I'm interrupting my summer vacation series to announce that yesterday Alex Kozan began first grade at Adalbert Stifter Schule. This is a big deal in Germany. Parents take the day off and grandparents drive in from all over Germany. The first graders arrive at school one hour later than the upper grades and are greeted by the second graders with songs. It's a big deal, because unlike the US, kids don't learn to read and write in kindergarten. Here, kindergarten is like what I remember kindergarten being 40 years ago--a place to learn how to socialize with other children.
The best part of the first day is the Schultüte. This is a cone filled with candy, school supplies and toys. It is meant to make the transition from Kindergarten to Grundshule easier. The children take their Schultüte with them to school, but don't open them until they get home. On the way to school, Alex complained about how heavy his backpack and Schultüte were, but on the way home, he was so excited about being a first grader that neither one seemed heavy anymore.
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