samedi, the immigrant dog 一只移民狗的故事

my dear friends,

when i emailed you in may about my move (from one apartment to another in the same city, literally three blocks away), some of you asked for more stories of my life. well, thanks for your patience, now i've created this blog for you so you can peek into my life at your leisure. as i start to write i realize that you are spreaded in 4 continents: north america, south america (haven, are you still there?), asia, and europe. how else can i bring you all together except by joining the blogging population?

so here i am, to satisfy your curiosity about my life. first, about the move: much to some's disappointment i'm afraid, i didn't move because i've graduated or found someone to cohabit with -- i'm still working on my dissertation (a later story maybe, if i ever feel like telling), and i'm still single. for those of you who lost touch with me before L and i divorced -- now you know; and the simple version of the story is that we're friends. for those of you who know about the divorce and have always wondered if i would become gay (no offense to L at all) -- well, i did seriously consider the 'politically lesbian' option, but decided that i'd feel happier and more self-rightous to oppose the whole marriage/monogamy institution (just for myself; i'm happy for all my friends who are happily married). and for those of you who still want to ask if there's someone special in my life now, well, we're about to get to it.

so the answer is yes, and that special someone is a he. (it's just not right to fake lesbianism, wouldn't you agree?) only this new addition in my life is a canine he rather than a human he. -- sorry i had to tease you. :) the story goes that during spring break, running out of procrastination projects, i had an impulse to get a dog. long story short (or to be told later), in a couple of months, i sublet my old apt (the landlord doesn't allow pets there), moved to a new one, and found my perfect dog.

i met sammy on a saturday and fell in love with him. he was quiet and friendly, and he hooked his head over my elbow when i squatted down to pet him. he seemed perfect for me: big dog look in a medium dog body. i changed his name to samedi, which is french for 'saturday,' and also sounds similar enough to his old name sammy.

samedi is a rescue dog from taiwan -- hence the 'immigrant dog' title. the story of samedi's past life is a total tear jerker but you should still read it. (some inaccuracies on that page: his other name sunny was seldom used, and his vaccine certificate says he was 2 years old, instead of 4, in feburary 2006. --although the vaccine certificate also says he's a maltese so there goes its credibility.)

samedi moved into our new home 3 days after i did, on may 17. the picture below was taken on that day, after his foster mom dropped him off. it's been 3 months since we became family and there are already lots of stories to tell. i promise to keep this blog alive so come back to read our stories, old and new!

for a sneak preview, here are some headlines that i've thought of:

• 'sammy is a vegetarian dog' and i believed it!
• i think samedi thinks he's my mom
• how to chase a loose dog on the street
• the witch, her dog, and the broom
  
• the peril of dog books
• dog ownership as an 'american dream'
• i've called squirrels evil but now i mean it
• raising samedi chinese or american?
• do you want me to give you up samedi is that what you want
  
• can we pass the canine good citizen test?

intrigued? thought you'd be! :)

until our next post, enjoy some pictures of samedi. and do drop us a comment so we don't feel too lonely here!

love,
yan & samedi