First cat bath

So after unpacking for another day for 9 hours we decided it was time to bath our new cat as he stunk bad.  So here are a couple post bath pics.

Pics From Hamburg

With my friend Noel and his wife Roxanna in town we went down town and here are some pics of Hamburg.

Our First Guests

My friend and his wife decided to take a trip to Hamburg at the last minute.  Good to see my friend.

Little Kitty

I couldn't help myself but these pictures were just too cute.

First Day of School

Everybody seems to be really excited to hear about my first day of school, and let me be the first one to say that it was very interesting. That's probably an understatement, considering the magnitude of the interesting people and programs there. I have a very in-depth schedule, and I'm signed up for nine classes. I am taking Mathematics, German, English, Physics, Chemistry, History, Physical Education, Theatre, and Business Studies. So yeah, that's two Sciences and two Histories/Humanities. I'm hoping to knock out a lot of my credits for school that way. Anyway, my schedule has everything set up so that  I have each of my classes at least twice a week. The classes are very small! My "tutor" class is a class I have every day at the very beginning, like a homeroom classroom. I have eight other tenth graders in there with me. Only eight. My Monday schedule went something like this:
1. Arrived at school, half hour early for the assembly to welcome the new and returning students. The assembly lasted until 9:10, and the various adminastrators of the school explained rules, programs, extra curricular activities, and expectations. Our sports department guy, a really cool English man, went on about all the sports that were offered. He stressed on students signing up for soccer, handball, volleyball, softball, and basketball. That was really neat.
2. All students divided into groups according to their grade. 10th grade has 45 kids in it this year. That's in the entire grade. We eventually found our way to our tutor classrooms, where we received our schedules and our locker numbers. According to my Monday schedule, I'd already missed German thanks to the assembly. After leaving the tutor room, I went exploring. My amazing sense of direction got me lost once or twice, but I generally knew where I was.
3. My next class was Math, and I met my so-far least favorite teacher. She's a short, crotchety, totalitarian dictator of a Scot who just rubbed me the wrong way. When we finished our quadratic equations, I thanked her for the lesson and told her I had fun re-learning some things, because I always pick things up better the second time around. She told me that fun was not allowed in her classroom. The thing was, she was serious! As long as she continues to pound Math into my head though, I don't think I'll mind.
4. Next was PE, and the entire 10th grade has that class together, twice a week. The rules were explained, and then we chose our first unit sport. you had to choose between soccer, handball, and volleyball. Naturally, almost all the guys chose soccer, and the girls all picked volleyball. There were a couple odd handballers in the mix, but I decided to go with volleyball. I figured that I had the least chance of being trampled or injuring other players in that game. The nets weren't set up today, though, so we were able to play soccer, field hockey, basketball, or table tennis. I think we all know which one I went for, and I've got to say that I was a table-tennis fiend! Not that I was any good, but I in capacitated my opponents every time the ping-pong ball flew from my paddle into the ceiling, behind the lockers, or into someone's face. That was mainly because we were all screaming with laughter the entire time. I made several good acquaintances in this class, and nobody was from America.
5. Next was lunch, and the lunch is pretty pricey. Naturally, I took the short cut and grabbed an 80 cent brotchen with cheese. Yum. I chatted with other newbies in an awkward display of differing personalities, but I had a good time. A nice Vietnamese girl even stole my phone and implanted her number. That was nice.
6. My last class was Physics. We didn't do a whole lot in Physics. Our class basically spent the whole time signing safety papers stating we knew what to do in an emergency, and how the equipment worked, that kind of stuff. It was interesting, though, we discussed the relative properties of the two different fire-extinguishers in the room.
So yeah, that was about it. I have tentative friendships going on with a Scottish girl, a Norwegian, a Danish girl, a few German girls, and a Dutch girl. just about everybody's just as new as I am, so we get along well. Anyway, sorry for boring you with my long step-by-step diatribe. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements.

Our stuff is here

Our stuff is here...now the real work begins.

Madison's first day of school

Madison's first day of school in Hamburg.  She wanted to look like a Californian.  I'll have her post her thoughts when the day is over.

Another post of the kitty (and unpacking hell)

Hello everyone.  We're still firmly in unpacking hell.  The kitchen and the master bedroom are pretty much there but the rest is just slowly coming along.  It's fun to watch the kitty, AKA Reagan, fly around the boxes and jump into the packing material.  He's a good cat.  No accidents yet, at least that I've found.

New Family member

Well we finally got our new cat.  He's just at 11 weeks old.  Cute little guy and Madi couldn't be happier.  Not sure if she's finalized the name yet.  I'll keep you updated.

Just some thoughts

Since we've started this Blog firstly I'm glad that so many people have viewed it.  It's well over 500 views so that has motivated me to keep putting up content.  This doesn't mean that I will just post things for no reason but I noticed that the most viewed blog post we've done so far had fewer pictures and just an explanation of what was going on so I thought I'd try that again only this time with no photos.  I don't mind telling everyone honestly this has been far more difficult in some ways than I ever imagined and then things that were such an ass pain when I came here in 2006 have been a breeze.  I had a 10 minute conversation on the phone, this was the first time ever, with a German talking about purchasing a cat for Madi, the cost, the shots, the age, when we could come and even bartered about the final price.  I wasn't perfect but he understood what I was trying to say and even though he spoke very quickly I understood 95% of what he said.  You would think after an encounter like that for the first time on the phone I'd feel confident but it just left me feeling shaken and nervous.  You wonder what you said wrong and what you could have said differently.  I didn't notice till I hung up that my mouth was completely dry.  I actually walked around the empty house like a runner does after a race to walk it off.  

This being said setting up my Internet was far easier than I remember.  Maybe my language helped a little here but I went to the store they said it would work on a certain date and holy crap it worked.  In 2006 it took 5 weeks and two service calls, that you have to pay for by the way, to get it to work and this time it took a 100 Euro modem and the included software and bam I'm ready to go.  This is actually the fastest Internet I've ever used.  We got our cell phones set up and since we already had iPhones it was cheap and awesome.  40 Euro a month for each of us for unlimited calling in Germany, unlimited text in Germany, unlimited data in Germany and free unlimited calling to the states with a special code!!!  This is incredible.  I spend almost $200 a month for Madi and I for our phones in America and now I’m spending half that amount for way better service.  I do have a land line as well in the bundle for my internet but I’m not sure if I’ll even hook it up or buy a land line phone.  As of now I feel my cell is good enough but I may change that later.  

So how do we feel?  Madi has been incredible.  Nothing has phased her until this cat thing.  We searched for and found the cat we both said, “holy cow that’s the cat”.  So I had our friend Armin call initially and set up a time to pick up the cat on Sunday.  I called 4 times Sunday and nothing.  Armin called at 1000 PM and asked how we liked the cat and I told him we didn’t get the cat and he hung up on me and called.  The woman was apologetic and said there was a family emergency and for us to call back at 1530-1600 today, Monday.  I did that and that was the call I spoke about earlier in this post.  The problem was he said they couldn’t meet until tomorrow, Tuesday after 1800.  Madi was so sad and I understood her feelings.  This is something we’ve been waiting on for over a year and now it gets pushed off day after day.  Madi has the cat bed, the cat box, the food and the toys ready to go.  All she needed was her friend and yet she waits.  I will say Madi did spend 3 hours today at School doing her Math and English placement tests and she totally rocked that.  The school really looks even better than I even imagined.  On Friday is the parent portion where I will get a tour and meet the principle.   

By Popular demand

Ok I've heard you're sick of seeing the places we're going and you want to see us to here is a pic of Madi laying on the floor waiting just another 2 days before our furniture gets here.  Sorry I took a stupid pic of me in the mirror and all you can see if the flash.  Since I'm not working yet I've just gone mountain man and have about a months growth of beard.  I'm going to have to do something about that soon but it is cool that I've figured out at 44 I can actually grow a beard.  For those of you waiting on news about the cat it's been a fiasco but we hope tomorrow, Tuesday will bring good news.  We thought we'd have it Sunday, then today (Monday) and now it's tomorrow.  We will update with pics and news as soon as we know something.  We miss you all.

Church from the 16th Century in France

This church burnt down in the 1970s but before this nice new one a church had been on this site for over 400 years.  Nice view of the French country side.

 Monument to the 90th US Infantry Division who fought in the area