My first days in O'Neill, Nebraska

By Ariel

I arrived at my new hometown on Thursday, January 8th. Mrs. Morrow greeted me out of my box and showed me to my new classroom-- 5A. I was so excited to meet all the fifth grade students; I could hardly wait until Friday!

Mrs. Morrow put a welcome sign on the board the next morning for the kids. It said, "Welcome our new exchange student, Ariel." Right away all the kids were asking, "Who is our new student? Where is she from? Can she speak English?" And then, in Language Arts class, each group of students were excited to find out that the exchange student was none other than ME! I shook hands with each student and even some other teachers throughout my first day in school. Mrs. Morrow told everyone about my prior travels and some of the exciting things I would be doing in my next month in O'Neill.

Not only did the fifth grade students meet me today, it was also the first day with the Palm handheld computers for the 5B and 5C homerooms. I learned about "graffiti" and how to use a stylus right alongside the kids! This is going to be a great experience, I can tell already!

Everyone asked if I could come home for the weekend with him or her, but Mrs. Morrow said she wanted to show me the town first. So she brought me home after school and introduced me to her family: her husband, Kevin, who also teaches at the school, and her daughters Emily and Claire, who are 5 and 3 years old.

After supper I went across town (about 10 blocks) to the other school in town, St. Mary's. I got to watch a basketball game where Mrs. Morrow's youngest sister plays. They lost, but I had a good time watching these Nebraskans cheer for their high school athletics!

I got to sleep with Claire tonight, but Emily was promised a turn tomorrow night!

On Saturday morning, Mrs. Morrow surprised me with a trip out into the country, to "the farm." On the way there in the pickup, Mrs. Morrow explained how much of the community had jobs revolving around agriculture, with corn, soybeans, and cattle being the main crops of the area. I took notice of the landscape-- flat open land scattered with small rolling hills, covered with a little snow here and there-- quite a sight to behold for the outdoor enthusiast! We saw a pheasant and several hawks before our return home.

The rest of the weekend held many family events. Emily's 5th birthday party was held at the only indoor pool in town-- at the Holiday Inn Express. They rented it for their friends for a couple of hours. (Mrs. Morrow wouldn't let me swim, but I was secretly glad, because I'm not sure I know how!).

Mr. and Mrs. Morrow went out to eat and I stayed home with the kids and a babysitter. After church on Sunday morning, the whole family spent some time working around the house and on schoolwork amid Mrs. Morrow's town team volleyball game and Mr. Morrow's town team basketball game. What amazes me is that anytime they need to go somewhere they only need about 5 minutes or less of traveling time to get there! O'Neill seems to be a small town, but a nice one, and so far I'm more than happy about my experience. I can't wait until Monday morning when I get to start traveling with the kids!