Madison's new school

We went by Madison's new school today.  She got to pick her new class schedule and we scheduled her testing for Math and English placement.  Her classes for the next years are:

English
German
Mathematics
Physical Education
Business Studies
Chemistry
History
Physics
Theatre

Her first day of orientation is Friday 9 August and her first day of class is Monday 12 August.  Here are a couple pics of the outside of the building.  It's brand new, only a few years old, as they moved here from another part of town.  It's super nice.  Next week I'll post some pics of her class rooms and the inside of the facility.

Slayer!!

Had to add this.  On our first trip in the S-Bahn (basically the subway even though in German it actually means Strassenbahn or street car) I see this.  Slayer is playing Hamburg on 17 Aug!!  Not Madi's cup of tea but the landlords son is going and he's a drummer in a speed metal band.  Maybe Madi with hang out with Dan and his family and I'll go relive my youth.  I first saw Slayer in 1983.  Holy cow am I old.

Madisons School

Here is the website for Madison's new school.  It's all in English.  Once we go there on Monday I'll post more pics of the school and hopefully give everyone an idea of her classes.  

http://www.ishamburg.org

Please Make Comments

To all our loved ones please make comments in the comments sections often.  If you want us to discuss anything in particular or take pictures of something let us know in the comments section or e-mail me directly at rjskopeck@yahoo.com

For Kim and Chloe

Do you remember what this building was?

Old House

For those of you who remember the old house in Geilenkirchen here are a couple of pictures.  I can't believe how big that little tree we planted in 2007 has become.  That large tree on the left is only 6 years old.  We visited so I could introduce myself to the new renters and just see what the house looks like.  Felt really weird being in that house without my stuff in there.  By the way they had a horse of a dog as you can see at the bottom, and three cats.

Pictures of the second floor

 Staircase leading upstairs

 Large room at the top of the landing on the second floor.  Not sure what I'm going to use this for.  Maybe my workout room with Bowflex, treadmill and bike.  If not here maybe the little room in the basement.  This could be an office but we'll see.  To the right is the door to the bathroom and the door to my room.  All the bedrooms are small by US standards.

 All the bedrooms have built in closets which is awesome because this is rare in Germany.  All my stuff easily fits in here and I still have dressers coming.

 That's a full size mattress blow up mattress to give you and idea of the size of the room.  My king bed and two dressers are going to make this room very tight.

 This will become the guest bedroom.  Two windows and large built in closet.

 I don't think I need to say who's room this is.

 Another view of the landing room with my back to the window.  My room on the left, bath then guest room and Madi's room.  Stairs going down in the middle.

 Second floor bathroom.  Two windows, two sinks, and a large bath

 Large bath

 Another view of the bathroom with me standing next to the shower.  That's me in the mirror.

Stairs going down

Biggest problem is I need to buy storage units for all the baths for towels and cleaning supplies. Once the truck gets here I'll be doing some Ikea trips.

Pictures of the basement

 Staircase going down to the basement

 Landing in the basement.  Oil room on the right, a Army loaner shrunk on the right.  Basement bathroom and laundry room on the right through the doorway and the hallway to the right takes you to the storage room and two other rooms

 Space under the stairs that will slowly fill itself with wine :)

 Basement bath right side.  Madi is taking this bathroom

 Basement bath left side with German washer and dryer.  1:30 hours for wash and the same for the dryer.

 Hallway leading to the large room in the basement.  Storage room is on the right.  There is the large window straight ahead that lets in tons of light.

 Storage room with another shrunk and storage shelves

 Big room in the basement.  This will become the movie/music room

 Small room off the movie/music room.  Not sure what we'll use this for but maybe storage or maybe this is where my actually recording studio will go if the movie room gets cramped

Blurry photo with my back against the window in the movie/music room

Picture of the new house ground floor

First Pic is standing on the front
door looking down the driveway

 This is the entryway from the front door.  Bath is on the right stairs up and down. Kitchen is on the right and living/dining room on the left

 Kitchen.  This is a totally new kitchen with an American and German refrigerator and a little pantry on the right with a deep freezer

 Right side of the living/dining room.  Double glass doors leading onto the tiny patio.  Big enough for a grill though

 The other half of the living room with Madi sleeping on a mattress.  Room wraps around to the left to a stove/fireplace

 Another view of the living room.  Big bay window with a view of the street and driveway

 Another view of the living room.  The fireplace/stove is wood fired on the right.

 Entry way from the kitchen of the staircases

Ground floor bath.  I live the fact that all the bath rooms have nothing on the floor.  All the sinks and toilets are attached to the wall so it's easy to clean underneath and mop.

The most beautiful woman in the world

My most beautiful Kimmie-Poo

A pick from my girl.  God she's so beautiful and amazing.  Christmas can't get here fast enough

Tier Park (Animal park)

Pictures from the animal park south of Hamburg.  It was very cool but the birds of prey show was awesome.  I couldn't get pictures of it because they were moving so fast and buzzing the audience.