Thousands of migrants fleeing war in their home countries have have made it into Germany and to Berlin.

Once they arrive here, they begin the waiting game.

Germany is expecting at least 800,000 migrants this year alone, and Germans are struggling with the changes they bring.

At Berlin’s main processing center for migrants, at a social service ministry, people are handed a number on a slip of paper. They crowd around a digital screen in the ministry courtyard to watch for their number to flash, indicating they can go inside to begin the asylum process.

German volunteers serve lunch inside a big canvas tent — lentil soup and bread. Julia Visakovsky, a psychologist, took a day off work to help serve.

“We basically have to make sure that everybody gets food,” Visakovsky says. “Everybody has to stay in line — so children come first, women come first — and give them the feeling that everything is OK here.”

In Germany, Migrants Find Footing But Also Some Resistance

Photos by David Gilkey/NPR