Everything has been going smoothly so far. Our place is great. There is a grocery store and a Chinese restaurant within 3 blocks so really, what more could anyone ask for? We've gone running through the nearby neighborhoods and found several lovely parks.
Here's a view of a typical corner in our neighborhood. I had absolutely no idea what Frankfurt would look like before arriving, though I imagined a lot of concrete and skyscrapers. Instead, our surrounding streets are cozy with plenty of trees and quaint architecture.
There are plenty of cafes with free copies of the daily newspaper or zeitung which Fritz has enjoyed reading to get the scoop on the local politics and perspectives.
Fritz's first day of class! Since we don't have any moms here to do the traditional first day of school photo, I snapped a shot just before Fritz headed into his German immersion language course, which he will be in every day for the next 5 weeks. He's already quite functional, which I know given my extensive understanding of the German language (NOT!), but this course should really give him a jump on fluency.
And it's a good thing too. Getting off the plane and stepping into a country where I am completely illiterate and unable to communicate was a bit of an eye opener for me. I, of course, knew I didn't speak any German before arriving, but it's another story entirely to be suddenly surrounded by people and signs that make absolutely no sense to me! If it wasn't for Fritz, I know I would have felt quite lost these first few days. I won't say it was scary, but certainly a novel predicament. It's a thrilling experience to find myself this far outside my comfort zone!
So I immediately plunged into an online German program. In the picture above, I am learning how to say "The woman eats an apple." (Die Frau isst einen Apfel.) I plan on using that expression frequently. Anyway, it's a start!
Fritz's school is 2 U-bahn (pronounced oo-bon) stops away from the shopping center of the city- a long pedestrian street called Zeil lined with stores carrying all the hottest German fashions. The bookstore (pictured above) was a necessary stop to pick up his course book for his class, which is right off of Zeil. I thought Barnes and Noble was impressive... this 3-story book heaven with escalators and modern reading pods is a bookstore on steroids! The Germans don't mess around when it comes to books!
The bookstore is lovely to say the least. Unfortunately I'm pretty limited to the books I can understand... most are in German. Though I did manage to find the craft section whose books are mainly composed of pictures. Works for me! After getting his text books, I walked Fritz to the U-bahn station and spent the next 3 hours perusing/inventorying the many shops along Zeil.
Necessities for an afternoon in Frankfurt: a sizable tote, a scarf, a US passport, a camera, a local map, journal, the local currency, sunglasses. I had to add an umbrella halfway through the day when I got stuck in a mighty downpour!
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