Canine Comfort

The term "culture shock" is thrown around a lot regarding traveling or living abroad.  I think I prefer to simply call it frustration.  There are many frustrations that come with traveling/living abroad.  As foreigners we are told how to get somewhere or do something, and thus begins a wild goose chase.  Getting a drivers license turns into a day or week long affair.  Registering our passport requires multiple visits to the consulate, getting different instructions each time.  Trying to wire money home only to find out that the location you always used just "doesn't do that anymore".  Scouring the town just to find peanut butter or tortillas (that's me).  These minute errands exhaust us, leave us hopeless, and ready to watch about four movies in a row on our laptops.

A coworker here in Cuenca recently related a particularly aggravating experience trying to find the grocery store.  This happens more often than you think, after you move to a new city in a foreign country.  According to Tracey, her shopping experience once she actually found the grocery store was even more unfulfilling (also a common occurrence, sadly).  But as she fumed out to find a taxi, less than half the items she was originally looking for in hand, she rounded the corner and found herself facing a pet store display window.  An out of body experience thus ensued.  Tracey, entranced, felt her worries and anger dissipate by just watching puppies bound around, roll over each other, tug on each others ears, even snooze on top of one another.

After an excruciatingly long day of planning, studying, and teaching and an even more painful walk back uphill to my house on the north side of Cuenca there are not many happy thoughts floating through my head.  But after I open the gate and begin to ascend the stairs up to our second level house I catch a glimpse of Noche, eagerly awaiting me at the top.

It's magical really, the effect having a dog has on me.  Maybe it's their demeanor.  They are always so relaxed; nothing worries them.  Just having that kind of aura around you can help eliminate the stress that your day (or week) has accumulated.  Even Luna, Noche's mother who looks kind of like Falcore from The Neverending Story but on crack, can make me want to just sit on the couch with them and read a book.  Nevertheless please don't read this and assume that every dog you see on the street in Cuenca is going to curl up into your lap and smell like roses.  The street dogs are a whole different breed entirely, as in other foreign countries I've traveled.

Taming a street dog is particularly difficult.  I inherited a dog rescued from the street in South Korea.  We had named him Humperdink (The Princess Bride) and he thought the entire world, indoors or outdoors, was his to urinate on.  Thankfully this habit was eventually broken, and the rest of our time together was heavenly.  I still miss him to this day.  Just like I'll miss Noche when I depart from here.