So I’ve been sitting here staring at the computer screen trying to figure out how to begin to tell you what happened tonight with the black dog.

Yes, I have yet to name him – but I’m leaning towards Sirius Black. For like Sirius, he’s been unjustly convicted & kept confined. But in truth is a loyal friend & sweet-natured dog.

[catch up with my tales of the black dog here]

Whether it’s good or bad is yet to be determined, but somehow I think I might’ve unknowingly, unintentionally shamed the Korean man who claims to own him.

(Granted, in the States shaming him would be the least of my concerns & I would be more apt to call the Animal Cops on him. But that’s not how things work here.)

I had already emptied the food into his pot lid bowl & was pouring the water in the old cooking pot when a car – a nice, new shiny car – slowly drove past us.

Cars have come & gone over the past 3 months – but this one stopped.

A 50-ish, balding Korean man with glasses & impeccable taste in clothes got out & slowly walked up to me – it was obvious he was curious to know what I was doing, who I was & was searching for the words in English to ask me.

I held up the empty water bottle & pointed to the bowl. Asking, ‘Is this your dog? Your ka?’

(The only word I know for sure in Korean – Ka, dog.)

As he got closer to me – about 6 feet away - suddenly the black dog was at my side and let out a loud barking bellow & deep, entirely serious growl. He puffed up as big as he could & wouldn’t take his eyes off him.

The man stopped.

There was some hesitation back & forth and between us both…he was searching for the words to say & I kept thinking, ‘oh fudge’ while trying to remember to keep smiling & be respectful.

He finally managed to get out, ‘Yes, our dog. Our dog.’

I pointed again at the water bowl & bottle…asking if it was ok that I gave the dog water.

I was sure he had no clue what I was saying.

The next words out of my mouth were, ‘He’s very pretty’ as I petted him, trying to relax him.

The man laughed.

“Pretty?!…No no no no no no no. Not pretty.”

He repeated ‘our dog’ a few more times – I nodded my head in agreement.

I didn’t want this exchange to go badly.

The man wasn’t rude – he didn’t appear angry. But I’ve discovered you can never really tell if you’ve accidentally offended a Korean.

They have a deep need to save face – something I can definitely appreciate as a Texas girl. But at the same time, it’s the cultural differences that make figuring out what’s a ’face-saving’ situation vs. what’s not difficult. So the image of a American woman taking care of a Korean man’s dog may not have been a good thing.

He slowly turned & started walking towards the apartment building – inspecting the builder’s progress. But kept turning to look at me. So I figured that was my cue to leave.

I very casually walked back to the car, got in & drove off.

Fudge.

Fudge. Fudge. Fudge.

I kept replaying the whole exchange over & over in my head. Did he really own the dog? Or was he just the financial-backer trying to say the dog belonged to the construction site? He definitely didn’t look the type to get his hands dirty. And it was obvious the dog wasn’t going to let him come within 6 feet of him or me.

I don’t know.

All I know is that I’ve spent 3 months nursing this dog back to health, feeding him, watering him, training him to sit, teaching him manners…every night without fail I’ve taken care of him - through snow & rain & mud.

The struggle to know whether or not we should try to purchase him/adopt him has been heartbreaking.

He’s my boy. But Army life with one big dog is hard enough…let alone two. Just to get Maggie over here cost us roughly $1500 when you add everything up. (She had to be shipped separately as cargo.)

Not to mention the logistics involved in transporting a 125 lb. dog from Incheon Airport to Camp Humphreys. Doing all that in reverse with two?…Finding a place to rent that will take two?….It seems so completely daunting & beyond the scope of my pocketbook.

But he’s my boy.