Omar Salum Mohamed from Bad Homburg

“I learned my first words of German 
from tourists in Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania. Phrases like ‘Keine Ahnung’, ‘Los geht’s’ and “Alles wunderbar”. At home I used to work for hotels and always thought: ‘How can people speak such a 
difficult language so fluently?’ Now I speak German myself. I had to learn the language to train as a chef for a top Frankfurt hotel. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a dream. And in some ways I really am. Because my idea of Germany was very different. I thought it was a country full of skyscrapers. Yet you only see them in Frankfurt. 
Above all the many small old towns are 
especially pretty. My favourite is Jena. There are lots of young people studying there and it’s easy to make friends. In Frankfurt I sometimes go out with my friend Abdul. We know each other 
from the old days. I think we’re the only two people from Zanzibar here.”