Dominication

It doesn't take much to wake me up, but I will admit to being groggy for my first half hour of consciousness. I'm not as bad as my brother is- he will have entire conversations that he never remembers, say outrageous things that we wish he could hear; he even slept through an earthquake once..or maybe it was twice. I, on the other hand, merely lack the ability to think coherently. But when my mom woke me up on Labor Day and told me that the very next day, we would begin hosting an exchange student from Switzerland for two weeks, I perked right up.

Why two weeks? Why the short notice? Mom knew the coordinator for his exchange program, and she was desperate for a house for him. You see, Dominic was going to be staying for 10 months with a family that lives out near Warner Robins, but there was a date mix-up, and they were still going to be on vacation for two weeks after he arrived. To make a long story short, Mom said we would be glad to take him until they came back.
For the first half of the day, we could list the things that we knew about him in one breath: His name was Dominic, he was 17 years old, he was from Switzerland, and he was deathly allergic to cats. Slowly, information came to us. He would go to Rutland. He played piano. He had designed his own website related to snowboarding. He might be shy at first, but he would warm up quickly. I even looked him up and added him as a friend on facebook. All signs were good.
The next day, Mom went to go pick him up from the airport. When I got home from piano, there he was, inhabiting my brother's room, standing right in front of me, extending his hand as a greeting. It was a bit surreal. We became fast friends, though.
We took turns playing piano (he's much better than I am), ate dinner, talked a bit about his life and his trip. I explained to him that the loud noise outside was crickets, and the concept of American football, and words that he didn't know.
Our two weeks ends tomorrow, when his real host family will pick him up, but our time has been great. From our house to Disney World to church to downtown Macon, I think Dominic has really enjoyed being here with us. As for us, I think we've enjoyed having him even more. He has a good heart- polite, gentle, expressive, and always willing him help. Dad will probably be the most lonesome after he leaves; he has to go back to living with two girls and a fluffball of a dog for companions.