt relaxed and thankful when I returned to Shanghai. I was refreshed and happy to jump back into routine. I was hoping that work would be better. I was hoping that my colleagues would be recharged and refreshed after some time away, and that sort of happened, but I was still sad and things were just not right. I didn’t feel like myself. I was so bummed out all the time and just cried often.  I felt so bad and so guilty when I would come home from work dejected and exhausted. It wasn’t fair to Bernard to have to constantly cheer up my gloomy ass.

In order to get through the day without crying (sometimes for no reason it felt like), I would look up inspirational quotes, listen to lively music, and decorate my classroom as brightly as possible to keep myself feeling light. I’m really good at putting on a happy face, and it really doesn’t take much to make me happy, but it had felt like for the past couple of months – pretty much since I started at my new job – that I was forcing a smile and it was getting really difficult and taking too much effort. The hostility and bitterness in the hallways coupled with the very low English levels and even lower motivation from the students in class was really getting to me. I won’t even mention the consistent behavior issues and the lack of satisfactory consequences. Work life was getting to me and it was seeping into my personal life by just getting me down all the time.

As I walked to work one day with my head held high, positive tunes blasting through my headphones, I heard “No day but today!” over and over. I started to say this to myself. Who cares what happened yesterday! If you were wrong, so what? Today you can be right. There is no day but today. Don’t think about tomorrow and stress out about things you cannot control. No day but today!

I got to school feeling uplifted and ready for whatever could be thrown at me. I kept repeating in my head, no day but today. It helped me get through my anxiety and my sadness. Then, when I really needed to, I pulled up a search for inspirational quotes. I found many, but one stayed with me so much that I shared it with my students on the last week before Chinese New Year holiday and they remembered it up until we said goodbye for vacation:

“If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces” – Shane L. Koyczan

I recognized the name from a TED talk I watched about bullying. This quote really spoke to me! I often feel like when I’m really sad, like so sad that breathing takes effort, I need to “make art”. I’ve wanted to write a blog for so long now, just getting my thoughts on paper and letting myself be calmed by the flow of words onto the page – but like I said, I haven’t felt like myself lately.

When I get home from work, I want to curl up in a blanket and watch mindless TV or cute dog videos that make me laugh so I can go to bed happy. I want to eat comfort food until my tummy hurts so much that I’m physically sick which is easier than feeling mentally sick. I don’t want to write. I don’t want to read. I just want to exist in the easiest form possible.

You know how they say, “Time heals all wounds”? It’s true! Now, I’m impatient as hell so this really pissed me off to think about the fact that I had to “wait” to be happy! Haha.

 I was Skyping with my mom one day – weeks after she had pried out of me that I had been sad at work and was having a really hard time. Anyway, one day I just had a good day. It was a Monday and I spent the weekend feeling a lot of anger and guilt within myself. I decided to reflect, read, get together with positive and energetic people who like me and value my friendship. I surrounded myself with love. I got up early, had a shower, got dressed, and cleaned the house all before noon – and I let myself be proud of that. I thought about my lesson plans and let myself feel like I was a good teacher because of that. I stopped being nervous and fearful and consumed by others’ negativity, and I thought, “Wait a minute. This is my life! This is my job and I am here for a reason. I deserve to be included and listened to and valued!” I had a very refreshing weekend of reflection so on that Monday, I had a good day. I just felt marginally better, but it made a difference.

So I hopped on Skype on Monday evening – our weekly routine, Mom and I. I told her that I had a decent day and carried on with the conversation. Then she said, “You know what, Sarah? You sound like yourself again.” And I lost my shit. I just cried. It was the best kind of cry. It was a “you understand me and said exactly what I needed to hear” kind of cry. I felt so unbelievably good to be myself. I thought, wow, I’m a good person. If being myself makes me have a good day, then I should be myself more often.

Some people recently have told me that words mean nothing and it is all about actions, but I would have to disagree a little bit. I’m a big words person! If someone says, “Have a good day!” it means the world to me when I’ve had a rough day. If someone says, “Nice dress!” it means the world to me if I feel ugly. Words are so powerful and these days, in my time of “offness” where I’ve felt not like myself, I hold onto any positive words I hear and keep them with me.

I’m the kind of person who really appreciates hearing “Thank you” and “You’re so nice!” and positive affirmations that I’m a good person. I understand that you cannot just expect things like that and you need to be able to understand and know within yourself that you are a good person and you don’t need to hear thank you to know that what you did was a good gesture. I’m still working on this, but I’ll get there. It’s still nice to hear appreciation though.

Another quote I read that has truly changed my life – and I don’t care if that sounds stupid because at the time I read it, I really and truly needed to read it. I found a quote that just simply says:

“I require happiness.”

It is this quote that made me forgive myself and find the positivity in day-to-day life. It is this quote that made me stop putting so much energy into people who do not appreciate me or even respect me. It is this quote that made me actively look for another job, because clearly I am unhappy for whatever reason and I need to find a place where I can be as happy as Bernard is. I require happiness! It’s not even so much a deserving thing but an actual requirement. Some people keep saying “You’re not going to love everyone you work with or everything about your job, etc.” This is true. But I require happiness. If I can be happy, why shouldn’t I be happy? Already in the process of sending out resumes and looking to transfer to another campus within my current company, I feel a million pounds lighter. All the negativity around me is much easier to take when I know I won’t feel it next year.

When I finally had a meeting with a head honcho about transferring and it began with him saying he didn’t know who I was or why I was there… instead of get angry, dejected, sad, and upset (which I will admit, I felt a little bit… I mean I’m only human!), I laughed it off. I came home, messaged Bernard to meet me at our favourite little wonton restaurant, and I told him the story of my horrific meeting and laughed it off. At this point, it’s all just amusing and I have to just take what comes to me and let it happen. I cannot control other people, but you better believe I can control how I perceive things and I’ll be damned if I’m anything but at peace from now until the end of June. I require happiness and I shall find peace!

So instead of stressing so hard about finding a new job, I’m simply letting life play out, and as I put myself out there, I’m going to remember that I will not settle for anything less than what I want. I’ve tasted job satisfaction multiple times and I can’t wait to do it again. The sad thing is for me to be satisfied at work doesn’t take much… just a few simple smiles and a little value and appreciation. For now, I will smile at myself and value and appreciate myself, because I require happiness!

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you as a reader. Sorry for not writing anything funny or adventurous, but I had to find myself again and just feel better. I’m headed on another beautiful journey in South East Asia so you’ll be hearing about multiple adventures when I find the desire to take my pen to paper notes and computerize them. I promise to do it soon.

I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my favourite books ever, Eat Pray Love. A quote that I really need to listen to and adopt far more than I do: “Let your mind be free from useless suffering.” I hope that today, you can empty your mind of “useless suffering” and reflect on how amazing of a person you are and how you add such meaning to this crazy little thing called life. If you feel that actions speak louder than words, pretend that I am reaching out to hug you! J If me saying it is enough, well then, I hope I made you smile and feel warm and fuzzy. It’s a great feeling that I hope to feel more often these days!

Yours optimistically,

Sarah positive vibes Wun