I ask myself: What can I do in the new country?

I arrived in Düsseldorf with my sons.

For the time being, we live in an exhibition hall with at least 500 other people.

Boxes have been constructed from partition walls and the beds are housed in them.

There are twelve of us in our box, with other Ukrainian mothers and a total of six children from Kyiv, from Kryvyi Rih – the city where Zelenskyi comes from – and from Kharkiv.

We also lived there until the war broke out two and a half weeks ago and we fled to my mother's house in the countryside of central Ukraine.

My husband is still there, he's assigned to secure the area, we talk on the phone every day.

So far it has been relatively quiet there.

Our two sons, 16 and 10, and I left after just a few days.

With my friend Lola and her son, we drove towards the Hungarian border, then to Vienna.

Then Nuremberg, where we said goodbye to Lola and her son.

The three of us continued by train, via Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach to Wegberg.

This is a small town on the Dutch border, where a friend lives.

Jennifer Wiebking

Editor in the "Life" department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Last Monday we came back to Düsseldorf.

I was surprised by the many Ukrainian flags, the whole main station seemed to be colored yellow and blue.

That made me happy at that moment.

I already know the city, but this was the last time I was here as a tourist.

That's something completely different, back then I went to art exhibitions, life was colourful.

Now I spend the days standing in queues to sign us up.

I haven't gotten that far yet.

I haven't even been able to see my girlfriend who lives here.

But it has to be now, and I have the energy for it, unlike Lola, for example.

She's staying with friends and hasn't bothered yet.

We call three times a day.

I, on the other hand, would like to know today what the future will bring,

look at the map of Dusseldorf, try to familiarize myself with the areas and think about what I could do in this city.

In Ukraine I was a real estate agent.

My long-term plan is to go to Canada, to my sister, but as long as the country doesn't open its borders to Ukrainian refugees, no chance.

I also ask the volunteers at the fair: What can I expect?

What can I do?

They say: nothing at all for now and that there probably won't be any room for us in Düsseldorf and we'll be assigned to another city in the surrounding area.

I'm just setting myself up for two weeks in the exhibition hall.

The food, showers and toilets are fine and the children are fine too.

Sometimes I have the impression that they see it all as a kind of adventure.

Of course it's still noisy and stressful here.

Last night a baby in the box next to us kept everyone awake.

Elena, 43 years old