Anjing dan kucing (dogs and cats)

Sean took this picture of these adorable puppies the other day. They are somebody's pets. That's right...this is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night.

The other day at language school, one of my classmates was sharing a story about seeing a dog get run over by a guy on a motorcycle. He was telling the story (in his limited Indonesian) to one of the sweetest little Indonesian gals that I've met. She's kind and thoughtful and polite and a good teacher. As the story went on, Ibu Tasya was smiling and nodding. We were all waiting for her to exclaim, "Oh, the poor puppy! Was he okay?!"

But guess what she said?

"Oh, I LOVE dog meat! It's my favorite. I don't like the small dogs, but the big dogs are so tasty!"

We all sat there speechless, waiting for her to laugh and say, "Just kidding!"

She did not.

We went on with class as if she'd just proclaimed that she really enjoys eating a good salmon fillet when she can get one.

True story.

So, this explains why I have seen ZERO stray dogs in Indonesia. I've seen a few smaller dogs that are obviously pets but nary a big dog.

Cats? Yes. Lots of those roam the streets of Salatiga. We heard that most Javanese are afraid of cats because they believe they have "spirits." To kill one of the mangy cats (and they are disgusting creatures) would release the bad spirits - so cats move about freely, doing their own thing and flicking their crooked tails at the world.

For some reason, every cat I've seen here has a crooked tail.

And a missing eye.

But they do keep the scorpion, frog, and lizard population down some. Hence the missing eyes.

Sadly, the cats aren't big enough to help with the rat population.

So, here's a recap in case you skimmed.

1. Dogs are good eatin'.
2. Cats are bad spirits.
3. Rats are as big as cats...or... *gulp* bigger.