As we have mentioned before, things here are wonderful, we absolutely love it here, but there are also some things that are difficult. The environment and animals are my passions, and unfortunately I have seen some practices here that can definitely be improved upon. Doing that in a conscious and considerate way is the trick. So, we are growing thick skins when people are constantly laughing at us for using reusable bags instead of all the plastic bags they use here (they put plastic bags in plastic bags and then hand it to you, I always graciously smile and try to kindly say in Thai that I don't need it. Still, sometimes people seem a bit insulted, or think it's like the weirdest thing ever) and on Christmas day we decided to do something charitable, and get two of our adopted strays neutered. Now, in the US this would be a fairly easy process. Lock the animal in the laundry room or something for the night (they cannot eat the night before surgery) and drive down to the local vet, drop them off for the day, and pick them up with dissolvable stiches carefully hidden beneath the skin. Well, that is not the process here. I am not sure of all the cultural in's and out's, but basically people do not have animals neutered here. We and our extremely helpful and generous friend Tagan took our cat to 5 vets before we found one that would actually do the surgery! ...so things, as always here, were more than a bit complicated :)
So, our "night before Christmas" was a sleepless one with our hungry cat and dog fighting, whining, wanting to go outside, and me chasing them outside in the middle of the night in my pajamas so that they would not sneak away and get food, and worrying that they would go to the bathroom inside or annoy our neighbor... We were also unsure about if the vet would be able to do the surgery on them, as we have no idea how old either of them are, and we thinking that maybe the cat was already pregnant. But we decided to go for it anyways. It was an adventure, right? And it was Christmas!
We woke up early and set out to try to find a car rental place that we had hounded our fellow teacher for the information about (he, Orthiel, was also very helpful!) and after a few awkward attempts to rent cars that were actually for sale, we found the correct place. Graham, as is his habit, bargained the people down on the price for the day, and we....were.....off....at least we thought. The car stalled every time we stopped or even slowed down too much. So, we picked up our cat and dog, and were excited for a few minutes as we were singing Christmas carols loudly to try to drown out the loud angry cat meows and dog whimpers. After about an hour though, stalling, not sure where we were going, and a couple stops to let the dog out to go to the bathroom, poor Graham was sufficiently frustrated (I was too, but it was I who had wanted so badly to do this, so I had to at least pretend to be unfazed). This frustration was multiplied when we got to the town where the vet was after a miserable hour, only to realize that the directions the vet had given us in broken English were more than a bit vague. Finally, after running around the town in the hot sun, we found the place, and the vet was very smiley and nice. Within a few minutes he gave our cat, Angel, anesthesia, which is about when I started to question my convictions and feel a bit sad and worried. What if they did not heal correctly? What if the surgery went awry? What if the puppy was too young? What if they wanted to have babies? Seeing the poor little girl's eyes roll back in her head in preparation for surgery was very hard on me. Again, the practices here are very different than in the US. The vet also questioned the surgery a bit. I won't go into details, but he really made me question myself and wonder if I was doing the right thing.
After crying in the waiting room because I was feeling so exhausted and tormented and worried, Graham and I reassured ourselves by remembering how many unwanted suffering strays there are here. We do not want the two we have really fallen in love with to suffer with multiple pregnancies that they are not healthy enough to carry, much less be unable to take care of the babies. You see so many starving mother dogs and puppies here. While Angel and Knuckles were healing, we went to an aquarium and zoo. (Graham made an awesome video about that experience, check it out in the post below) Zoos, too, make me feel sad because wild animals are cooped up in concrete jungles, but again, it is complicated because having a higher number of individuals of a species increases the genetic diversity and overall stability of a species. When the numbers of animals are so low in the wild, having animals in captivity too can be essential for the survival of the species. After an already heavy day, internally debating the survival of species in comparison with the happiness of individuals was difficult. But we appreciated the experience for what it was, and by the time we picked Angel and Knuckles up at the vet, they were both feeling pretty good and were excited to see us.
Another exciting ride home, and finally relaxation. We were both mentally and emotionally exhausted after such a taxing day. We still have to figure out a few things (like who will feed Angel and Knuckles their remaining antibiotics while we are gone for New Years) but basically, we did it! There will be that many fewer starving cats and dogs. I feel very proud that despite months of set backs and frustrations, we accomplished our goal! Every little thing makes a difference :)
That night, Graham and I went to a really nice fancy dinner with ample drinks (thank you Mr. and Mrs. Patterson) and had a really great Christmas night. It was not traditional in any sense, but it was nonetheless fantastic (and the waitresses were dressed in cute Santa costumes and light up hats!)
Only a few more days until we head to the islands for New Years. We cannot wait for some r and r, and some time with friends.
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