Tomorrow we will have been here for one month and it feels like longer. The foggy first days when we never quite knew where we were or walked around in circles to find the apartment and ate out for almost every meal feel like a long time ago. We no longer feel like we are on vacation as evidenced by a predictable daily rhythm and more meals eaten at home. B received his Hort Gutschein (it was actually incredibly easy to get) and is now staying after school everyday except Fridays and is picked up at the same time on all of those days. Both kids had a parents evening last week and it was nice to attend both of those events and get a better sense of each school.
On Wednesday I showed up to B's parent evening an hour early- luckily since his school is right around the corner from our place it was easy to go home and return at the correct time. It was a good evening although following along in German, I felt that I was at a disadvantage- I am trying to get over it and advocate for my child despite any language barrier and my natural instinct to blend into the background. I was impressed in some ways and disappointed in others- so basically a normal public school. I did find myself feeling amused and among my people when at the mention of the music teacher the entire group of parents launched into a group complaint over mr. snowwhite (that's the literal translation of his name,) who apparently had the gaul to fail several students in music last year after giving surprise tests. On returning home I reported to L, "it was a chatty group with a lot of complaints and demands, so I felt right at home." On Thursday I attended F's parent night and although I hate to admit it, I felt much more comfortable among English speakers. It is a small, private school, with a very international clientele including many Germans who, disillusioned with the German system, have their children attending this school instead. Perhaps as an anecdote to the isolation I felt the night before, I found myself uncharacteristically raising my hand when they asked for 8th grade parent representative volunteers. Here's to trying new things. The weather continues to be beautiful and we finished our week with two lovely weekend outings- one to the Tiergarten where we relaxed at the Cafe am Neuen See and then a lovely brunch on Sunday near the Wannsee.
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The language is easy, i mean knowing that the language is a barrier is easy. with b attending a german school we knew the language barrier would be an issue, but a it's an easily identifiable one. it's all the other differences that are tougher to navigate. i am realizing i like information- or at least the option for information, and i haven't quite figured out how to get information at b's new school. so every day when i go to pick him up i am greeted with some new thing that i was supposed to know. my lovely german friends who may be reading this you may want to avert your eyes as this could be interpreted as complaining but i'ts really just noting some differences. , |
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