I'm going to miss this domesticated zoo.

I'm changing host families next week, as per Rotary rules. We exchange students are supposed to live with three different families during the year. I think the idea behind this is to present us with a few different portraits of family life. It's especially true here around the bilingual city of Fribourg, because there are some important cultural differences between French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland. My first host family lives in Zumholz, a tiny town featuring a few blocks of houses, a gas station, a restaurant, a car repair shop, and an astounding view of the pre-Alps. When the weather is warm enough, there are cows to be seen as well as smelled. Here the elevation is higher than in the city so there is usually more snow. And of course they speak German.

My next host family lives in Épendes, a town about half as far away from Fribourg as Zumholz is. This will, in theory, allow me to sleep quite a bit later in the mornings by reducing my morning commute from 40 minutes to about 15. I am excited for this. The new family speaks French instead of German, has two boys instead of two girls, and has no animals that I am aware of.

The experience of living with my first host family here in Zumholz has been a chance to see what it's like to have pets. Growing up, my pet ownership only extended to fish and Sea Monkeys, which are just glorified brine shrimp. I always wanted a furry friend, but we never had one, for various reasons including allergies. So living here with three cats and a dog has been a lot of fun for me, and I'm really going to miss it when I move.

I'm going to have to guess how all the animals' names are spelled, because, well, I've never seen them written out. On the left is our dog, Daka, slipping around on the ice outside the side door. On the right, me and Wiki (pronounced like Vicky but spelled phonetically and therefore cooler), the cat who has attached herself to me and my room and my bed. She is often sleeping on my bed when I come home from school and then she will come sit on my lap and keep me company and keep me warm. I never let her stay in my room at night, though, because if I did she would climb on me while I'm sleeping and wake me up. Instead I kick her out of the room before I go to sleep (not literally, of course) and block the otherwise easily-opened=by-a-cat door with my heavy violin case, but even so she sometimes wakes me up at night with wailing and scratching. Despite this, it has been nice to have a warm fuzzy companion, especially in the winter. The other two cats are Félix (not pictured here) and Speedy (whom I have never successfully photographed).

So that's the domesticated zoo that I will so miss when I move next week. Oh, and I might miss the people here as well.