Rasteau's becoming an American cat

I've been driving my parents crazy with almost daily phone calls to see how Rasteau is doing in the US and I've been hounding them for photos and videos of my little furball in his new environment. 

Other than a bit of a problem with food (he doesn't seem to like any of the American kitty food, even though it's the exact same brands...Purina One for dry food, other Purina cat foods for wet food) and a bit of a drug induced freak out upon arrival, he seems to be doing pretty well, though my mom thinks he misses us (I just hope he doesn't forget us!).

He seems to be enjoying the much larger house to explore (3 big floors, instead of a 40 square meter apartment with a 50 square meter garden), and all the nature to watch from the windows.  I imagine soon he will be begging to go outside so he can climb all the big trees he sees from the house and chase after all the squirrels and birds, but he's not allowed out until we arrive (and even then it's not sure).

We made sure to send all of his stuff with him so the transition would be easier and he would have his odor and our odor in the house.  And let me just say, this is one spoiled cat!  He has tons of toys that crossed the ocean, his fleece blanket that he likes to sleep on, dry food, wet food, and two carriers (the one he travelled in which is new and he hates, and his old one which he loves and often sleeps in, but that he broke when he was high on drugs after his surgery the other week).  But all in all he seems to be adjusting well and enjoying having a lot more space to live in, more things to explore and a lot more to watch.

Here are a few pictures of the little guy in the US:

Rasteau looking out the windows

Rasteau exploring the house

And two videos:

Rasteau enjoying the view, and a shot of the food he will eat...ham!

Rasteau meeting one of my parents' outside cats

Looks like he's going to adjust to the US quite well!

Really quick

Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to post lately, and this is going to be a quick one too.  Things with the move are going well.  My US friends are all gone with a few suitcases of my stuff.  My parents were here and we had a great trip out to Normandy and to the south of France.  They just left on Sunday with another 5 suitcases of our stuff as well as our little furball. 

Rasteau had a really rough week last week with a visit to the vet on Monday which resulted in him getting surgery as well as the rest of his vaccines, his health certificate, drugs for the airplane and his very own passport.  Then Sunday off he went on the plane with my parents, drugged out of his mind.  From what they said he slept the entire flight and is now acclimating to his new environment (i.e. sniffing everything in their house).  Overall, it seems like he is handling the move as well as can be expected but I already miss him a ton, even though it's a lot easier to move things around the apartment and out the door without a cat rubbing around your legs!

There were a couple of visa scares, one when we were applying for the visa (more on that later) and another when we were waiting for it in the mail and once again, as usual, La Poste fucked up.  But all is well now, and we have Lionel's visa!

At the moment we are working hard to pack the rest of our stuff, sell the rest of our furniture (the good news is we've already sold a decent amount of it - couch, elliptical machine, table and chairs, one bookcase to people on le bon coin as well as our kitchen cabinets and washing machine to the people taking the apartment after us!), clean the apartment and be ready to go on Oct. 31.

Speaking of Oct. 31, for anyone in Paris or coming to Paris around Halloween time, I just found out about this haunted history of Paris/haunted house at Le Manoir de Paris which promises an authentic Halloween experience.  I won't be able to check it out, but I thought it could be interesting for anyone looking for something to do for Halloween.

I'll continue with the updates when I can, which might not be until I'm at my in-laws in November, when I also hope to get some pictures up from the trips I took as well as a long and informative post on the process of getting a visa for the US.

Quick update

Well, I'm back from the first round of traveling with my US friends.  We had a great time in Germany at Oktoberfest and exploring the Munich area and the Romantic Road (which I had already done before and loved, but was new for my friends).  We also had a lot of fun in Poland, but I'm happy to be back home with Lionel and the little furball!

Now I have a few days in Paris before my parents get here and the travels start up again.  And then right after that we have to finish the packing and cleaning to get out of our apartment at the end of the month!

So far everything is going as planned for the move and I'm sending back a decent amount of stuff with my friends and a ton more (including the cat) with my family.  The only thing that I am really stressed about at the moment is selling our furniture.  I really thought it would go relatively well, but we put the first round of furniture (the things we REALLY didn't need) on Le Bon Coin at the beginning of the month and so far we might have someone buying our coffee table Friday and we had a ridiculously low offer on our microwave and that is it.  We are putting most of the rest of our stuff up this week and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed because we desperately need the money from selling some of this stuff and I really thought it wouldn't be too hard since it's all so new and in such good condition.  Any recommendations?  It's going to make me sick to just get rid of an entire apartment of furniture that was only bought a 1-1.5 years ago.

Other than that, we have Lionel's visa interview at the US Embassy tomorrow afternoon, so I'm hoping that goes smoothly, but we do have every document they requested as well as everything else I could possibly think of just in case (France rubbing off a bit?).  After the visa interview I fully intend to do a nice, long, detailed post on the entire visa process for those who have expressed interest in learning more.  Hopefully I'll be able to find the time to do it, but at the latest it will be in November.

I will also post some pictures and details from my travels as soon as I get a chance, which also might not be until November, but I'm really trying...I'm just extremely busy and stressed right now and dreaming of a good nights sleep!

Just wanted people to know I'm still alive and blogging and more information and interesting posts will be coming as soon as possible!