First Day at School

First Day at School
When German children start school for the very first time in their lives they are given a big cone to take to school. The cone is filled with things one might need at school like a pencil case, coloured pencils etc. but also things to sweeten their first day at school like chocolate and Gummibears.
Yesterday the children and I walked to the primary school to check it out and Ben suddenly asked me if he was going to get one of those cones as it was going to be his first day in a German school. Smart boy! That hadn’t even occurred to me. Needles to say he didn’t get that.
Tessa, Nick and Ben did however all have their first day today in a German school! Tessa took off at 7:20am with Jana and her friend Teresa on thier bikes and Birgit picked up Nick, Ben and I by car so that she can introduce us to Frau Bender the boys’ teacher.
We met her as she pulled up on her bike and she seemed really nice. She told the boys that they will have lots of fun together and that she didn’t usually look this odd (the bike helmet was still on!). She also told them that she will speak German to them only, unless they had an issue or problem and then they could come to her and ask her to speak to them in English. Her English is very good.
The boys later told me that at some point in the morning she had given the other children work and came over to them and explained the story they were reading and what she wanted them to do.
Maths was easy Nick said and Ben agreed. Their maths teacher was a different person to their class room teacher.
I think they are now looking forward to their English lesson, a subject to shine in!
In the break they played soccer together with other German kids and Ben sat next to Max and Nick net to Alini (the two children who were at their birthday afternoon tea last week), apparently that had all been decided last week in a draw!
Tessa cycled back to Birgit’s house after school and had lunch there and then her and Jana spent time doing their home work of which there was a considerable amount. They have to learn a poem from an old German writer, some of it the local North German dialect and some of the words being that really old German…not easy! Their teacher also made Tessa copy two pages of Jana’s writing to practise her German…he is 63 years old and a bit old school by the sounds of things. Tessa found it really hard to read Jana’s writing because it is all in script not print as it might be in NZ.
When Tessa started reading the poem to me I suddenly remembered the first three or four lines of it and realised that I had to recite the same one in my days…hmmh…
I spent my morning at Pottenbuettel (such a great word and northern sounding) shopping centre where the Apple store is. Very nice guy in there who listened to my issues and had a quick look at the iPad and has now made an appointment for me on Wednesday at 10:10am. If all goes well I will post this and a couple of other blogs that I have written in ‘notes’ half an hour later!
So while at the shopping centre I managed to find a shop called ZARA, very nice and I bought two items, one on sale, always very pleasing!
Then I caught the bus back to be home in time to go and pick the boys up. Sadly the bus stopped in what seemed the middle of nowhere with the driver announcing it was ‘Endstation’ which means the last station. He said another bus would come that will take me where I wanted to go. I stood there for just under twenty minutes when the next one turned up, and once I hoped on I realised I would now be running late to walk to school so had to ring poor Birgit, my knight in shining armour, who was cutting a boy’s hair at her house, asking if she could please drive me up there. She said to call her once I was off the bus as she is literally two minutes away from the stop.
Well, would you believe it, after finding my way here from NZ via China I managed to miss the bus stop! Bugger! I only realised three stations later, so came off and had to call Birgit again to ask her if she could now please pick up the boys for me. She did and waited with them in the car at the supermarket which is just down from our apartment, while I walked briskly back from that bus stop miles away from where I was meant to be. Making up for all those mornings I have not been walking now!!
That was all the excitement for the day and once the children had told me all about their day and we had a brief visit from Ingrid and a quick dinner the kids were all in bed asleep just after six o’clock.
It’s just after 20:00 and might just do the same. I have already had a nice hot bath…
Good night and sleep tight if you are in this part of the world, otherwise have a good day!
Tanja
xx
PS I went to the supermarket again today and bought some more yoghurt. I know New Zealand is proud of its dairy and all, but man the yoghurt here is sooooooo good. ‘Landliebe’ does a chocolate yoghurt, and ‘Ehrman’ a hazelnut one as well as a lemon one, not to mention the pineapple one from ‘Bauer’. They taste just as divine as 21 years ago!!!
Great, now I have talked myself into wanting one, but can’t have any as my teeth have already been brushed…there’s always breakfast!