First-Grader Day in Hessen

School started back yesterday in the area (Wiesbaden).  Yeah, it's kinda late, but it's the typical schedule for the region.

Most everyone who utilizes the bus system.....knows about the return of the students.....because the buses are now overflowing both in the early morning and mid-afternoon.  But that was yesterday.

Today is the first day for first-graders to appear.  Typically, it's a ceremony-type deal.  The kid shows up in the community church around 9AM, with both parents (usually dressed up in Sunday clothing), and the Grandparents usually show up as well.  There's some hyped-up speech by the local minister, some political figure, the school director, and the teachers appear to escort the kids over to the school.  The kid might spend two hours in school.....first grade orientation, and then gets released.  For the rest of the week.....I doubt if the kids stay more than three hours a day in class.

As I walked around Wiesbaden today.....I had an opportunity to just stand there and observe these "mothers" with their kids.....either going to school or returning from orientation.

Wiesbaden is a bit different than other regions.  We have a lot of weirder people around......who dress and act in different ways.  So I had three good examples today.

1.  The mother-gal who was a late-twenties "Gothic" gal.....black clothing, boots, black hair, etc.  I'm used to German Gothic teenies.......but I guess the teenies eventually grow older, get hooked up, have kids, and end up forced to act like Gothic-mothers.  There's probably a lifestyle thing here, but it's best not to ask.

2.  The ballet gal.  This was a early thirties mother who was dressed in a tutu-outfit, and just looked weird, period.  She was escorting her son, and I'm guessing he really wished that she'd stayed at home, and she was drawing a lot of unnecessary attention.

3.  Tattoo and cocktail dress gal.  This was a gal dressed in a fashionable blue cocktail dress....something out of the 1980s in my opinion, and had at least thirty tattoos as a minimum.  She was a smoker, and I'd almost swear that she'd just stepped out of a slinky cocktail bar in Manhattan.....to escort Junior to the first grade orientation.

Anyway.....I would assume all went well.....with the punk kids returning home, and excited that it's not as bad as they thought, and maybe Mom won't be escorting anymore in public.