olympics and tigers and meeko ... oh my.

happy seollal (설날), or lunar new year + valentine's day + gold medal win for canada.

whew, so many things to celebrate on this glorious february long weekend. most importantly, at least in these parts, was the beginning of the korean calendar. goodbye year of the ox, hello year of the tiger. schools and businesses were closed for the better part of the weekend, as many koreans head out of town to visit family over the holiday. the new year coincided with valentine's on february 14th, and accordingly the day before and after a holiday are usually designated as days off as well, so a 3-day weekend it was. even the bank was closed this weekend, to the extent that my ATM card wouldn't function and i ended up being cash-less. yikes.

while mark and i didn't dress up in hanbok and/or pay respects to family shrines like the better part of the country, we were cat-sitting for our friend sarah for three days. 6-month-old meeko was our houseguest, and all of our plants ended up having to be locked in the spare room. still a kitten, we quickly realized that meeko thoroughly enjoys eating and biting things, like houseplants and arms and hands and elbows. he also likes tearing maniacally through the apartment and launching himself into small and/or high spaces. i accidentally closed him in the refrigerator without noticing, but it was only for 30 seconds, max. sorry sarah. his bursts of energy were evenly weighed with sleeping and cuddling-time. cute overload.

in between cat-sitting, we had a mini-party for the olympic opening ceremonies, which aired saturday morning at 11am here. i'm fully in the midst of total olympic fever and even made sure to rock my canada mittens and wave to the athletes on tv. GO CANADA! also, on the subject of patriotism and vancouver 2010 spirit, make sure to check out these olympic designs, courtesy of mark's good friend james tuer.

now, don't get me wrong, while i wear my canadian pride on my sleeve, i must admit: the opening ceremonies were a bit of a bore. i keep flip-flopping in labeling it a "snooze-fest" because i feel like a little bit of my nationalism dies with that tagging ... but. too long. too boring. mechanical defect on fourth arm in torch lighting (which meant catriona le may doan just had to stand there awkwardly instead of participating in such a momentous occasion). also, way to make it look like all canadians are either fiddle-playing ashley macisaacs or first nations members. and bryan adams? really? k.d. lang ... oh man. needless to say, i was really not as impressed as i could have been.

regardless, olympic fever prevails. and while our temporary tiger, meeko, has since returned to his own home (ooh, perfect cheesy segue-conclusion!), i wish a happy year of the tiger to everyone.