Therefore, I decided to get myself registered at the Volkshochschule (local adult school)for German as a foreign language classes. Easier said than done.First, I learned that I cannot simply register for a class, I need to do a test so they can see what my ability is. That makes sense.
So on Monday I call up the
school and ask when they're open and what time I should come by. They tell me noon. I hop on the bus and take it to the center of town and follow the directions that my relatives have given me and find the building. However, when I go in, there's no one around. I finally interrupt a class to ask where the office is and am directed to the front office. While the sign says closed for school vacation, I ignore it since I've already called and spoke with someone, and am advised by a person in the front office to come back at one because everyone is at lunch. Although I find that strange, I follow those directions and go back at one. At which time there is no absolutely no one in the building. I then take out the pamphlet where the phone number is and call. The phone is picked up right away and when I ask if they're open today, the woman responses with of course, and then tells me there are already a lot of people there. At this time it dawns on me that there are other locations around the city of Frankfurt. I then specify where I am and it then becomes clear that, as I've found out, my location is closed for the summer, but the main one is open and where I have to go to take the test.
Needless to say, I was super annoyed about this. While I was standing there debating what to do with the rest of my day, two people walked by obviously looking for the testing location as well. It ended up being a good thing I was there because I was able to explain to them, first in German, than in English where they needed to go to take the test. I then decided to go into downtown Frankfurt for the first time and try to find the location of the Volkshochschule. I did manage to navigate around the city pretty well, but I failed at finding the building.
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| Once I got off the bus I had to read this map which only details the subway and streetcar lines. I had to travel from Bockenheimerwarte to Frankfurtost. |
Wednesday I decided I would go back into the city and find the building. This time I wrote down the directions (my smart phone hasn't come yet and I didn't feel like walking around with my tablet this time) and left with a little over an hour to spare. That didn't matter since it took me an hour to get into the city and across to the other side where the building is located. From that point according to google maps it was only suppose to be an 8 minute walk. For those of you who know me, you know that I have a very poor sense of direction, and have a habit of going in exactly the wrong direction. That is what I feared happened when I was walking and didn't pass the store I had noted. So I turned around and walked back to the hotel I passed. Using my best german possible I asked if they could first help me find the street where the Volkshochschule was. Neither person at the hotel desk knew where it was. They also couldn't direct me to the store. Now I get not knowing where a specific building is, but when you work at a hotel and this street is suppose to be within a 10 minute radius, and also has a grocery store on it, wouldn't you think they should know where it is?
The two men working there then directed me to use the computer and look it up. Of course, the computer didn't work. Luckily one of the female staff members appeared and knew right away which direction I needed to head in. Following her directions, and stopping once more just to double check, I made it to the Volkshochschule in a few minutes. However there were about 100 people standing around waiting to take the test. Since they only test about 50 people a day, I was told to come back.
Bummer, but at least I found the building this time!
Today they had "early" hours, so I needed to get there at 9:30. Those who know me well, know I love to hit snooze, today was no exception. When I finally got up and left, it was 9 am. So despite having perfected my ability to get across the downtown Frankfurt area, as well as find the building, I still got there too late. However, this time the staffer I spoke with (the same one as from Wednesday) felt really bad, and gave me a pass so next time I come even if there is a wait, they'll test me. All I can say is I hope that on Monday when I go I will get there ON TIME and not have to wait for this stupid test to take place.
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