First Day of School

Summer’s over at Schönfließer Straße. 6:30 alarm. Nervous awakening of our second grader and kindergartener. Walked to the S Bahn and took it two stops to make it to Ben’s school by 8:00 for his first day. (School officially starts at 8:10.)

{Thumb war on the U2}

{Family pic in front of Ben’s building}

Saw our friend Whitney, who is an administrator at their school, as Ben’s class gathered to head inside.

{Class 2B remembered Ben from our February visit and welcomed him}

{Platanus Schule (school) welcome}

{Isaac’s locker in the coat closet where he changes out of his shoes to his hausschuhe (slippers)}

Isaac’s school begins at 9:00, but we got there at 8:30 to settle in together.

He packed his toothbrush as they brush their teeth after lunch.

After school, I took the boys to the doc for exams in order to get a signed letter for their school stating they have no infections. We then went to DM (Drogerie Markt – drug store) to get passport pictures for their school IDs.

We met Dave at our neighborhood playground that is across the street and I left them in order to cook dinner.

Today was the first day that I did some serious grocery shopping for multiple recipes, including buying my most commonly used spices.

I made an Asian soup from Souper Jenny’s cookbook (Atlanta based restaurant) and was glad I had brought my measuring spoons and cups. With the help of Google, I was able to convert ingredient measurements to follow the directions. A luxury my grandmother, who moved to the US from Germany in ’48, didn’t have.

Ben really liked his school day. His teachers. His classmates. His lunch (spiral pasta with Bolognese in case you were wondering – Isaac had the same lunch).

The class drafted and voted on their classroom rules and he had recess three times. Tomorrow is when they start learning in German.

Isaac’s classmates all speak German, some speak English and two speak Turkish. He struggled with a few things, besides the language differences, as they do some things differently there (eg. they sit down together to eat and wait to start until everyone has been served), but we trust he’ll figure things out and will settle in soon.