Please welcome....Su-Yom!

So I wasn't in a very bloggy mood and then I told the story of David and Liz and then I wasn't in a very bloggy mood again. I've got several things I've been meaning to post--from our joint birthday celebrations and my education in all things Korean--but that will have to wait. First, I must introduce to the newest member of our family.

This is Su-yom. It means whiskers in Korean. On Tuesday night, I was cooking up dinner when David received a call from our friend Jenn. She and her husband (they of the awesome parties) are also moving to Korea, but a month before us. They have two small kids and two cats, and Jenn was stressed to her max with the thought of moving all these living things to a foreign country and so she asked if we would like to adopt their sweet-natured one and a half year old all black cat. (They took her in a year ago from another girl who could not keep her.)

David and I of course had talked about getting a cat but we had not made any decisions about when to get this cat. (My parents have adopted my cat Emerson, pictured in the last post, but he's so spoiled living with them that I don't think he'd adjust to a small apartment in Asia.) We wanted to get an older cat (i.e. not a kitten) but we wanted to be sure that she had come from a good home and had a gentle nature. It seemed like a perfect opportunity but we were still a little hesitant. I hated the thought of transporting a poor animal to a foreign country but whether she came to us or stayed with Jenn, Su-Yom was going to Korea. Also, Jenn gave us all the things we needed: cat food, cat litter, litter box, playthings, food bowls, etc. All we needed to do was come pick her up and take her home with us. And if it didn't work out, we could take her back and Jenn would find her another home. And we already knew that Su-Yom was a very sweet cat who still had a bit of playfulness still left in her.

Besides, how can you say no to this face?

Or these little paws?

We couldn't. And so Su-Yom (no idea how it's spelled) has been with us for the last three days. She's a bit skittish at times, but she can also be quite cuddly when she wants to be. (She snuggled up on David's lap, purring away, while we watched TV last night.) She's totally an indoor cat, which is good since we can't let her outside and she's very well behaved and not afraid of children, since she was previously living with a 4 and a 2 year old. She doesn't jump on counters like some cats I know and she doesn't whine a lot either. She's still rather small for a cat and she doesn't eat much but she's already begun terrorizing the geckos in the air conditioning unit, which I am quite in favor of. Aside from scattering some cat litter on our bathroom floor, she hasn't scratched or torn anything yet, doesn't shed a great deal and is extremely well-behaved.

The only thing is that I'm trying to decide if I should change her name. While her Korean name is very cute and she will be a Korean cat in a short time but she doesn't answer to that name. She doesn't really answer to any name really, except for Cat. And only if you keep saying it. We have a tradition in my family of naming our cats after authors or poets, but I can't think of a good female author to name her after. Maybe this is why we always get male cats. Much easier to name. (My next male cat will be named Steinbeck. Just so you know.) But then I'd feel bad changing her name so maybe I'll just find a good nickname for her.

But in any case, I love black cats.
They're so enigmatic.