Schools in Frankfurt

I'm sitting in the apartment listening to the wind rattle the shutters around. It was a very stormy morning to go school shopping in Frankfurt, but we were successful. The relocation assistance person pulled up in her shiny new Volvo around 9:30 this morning. She even had a car seat ready for Gianna, so we just loaded ours into the trunk. First stop was the Carl Schurz School near Dornbush station. It is located on a US State Department compound with heavy security. I got in trouble for taking pics, so I won't specify which school is which in the photos. Carl Schurz School was a little island America in Frankfurt. The kids and teachers were multicultural. Everyone spoke American English. Two little Asian kids came up to welcome Gianna, it was so cute. They had a huge library for the kids. When I explained to them that Gianna's books are either being sent by sea or got shipped to storage and we've been reading the same four books since we got here, they sent us home with a grocery bag full of English books! Gianna was thrilled and so was I. If I have to read "Mr. Brown Can Moo" one more time... We did some schmoozing and suddenly an afternoon spot opened up for 12-5:30. Sweet! The only drawback is this school is a good walk from the train station both Holzhausenstrasse and Dornbush.

Next we visited Fintosch International Toddler School with two locations in Westend near the Frankfurt University. It was run by a bunch of Germans trying to teach English. I say "trying" because in my short visit, I saw some botched English throughout the school and the administrators were speaking very broken English to me. The school was about 50% German kids, 50% truly international kids. It was bright with lots of toys and resources. They have a caterer make lunch for the kids, so you don't have to pack, whereas Carl Schurz asked you to provide your kid's lunch. Like Carl Schurz, it had a little gym area where the kids could romp around. Gianna was getting into all sorts of toy bins and didn't want to leave. Schmoozing was harder with the Germans. At the beginning of the visit, they said they have hundreds of kids on the waiting list. But by the end of the visit, they suddenly remembered they have an afternoon spot open at the smaller of the two locations.

I think we are going to put Gianna in the State Department school, Carl Schurz. It felt very comfortable there and they said full time spots open up all the time since US government officials can be suddenly transferred around the globe. I am really excited and so grateful to the relocation assistance company that we have these opportunities for Gianna. Here are some pics from the day.

Gianna in the car holding one of the books kindly given to her by the Carl Schurz School

Outside of the Fintosch school.

Gianna is impressed with all the toys

Here is a nice treehouse to climb in

Bright and colorful area for the kids

A small gym to romp around.

Another gym to romp around in. This one has a parachute, Gianna's favorite.