Nice girls

Each Wednesday throughout the summer a different business in Coquille sponsors "free swim" day at the pool. Yesterday I took Caleb and Elisa to the second half of the session. We forgot to bring Elisa's floaties, so she remained in the kiddie pool the entire time--and had a blast. At one point, she was the only kid in the pool, so I started talking to the lifeguard, Kathleen.

She's a student at the high school Marie will attend, so I asked her how exchange students are received there. She said they are generally very well-liked and always have people around them talking to them. They don't usually have any problems making lots of friends.

I asked her if cheerleading tryouts had already taken place, because Marie had mentioned in an email that she might be interested in cheerleading. Kathleen said tryouts were held in the spring, but she thought that an exception might be made for an exchange student. She said she'd talk to her friend, who is a cheerleader.

After we finished swimming, Elisa and I were waiting for Caleb to come out of the locker room, and another teenage girl came up to me. She said, "Are you the one hosting an exchange student? I'm Jamie and I'm a cheerleader. My friend said your student is interested in participating." She was so friendly and helpful, even offered to give me the phone number of her advisor. We decided we'd cover all that once Marie is here and registering for school.

I was very impressed by these two girls. They were friendly, polite, and helpful. It's reassuring to know that my Korean daughter will likely be welcome in her new school.