Adventures of an American Living in Europe: September 2009

How can sleeping like this possibly be comfortable?!

Our little cat had a visit to the vets last week. It was time to begin her vaccinations and also to find out what it will take to get a health certificate so she can travel with us on furlough. We were able to find an airline that would let us take her as carry-on which saves more than $400. each way, which is wonderful and makes the trip with us possible. The funny thing is that she counts as one of our carry-on bags, but we also have to pay for her and the airline doesn't have to do a thing with or for her. Hmmmm, wonder what we are paying for? But I digress in my story. After our experience with the difficulties of having our physician's front office staff not speak any English, I decided to choose the vet according to how much English the person spoke who answered the phone. Doctors and vets all speak English, but if I cant make an appointment, it makes it difficult. I was determined to call every vet in the local area until someone answered the phone who could understand me. I hit pay dirt on the first try. The assistant spoke a bit of English, but was not fluent, but it was plenty to get by with. I made the appointment and showed up with young Mittens at our appointed time. The assistant was asking me some questions about the cat for the records. First she asked if it was a "lady" and I said yes. Then she said something which I didn't understand. I thought it was a Dutch word, so she struggled for another word to use, then finally said, " Is she half a lady ?" with a cutting motion in the air. That I understood! Turns out the word she was saying earlier was castration. So her words were often wrong, but the meaning got through anyway. I chuckled inside because I know that is how I sound to the Dutch when I speak Dutch to them. To travel to the States Mittens had to have a rabies vaccination. Apparently they don't routinely give them here - they were on the phone checking what was required - but they do have the vaccine readily on hand. She also had to be chipped so they could verify she was the cat that belonged to the vaccination records. She even received her own little passport that she will need to travel with us. Fortunately or maybe unfortunately no photo was required.