Cat Cafe in Seoul

Work has me swamped lately! It's Thanksgiving this week, and I have a lot of preparations to do for my kindergarten class. I am also nearing the end of my current graduate school class, which means I have a paper, a presentation, and a test due soon.

However, I did go to a cat cafe in Seoul the last time I was there, and it was a fun and relaxing experience! While I love all animals, I am definitely a cat person. I got my cat when I was in middle school, and she still lives cosily with my grandma in the U.S. and she Skype with me sometimes. I loved being able to visit home this past summer because I got to sleep with her and hear her adorable purr.

Junkyu and I are thinking about getting a cat, but our lives are so busy right now planning our wedding(s) and settling into our house that we might hold off for a while. I have been trying to convince him to get me a cat, but some of his friends told him we should wait until we have kids! To me, when a couple gets married, the first thing they usually do is get a pet to see how well they can handle raising something together (before having the major responsibility of having a child). He loves animals but has never really raised a pet before, so he isn't sure that now is the right time for us.

However, we were walking back from lunch on a windy and chilly afternoon in Seoul a few weekends ago, and we decided to stop in a cat cafe we passed, near Ewha Women's University, called Table. It turned out to be a great decision. We ordered hot chocolates and waffles and while we waited for our order, we played with the many furry kitties!

When I lived in Japan, I went to lots of different cat cafes, but most of them have you pay before you do anything, and drinks are sometimes separate. This was much more chill - we walked in and could play with the cats right away and although we knew we should order a drink at least, we weren't told it was mandatory, and there wasn't a fee just for walking in the door, which was nice.

There were lots of lofts and climbing rails, as well as comfy seats and hiding places for the cats. The cafe listed their names and personalities, along with likes and dislikes to help out customers trying to get close to a certain kitty. All of them were so cute, but one of them in particular didn't want anything to do with me or my friend, so we thought he was a bit antisocial.

Turns out, he loved Junkyu, and he jumped up in his lap and tried to stick his head inside my fiancé's coat! He loved being in his lap, and I tried petting him while Junkyu held him. He warmed up to me eventually, and then he crawled into my lap as well. That cat did not want to get off of me, and he purred like crazy. We had to really try to get him down so we could leave.

I loved seeing Junkyu with the cats, and it made me more optimistic about us getting one in the future. My coworker recently adopted a puppy, and while I loved playing with him, cats are the only pet for me. I can't wait to come home and lounge on the couch with a kitty, but until then, I'll be reliving that afternoon we spent in the cat cafe.